The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project identified critical requirements to deliver high priority Antarctic research in the 21st century. The ARC project addressed the challenges of enabling technologies, facilitating access, providing logistics and infrastructure, and capitalizing on international co-operation. Technological requirements include: i) innovative automated in situ observing systems, sensors and interoperable platforms (including power demands), ii) realistic and holistic numerical models, iii) enhanced remote sensing and sensors, iv) expanded sample collection and retrieval technologies, and v) greater cyber-infrastructure to process ‘big data’ collection, transmission and analyses while promoting data accessibility. These technologies must be widely available, performance and reliability must be improved and technologies used elsewhere must be applied to the Antarctic. Considerable Antarctic research is field-based, making access to vital geographical targets essential. Future research will require continent- and ocean-wide environmentally responsible access to coastal and interior Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Year-round access is indispensable. The cost of future Antarctic science is great but there are opportunities for all to participate commensurate with national resources, expertise and interests. The scope of future Antarctic research will necessitate enhanced and inventive interdisciplinary and international collaborations. The full promise of Antarctic science will only be realized if nations act together.

The Antarctic Treaty System requires that the effects of potential human disturbance be evaluated, such as through the development and evaluation of Initial and Comprehensive Environmental Evaluations (IEEs and CEEs), and through the implementation of Management Plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMAs). The effectiveness of these management processes hinges on the quality and transparency of the data presented, particularly because independent validation is often difficult or impossible due to the financial and logistical challenges of working in the Antarctic. In a review of these documents and their treatment of wildlife survey data, we find that the basic elements of best data practices are often not followed; biological data are often uncited or out-of-date and rarely include estimates of uncertainty that would allow any subsequent changes in the distribution or abundance of wildlife to be rigorously assessed. We propose a set of data management and use standards for Antarctic biological data to improve the transparency and quality of these evaluations and to facilitate improved assessment of both immediate and long-term impacts of human activities in the Antarctic.

An actinobacterial strain with antimicrobial activity, INACH3013, was isolated from soil collected from Antarctica. The taxonomic status of the isolate was established using a polyphasic approach. The strain was identified as belonging to the genus Streptomyces based on the scanning electron microscopic observation and partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The sequence analysis revealed that strain INACH3013 is closely related to Streptomyces fildesensis (99.8%), S. beijiangensis (98.1%) and S. purpureus (97.2%). A phylogenetic tree constructed using the partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of strain INACH3013 and closely related strains revealed that INACH3013 fell into the same subclade as S. fildesensis and S. purpureus. Strain INACH3013 was observed to be psychrotolerant, slightly halotolerant (up to 5% NaCl) and capable of inhibiting the growth of seven Gram-negative and eight Gram-positive foodborne pathogens. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the strain is KJ624755.

Lipid biomarkers are potential tools for identifying the sources, diagenesis and reactivity of organic matter (OM) in marine systems, including in Antarctica where the particular environmental characteristics have motivated several studies of organic markers. Sedimentary sterol distributions were determined in two sediment cores (PGI-1 and PGI-2) collected from the marine environment around Penguin Island, Antarctica, during the 2007–08 summer. The cores were sectioned at 1 cm intervals and the sterols were analysed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. The results indicate that the sterols were subjected to decades of degradation and transformation with depth in both cores. However, an expected progressive conversion of stenols to stanols (evaluated by 5α-stanols/Δ5-stenols ratio) within the deepest sediment layers was not clear, suggesting low degradation rates. In PGI-1, the deposition of large quantities of penguin guano affected the distribution of sterols and, consequently, primary production was favoured by the ornithogenic soil input. The results contribute to the understanding of the current processes associated with primary sources and transformation of OM in this important region of the Antarctic environment.

To date, many studies surveying the bacterial communities in lichen thalli from diverse geographical areas have shown that Alphaproteobacteria is the predominant bacterial class in most lichens. In this study, bacterial communities in several Antarctic lichens with different growth form and substrates were analysed. The bacterial community composition in fruticose and foliose lichens, Cladonia, Umbilicaria and Usnea, and crustose lichens, Buelia granulosa, Amandinea coniops and Ochrolechia parella, from King George Island was analysed by pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Results showed that Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes were predominant phyla. The predominant bacterial class in most of the samples was Alphaproteobacteria. Acetobacteriaceae of the order Rhodospiralles in Alphaproteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial family in Antarctic lichens. The LAR1 lineage of the order Rhizobiales, a putative N-fixer which has been frequently observed in lichens from temperate areas, was detected only from a few samples at low frequency. It is expected that other bacterial taxa are working as N-fixers in Antarctic lichens. From the PCoA analysis of the Fast UniFrac distance matrix, it was proposed that the microbial community structures in Antarctic lichens were affected by host species, growth form and substrates.

Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae) grows in coastal habitats in the Maritime Antarctic where it is often exposed to sea spray. Salt crystals have been observed on the surface of leaves in plants treated with high NaCl. We investigated if D. antarctica is a salt tolerant species that allows sodium ions to diffuse into the root where a salt overly sensitive (SOS) system extrudes Na+ from root cells and facilitates its movement through the xylem up to the leaves. Leaf epidermis, physiological parameters and sodium transporters in D. antarctica plants exposed to NaCl were studied over 21 days. Epidermal scanning electron microscopy showed trichome induction in the leaves of salt treated plants. In addition, salt treated plants showed increased sodium and proline levels with a concomitant increased expression of SOS genes (1 and 3). These results indicate that Na+ is taken up by the roots of D. antarctica and transported to the leaves. The sodium flux may be controlled by SOS1 activity. Up-regulation of the SOS1 gene may be involved in the increased sodium levels observed in the leaves of salt treated plants. Trichomes may also be involved in sodium exudation through the leaves under saline conditions.

Since the Last Glacial Maximum, ice has retreated through the fjords of the South Shetland Islands leaving a valuable record of submarine landforms behind. In this study, glacial landforms and sub-bottom characteristics have been mapped to investigate the late Holocene retreat behaviour of the Fourcade Glacier and to delineate past environmental processes in Potter Cove, King George Island. The comprehensive datasets include high-resolution swath bathymetry, shallow seismic profiling and one sediment core. Moraines, moraine incisions and glacial lineations were mapped on the sea floor in the inner part of the cove, whereas pockmarks, ice scour marks and channel structures were identified in the outer part. Sub-bottom characteristics have been assigned to different acoustic facies types indicating different depositional settings. The results reveal glacial recessions as well as stillstands and potential readvances during the late Holocene. Furthermore, the sediment record indicates that the Fourcade Glacier was situated inside the inner cove during the Little Ice Age (500–100 cal yr bp).

The age and conditions of metamorphism in the Highjump Archipelago, East Antarctica, are investigated using samples collected during the 1986 Australian Antarctic expedition to the Bunger Hills–Denman Glacier region. In situ U-Pb dating of monazite from three metasedimentary rocks yields ages between c. 1240–1150 Ma and a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 1183±8 Ma, consistent with previous constraints on the timing of metamorphism in this region and Stage 2 of the Albany–Fraser Orogeny in south-western Australia. This age is interpreted to date the development of garnet ± sillimanite ± rutile-bearing assemblages that formed at c. 850–950°C and 6–9 kbar. Peak granulite facies metamorphism was followed by decompression, evidenced largely by the partial replacement of garnet by cordierite. These new pressure–temperature determinations suggest that the Highjump Archipelago attained slightly higher temperature and pressure conditions than previously proposed and that the rocks probably experienced a clockwise pressure–temperature evolution.