Dossier
Antarctica
The work of researchers on Antarctica has a wide variety of subjects, from polar sea to sea ice and from krill to whales. In this dossier you can find news, backgrounds and results of research of Wageningen University & Research in the Antarctic region. Also, follow expeditions to Antarctica in our researchers' blogs.
In this dossier, you can find research conducted by Wageningen University & Research in relation to its Statutory Research Task (WOT) in Antarctic Research for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. This task follows from the Netherlands' consultative membership in the Antarctic Treaty, the international agreement for shared government of the Antarctic continent and Southern Oceans. Additional support is obtained from the Netherlands Polar Program of the Netherlands Science Foundation and from foreign host countries that kindly support logistics in our cooperative projects.
The work in the Antarctic has a wide variety of subjects, but has a shared focus on the important role of sea ice in sustaining the rich polar food webs. That focus leads to occasional participation in comparative research expeditions in Arctic areas. When possible, the dossier provides blogs from expeditioners in the field.
News about Antarctica
-
Surface water sampling reveals large numbers of juvenile krill undetected by conventional monitoring methods
- In 2018/2019, researchers of Wageningen Marine Research joined the Japanese research vessel Kaiyo-maru (Fisheries Agency Japan; FAJ) on an Antarctic expedition to sample the upper surface waters with the Surface and Under Ice Trawl. Results showed that a large part of the Antarctic krill population resided in the upper two meters of the water column.
-
Rare whale species observed during recent Antarctic expedition
- Research by Wageningen Marine Research and partners on the relationship between sea ice and the Southern Ocean food web investigates various components of that food web, including the so-called ‘top predators’, or seabirds and marine mammals. To map their numbers and distribution, observers count these animals during Antarctic expeditions. During the latest expedition, on board the German icebreaker Polarstern in the southern autumn of 2022, an unusual species of whale was observed: the Arnoux's beaked whale. -
Diet young polar cod more varied than previously assumed
- Earlier research by Wageningen Marine research (WMR) and partners, including the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), showed that many juvenile polar cod live close to the sea ice of the central Arctic Ocean, feeding partly on organisms that also live in and under the sea ice. Because of the difficulty in catching these fish, there are few studies looking at their diet. A new publication in the scientific ‘Journal of Fish Biology’ compares the diet of fish caught during different expeditions on board icebreaker Polarstern. This provides a more complete picture of their food sources in the central Arctic Ocean, which can contribute to nature management and fisheries policy in this area. -
Leeuwarden centre of Antarctic scientific consultation
- The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) holds an annual three-week meeting on the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. This year, scientists from around the world are meeting in Leeuwarden to discuss fisheries policy and nature management in this area. Fokje Schaafsma, researcher at Wageningen Marine Research, participates in these discussions. -
ANTARC-SHIP project: Exploring Environmental Stewardship in the Context of Tourism and Science
- ENP researchers, Machiel Lamers and Daniela Cajiao, have recently returned from their 6 week Antarctic expedition. The purpose of their fieldwork was to explore and assess Environmental Stewardship practices (i.e., the practices, technologies and management approaches we deploy to minimize our environmental footprint or to protect the environment) in the context of tourism, science, and logistical operations in Antarctica. -
ANTARC-SHIP Environmental Stewardship in Antarctic Tourism
- The aim of the ANTARC-SHIP project is to examine to what extent, and how, environmental stewardship can be assessed, enhanced, and facilitated among the different actors and institutions involved in the operation and governance of Antarctic tourism. Discover, in detail, the various work packages of this project. -
Anticipatory governance of solar geoengineering and other risky technologies and activities: Key challenges and ways forward
- Solar geoengineering refers to a set of speculative technologies that have the potential to reflect some incoming sunlight back out into space, as a way to counteract the adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change. How are such speculative and potentially highly risky technologies being governed, in an anticipatory manner? -
Nico van den Brink appointed as personal professor of Environmental Toxicology
- The Executive Board has appointed Nico van den Brink as personal professor of Environmental Toxicology in the Toxicology chair group of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Van den Brink has been working for the Toxicology chair group since 2014 and heads the environmental toxicology group there. The group's research focuses on among others birds and mammals and also on marine cockles and fruit flies. Where they dive into the possible effects of substances on behavior and the immune system of these animals. -
Combination microscopy and DNA analysis reveals new insights in the diet of polar cod
- Polar cod is an important part of the food web of the Arctic. Sarah Maes (KU Leuven) and Fokje Schaafsma (Wageningen Marine Research) investigated the diet of polar cod from the Barents Sea, with the help of colleagues from the KU Leuven and the Alfred Wegener Institute. They did this by combining traditional microscopy with DNA analysis. The study resulted in new insights regarding the diet of polar cod which are now published in the scientific journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. -
ENP Thesis Supervisor Profiles
