They May Have Been In Existence For 35 Million Years Or More

The subglacial lakes of Antarctica have some of the most extreme conditions on the entire planet. The immense pressure upon the water affects the temperature at which water freezes, making them more akin to alien liquid bodies than other water bodies on earth.

These lakes are incredibly old; some estimates say that they may be 35 million years old or more! They have been a longstanding feature of Antarctica’s landscape and have been affecting the ice sheets in ways that scientists are only now beginning to understand.

Scientists In Antarctica Also Study The Continent’s Wildlife

There are very few land animals that live in Antarctica. The largest animal that lives solely on the land there is a flightless bird known as Belgica Antarctica, and it is only one-quarter of an inch in size! Most of its wildlife, including its penguins, is considered to be marine.

The wildlife of Antarctica includes killer whales, blue whales, and other large marine mammals that thrive in icy water, as well as seals and colossal squids. Many different types of penguins live there, including emperor penguins, southern rockhopper penguins, king penguins, Gentoo penguins, and chinstrap penguins.

But Most Of Its Life Is Microbial

While the wildlife in Antarctica is spectacular, large animals only occupy a tiny portion of the continent – mostly along its coastline. Its smaller lifeforms include phytoplankton, mites, nematodes, lice, tardigrades, springtails, krill, and rotifers.

However, most of the life that lives on Antarctica is microbial. Algae are abundant, including microscopic diatoms. Some bacteria, in particular, favor the frigid conditions, as they have been found living as deep as 2600 feet underneath the ice. Microbial life is incredibly resilient and can thrive in some of the harshest conditions on the planet, where scientists least expect to find any living thing.

There Are Few Plants

Geologic evidence suggests that tundra vegetation, including some forests, covered parts of Antarctica until as recently as about 15 million years ago. However, its inhospitable climate has made plant life there extremely rare. Plants in Antarctica consist mostly of mosses and liverworts, which are primitive plants that do not have a vascular system,

Some flowering plants live in a few places along Antarctica’s coastline, and they only grow for a few weeks out of the summer. Researchers who study plant life in Antarctica can learn about some of the conditions on earth in its distant past.

There Are Some Fungi

Researchers have identified approximately 1150 different types of fungi in Antarctica. Many of these fungi are very primitive, with very simple morphology, low metabolisms, and undifferentiated structures. These primitive features make them ideally suited to life in the frozen Antarctic tundra.

Fungi in Antarctica are so abundant that they have had a noticeable impact on some of the rock formations there. Scientists who study the fungi estimate that they may have qualities and features similar to extraterrestrial life on places such as Mars. Studying these unique forms of life helps provide a window into both early conditions of life on earth and what life may be like if it exists elsewhere in the universe.

Sources:
“50 Amazing Facts About Antarctica,” by Andrea Thompson. Live Science. March 10, 2014.
“Scientists Reveal What Living and Working in Antarctica Is Really Like,” by Jesslyn Shields. How Stuff Works. February 2, 2017.
“Almost alien: Antarctic subglacial lakes are cold, dark and full of secrets.” Science Daily. March 4, 2020.
“Antarctica.” Wikipedia.