the-BA : Growing when it's snowing

Nearly all the Antarctic continent is permanently covered with ice and snow - there’s only one per cent left over where it’s possible for plants to grow. There aren’t any trees or shrubs, and only two species of flowering plant (Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort). There are, however, quite a lot of ‘lower plant groups’ - things like moss, fungi, liverworts and lichens.

Have you ever wondered which sorts of vegetation can survive the extreme cold of Antarctica?

You might like to …

• carry out some research into plants in the Antarctic
• find out what sort of adaptations (special characteristics) plants and animals have for living at low temperatures; for example, anti-freeze in cells
• design and carry out tests to see how well different sorts of plant thrive in extreme cold conditions; you’ll have to work out how to decrease the temperature, and keep all other factors constant
• culture some micro-organisms to see if these survive better at low temperatures than ordinary house plants.

Further Links:
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/

http://www.caff.is/

http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/4_class/
45_pguides/pguide_704/4574_froze.html

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