你能想像一片绿油油的南极洲吗？日前，一支由英国和澳洲科学家组成的考察队发布了最新研究成果：由于全球暖化，南极洲一种开花植物在过去50年中持续向周围蔓延，一些地方将被绿色的植被覆盖。
这项研究被发表在《自然》杂志上，班戈大学（Bangor University）科学家希尔（Paul Hill）表示，一到夏天，南极半岛和冰冻大陆周围海岛上的冰雪就开始融化，随后长满了苔藓和部分开花植物。
在这片没有树木生长的冰川大陆上，只有南极洲发草（Antarctic Hairgrass）和南极漆姑草（Antarctic pearlwort）这两种开花植物生长在南极洲西部地区和周边小岛。近年，随着全球气温的上升，南极洲的夏天变得更久更热，其中一种开花植物—南极洲发草生长速度明显提高，并向四周蔓延。
研究指出，由于气温升高，南极大陆土壤因升温而分解产生出氮气，充足的氮气为发草生长提供了极佳的养分，而全球燃料消耗所产生的工业氮不仅使全球气温升高，同时也促进了养分的产生，这些原因使发草能够利用短暂的夏天迅速生长。若现今的情况持续下去，白雪皑皑的南极洲将有可能在未来成为一片「绿色大陆」。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature Climate Change doi:10.1038/nclimate1060
Vascular plant success in a warming Antarctic may be due to efficient nitrogen acquisition
Paul W. Hill,1 John Farrar,1 Paula Roberts,1 Mark Farrell,1, 2, 7 Helen Grant,3 Kevin K. Newsham,4 David W. Hopkins,5, 6, 7 Richard D. Bardgett2 & Davey L. Jones1
For the past 50 years there has been rapid warming in the maritime Antarctic1, 2, 3, with concurrent, and probably temperature-mediated, proliferation of the two native plants, Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) and especially Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica)4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. In many terrestrial ecosystems at high latitudes, nitrogen (N) supply regulates primary productivity11, 12, 13. Although the predominant view is that only inorganic and amino acid N are important sources of N for angiosperms, most N enters soil as protein. Maritime Antarctic soils have large stocks of proteinaceous N, which is released slowly as decomposition is limited by low temperatures. Consequently, an ability to acquire N at an early stage of availability is key to the success of photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that D. antarctica can acquire N through its roots as short peptides, produced at an early stage of protein decomposition, acquiring N over three times faster than as amino acid, nitrate or ammonium, and more than 160 times faster than the mosses with which it competes. Efficient acquisition of the N released in faster decomposition of soil organic matter as temperatures rise14 may give D. antarctica an advantage over competing mosses that has facilitated its recent proliferation in the maritime Antarctic.
