British scientists claim Antarctic more diverse than Galapagos Islands

Antarctic is actually the habitat of more species of animals than the Galapagos, claims the first inventory of life in the region.

A team from the British Antarctic Survey and University of Hamburg, spent seven weeks in order to study life on the South Orkney Islands, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The survey required the experts to comb the land and use trawling nets up to 1,500 metres long in waters around the island. The team was astonished to discover an area "rich in biodiversity."

Nearly 1,224 marine and land species were discovered, which included sea urchins, free-swimming worms, crustaceans, molluscs, mites and birds.

Following, when 100 years of study data were analyzed, five were found to be new to science and a third new to the area, with 1,026 marine creatures, 821 of which lived on the seabed.

According to the scientist, this study provides a vital benchmark to observe the future environmental change in the area.

In the last 50 years, Antarctic ocean temperatures have risen by 1C and atmospheric temperatures by 2.5C and this has made it one of the most rapidly warming areas on the planet.

Lead author, Dr David Barnes at the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey has presented his findings in the Journal of Biogeography.

"If we are to understand how these animals will respond to future change, a starting point like this is really important. This is the first time anybody has done an inventory like this in the Polar Regions. Its part of the Census of Marine Life (COML), an international effort to assess and explain the diversity and distribution of marine life in the world's oceans," he reported.

"We never knew there were so many different species on and around these islands. This abundance of life was completely unexpected for a location in the polar regions, previously perceived to be poor in biodiversity," added Stefanie Kaiser, co-author from University of Hamburg.