Dictionary > Antarctic realm

Antarctic realm

Definition
noun
A biogeographic realm that covers the Antarctica
Supplement
Biogeographic realms are large spatial regions of the Earth’s land surface. Studying biogeographic realms leads to insight especially on biodiversity. It provides understanding on the extent of biodiversity and the factors that affect it. At present, there are about eight realms recognized by the World Wildlife Fund and they are divided according to their ecosystems sharing similar biological evolutionary history and distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. The eight biogeographic realms are Nearctic realm, Palaearctic realm, Neotropical realm, Afrotropic realm, Indomalayan realm, Australasia realm, Oceanian realm, and Antarctic realm.
The Antarctic realm is the biogeographic realm that includes the ecosystems of Antarctica and certain island groups in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It has a land mass area of 0.3 million square kilometres. Because of the cold temperature, few floral species are able to persist and thrive. At present, it is the habitat of around 250 lichens, 100 mosses, ~30 livertworts, 700 algal species, and two flowering plant species (i.e. Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort).1 As for fauna, animal species include the penguins, seals, and whales.
Four tundra ecological regions are in this realm: Marielandia Antarctic tundra, Maudlandia Antarctic desert, Scotia Sea Islands tundra, and Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra.
See also:

Reference(s):

1 Antarctic realm. Retrieved from ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic-realm.


You will also like...

Early Earth
The Origins of Life

This tutorial digs into the past to investigate the origins of life. The section is split into geological periods in the..

Body temperature regulation by the hypothalamus
Temperature Regulation in Animals

This tutorial elucidates body temperature regulation. Know the details here to learn how the body sets the body temperat..

vitamins
A Balanced Vitamin Diet – Vitamins A – K

A balanced diet is essential to a healthy organism. Insufficiency or too much of a particular element or compound, such ..

Endemic Flora of New Zealand
New Zealand’s Unique Flora

If New Zealand has lots of unique animals, it's also got a whole lot of unique plants. Find out more about some of them,..

Cells in different stages of meiosis
Meiosis – The Genetics of Reproduction

Meiosis is a form of cell division that creates gametes. It is comprised of two divisions that in the end, the resulting..

Freshwater aquatic plankton
Freshwater Communities & Plankton

Planktons are microscopic organisms that live suspended in aquatic habitats. There are two groups: the phytoplanktons an..

Related Articles...

No related articles found

See all Related Topics