According to foreign media The Verge, the excrement of penguins and elephant seals helps to spread nutrients to a surprisingly large area of Antarctic land. According to a new study published in Current Biology, there are two to five times more mites, jumping insects (sometimes called snow fleas) and other microorganisms in this fertilizer accumulation area than in other areas lacking feces.

This discovery can help researchers pay close attention to the ecosystems in these fragile and remote areas without venturing to the extreme landscape of Antarctica.

Tiny mites and snow fleas seem small to us, but they dominate the life of the earth in Antarctica. This is a hard life. Unlike birds and mammals, they can't completely venture into the nutrient-rich waters around the mainland to get food. But near their habitat, elephant seals and penguins provide marine "prey" for these strong invertebrates.

Pacifica Sommers, an ecologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said: "These animals basically transport these nutrients from the ocean where they are harvested and then excrete them." Summers was not involved in the study. He said that in a barren place like the Antarctic, "a little feces will help a lot."

Stef Bokhorst, an ecologist from the Free University of Amsterdam and the first author of this paper, and other scientists visited the Antarctic Peninsula and its vicinity and collected samples of mosses, lichens and small animals that feed on these plants. They found that the more animals there are in a penguin or seal population, the greater their influence. Researchers call this area a nitrogen footprint, and in some cases, it is 240 times larger than the habitat area.

This also provides ecologists with a way to track these small animal groups that feed on feces. The excrement of hundreds or thousands of penguins and seals can be seen from space, which enables researchers to find these areas through satellite images instead of expensive field trips.

This is especially important for this area, because it is too far away. Bokhorst said that most of Antarctica is rarely or never visited by humans because it is too difficult to reach. This means that most science is confined to the area around the research station. And these are not many.

Due to climate change and other problems caused by human beings, such as habitat loss and pollution, the United Nations has released a report and found that 6.5438+0 million species out of about 8 million species in the world are threatened with extinction, which makes the biodiversity hotspots located this week more appropriate. Bokhorst said in an email to The Verge that this discovery may help people identify and monitor biodiversity hotspots in Antarctica. He said that he considered his job to be the "first step" in identifying these areas.

Even in distant Antarctica, species from mites to seals are feeling the pressure. Climate change and fishing may change or reduce the food supply of these Antarctic animals and may force them to move their habitats. Conversely, this movement may have a "great impact" on terrestrial biodiversity.