During the past 30 years or so, the primary objects of environmental protection in Antarctica were living organisms such as penguins and seals, and their breeding grounds, terrestrial plants and their habitats. The ever growing threats to the icy continent, resulting from increasing human activities, lead SCAR, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs), and recently also the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP) to seek improved measures for conservation of the Antarctic fauna and flora, to actively participate in the preparation of conventions for protection of seals and other marine living organisms, and to elaborate a mandatory code for waste disposal.

Antarctica has been an ideal continent for international scientific collaboration. The success of SCAR and its multinational core Working Groups, and Groups of Specialists in fostering such collaboration is recognized internationally.

Only a few years ago most interested people thought (and many said in print) that accidental killing of Antarctic animals as a consequence of commercial fishing operations was minimal to non-existent. We now know that species in three major groups (fish, seals, seabirds) are seriously threatened by such incidental mortality.

Garbage is on everyones' minds at the moment and no more so than in the Antarctic. Thirty years ago it was publicly, legally and scientifically acceptable to burn plastics, to leave rubbish to fall through the ice and to dump hazardous waste into the sea outside the Treaty area. This is no longer the case and the recent turn round in policy poses a number of problems, especially for those countries with long-established stations.

Remote sensing provides the means to study features and processes that are not easily accessible or amenable to direct observations. The polar regions, and Antarctica in particular, offer a variety of examples where the ability to observe from afar is necessary or highly desirable. In particular, studies of ice shelf processes, changes in the sea-ice cover, and ice-ocean-atmosphere investigations must rely in large part on measurements from aircraft and satellites. The polar regions present a unique set of problems that complicate applications and limit the usefulness of certain sensors; new instruments planned for launch in the 1990s will help resolve many of these difficulties. Examples of remote sensing applications for the study of the continent, drifting ice, ocean, and atmosphere demonstrate ways that existing data as well as new observations can be used to aid polar research.

In their upper layers, the polar ice sheets contain a detailed record of changes in the atmosphere over the industrial period. Measurements from air bubbles in ice have shown that the CO2 content of the atmosphere has increased by 25% in the last 200 years, and that of CH4 has more than doubled. Ice core records have demonstrated a close correspondence between greenhouse gases and temperature during the last glacial cycle. Profiles of radioactive species in snow clearly document nuclear bomb tests in the atmosphere, and the recent Chernobyl accident has also left a signal in Northern Hemisphere ice. Nitrate has more than doubled in Greenland snow over the industrial period, while sulphate has more than trebled. No significant trend is seen in Antarctic snow for these anions. Pb increased 100-fold until the 1970s in Greenland snow, but concentrations appear now to be declining. A small increase is also recorded in Antarctic snow. Organochlorine compounds offer great potential for pollution studies in snow. The ability to study global scale pollution in polar ice could be hampered if there is significant local pollution. In Antarctica, impact on the atmosphere from local human activities is still mainly confined to small areas near stations.

Increasingly, many aspects of the study of Antarctica and the high southern latitudes are being aided by various types of numerical models. Among these are the General Circulation Models (GCMs), which are powerful tools that can be used to understand the maintenance of present atmospheric climate and determine its sensitivity to imposed changes. The changes in the ability of GCMs used over the last two decades to simulate aspects of atmospheric climate at high southern latitudes are traced and it is concluded there has been a steady improvement in model products. The task of assessing model climates in high southern latitudes is made difficult by the uncertainties in the data used for the climatological statistics. It is suggested that the quality of the climates produced by most modern GCMs in many aspects cannot be said to be poor, especially considering the uncertainties in ‘observed’ climate. There is obviously need for improvements in both modelling and observations. Finally, some topics are highlighted in which the formulation of models could be improved, with special reference to better treatment of physical processes at high southern latitudes.

The Antarctic continent and the peripheral ocean regions are the primary source of information on the Cenozoic cryosphere and events leading up to its development at least 36 million years ago. From a variety of data it is now apparent that the southern high latitudes have been subjected to a dynamic alternation of ice sheet expansion and decay through the late Palaeogene and Neogene. This history of climate change was accompanied by, and certainly strongly influenced by, significant vertical and horizontal lithosphere changes, including the evolution of major internal seaways and mountain ranges. The imprint of this record is preserved in the marine successions of the polar basins, in the world's bathyal and abyssal ocean basins and in the continental shelves of other continents, including those of the Northern Hemisphere. The Antarctic and extra-Antarctic terrestrial and marine data bases have developed separately in the past three decades and geospheric and biospheric information must now be integrated across latitudes. Future success in deciphering climate change depends on a better understanding of glacial–deglacial cycles from the point of view of both direct Antarctic and indirect or proxy extra-Antarctic data, through the complete temporal range of 107 to 103 years. Unfortunately, much of the high latitude record for the past 65 million years of earth history is presently veiled by thick ice sheets/ice shelves and deep and often ice-covered marine waters. Without the intensive application of the most advanced remote sampling equipment on the continent and in the Southern Ocean it will be difficult for this region to contribute significantly to global change and global climate programmes.

A study of feeding selectivity in Notothenia neglecta Nybelin 1951, was carried out between October 1988 and January 1989 at Potter Cove, King George Island, where this is the dominant fish species. The abundance and biomass of benthic organisms from 0–40m were compared with their occurrence in the diet of 142 fish. The Ivlev index indicated that the food items positively selected by the fish were sedentary polychaetes, the isopod Glyptonotus antarcticus, the gammarid amphipod Paradexamine sp., the bivalve Dacrydyum sp., the gastropods Margarella antarctica and Eatoniella sp., and algae. The biomass of the benthic community in the sampling area was low, presumably due to the effects of anchor ice. Despite being pelagic, krill (Euphausia superba) was by far the main food of N. neglecta which is considered a benthic feeder.

The presence and distribution of alien plant species on subantarctic Marion and Prince Edward Islands is reviewed and updated. This study documents the finding of a well established population of Cerastium fontanum on Prince Edward Island. An additional taxa, Senecio sp., is recorded in association with a recurrence of Plantago lanceolata on Marion Island. Propagules of both these taxa have recently been dispersed to the island in building material imported from South Africa. The distribution of Agrostis stolonifera and Sagina apetala on Marion Island has increased markedly between 1981 and 1989.

The diet of the emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri (Gray) in Amanda Bay, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica, was studied by analysis of adult stomach contents during part of the chick-rearing period from August to October 1986. The penguins consumed almost entirely fish, mainly Pleuragramma antarcticum (Boulenger) (78% by number and 78% by mass). Other fish species, cephalopods and crustaceans were minor components. These results and those of the only other two, geographically distinct, quantitative studies of the diet of emperor penguins suggest that the diet of this species varies through the effects of local topography and hydrology on prey availability.

The short term degradation of ‘Arabian light’ crude oil was followed under various seasonal conditions in coastal seawater at Iles Kerguelen. Artificial degradation experiments were carried out in 3 m3 tanks. In situ experiments were conducted in free-floating, semi-enclosed chambers permitting direct contact between the crude oil and the marine environment. Daily sampling allowed a regular survey of the bacterial changes of the oil contaminated seawater. All samples were analysed for total bacteria, heterotrophic viable microflora and hydrocarbon utilizing microflora. At the end of experiments, the remaining oil was carefully collected for rough quantitative estimation of hydrocarbon degradation. All the results clearly revealed a significant increase in the three types of bacterial microflora after the addition of crude oil. However, the data suggest that the initial state of the bacterial communities is important. Thus, the seasonal variations in the bacterial responses to hydrocarbon addition can be related to the differences in the natural bacterial populations involved. In all cases the wall effects observed in batch systems were reduced with in situ incubations.

The demersal fish fauna of the southern and eastern Weddell Sea is described. The following species were recorded for the first time in this area: Aethotaxis mitopteryx, Bathyraja eatoni, B. Maccaini, B. sp2 (FAO-list), Bathydraco marri, Dissostichus mawsoni, Macrourus holotrachys, Muraenolepis sp., Notothenia coriiceps, Notothenia kempi, Psilodraco spec. and Trematomus nicolai. In terms of biomass the dominant species on the very narrow eastern continental shelf were Chionodraco myersi (49%), Trematomus eulepidotus (11%), C. hamatus (7%), T. lepidorhinus (6%), Pagetopsis maculatus (5%) and T. scotti, Cryodraco antarcticus, Cygnodraco mawsoni and Pleuragramma antarcticum (4% each). The highest density of individuals and greatest biomass was found between 400 and 650 m water depth. Here, C. myersi, T. eulepidotus and T. lepidorhinus dominated the catches. The shallow shelf area was inhabited by smaller species such as T. scotti, T. centronotus, P. maculatus, Artedidraco skottsbergii, A. shackletoni, and Prionodraco evansii. In the southern Weddell Sea Akarotaxis nudiceps, Dolloidraco longedorsalis, Gerlachea australis, Pleuragramma antarcticum, and Trematomus loennbergi were dominant. Members of the Channichthyidae occurred only occasionally, most of these are Dacodraco hunteri. The biomass of the demersal fish fauna was estimated to be 0.3 to 1.6 t km−2 on the Vestkapp shelf and 0.1 to 0.4 t km−2 for Gould Bay. Biomass values greater than 1.0 t km−2 were found at the shelf edge.

The female attendance behaviour of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) and subantarctic fur seals (A.tropicalis), which breed sympatrically on subantarctic Marion Island, was investigated. Over the same period after the breeding season, the mean duration of feeding trips to sea, and percentage of time spent at sea, did not differ significantly between lactating females of the two species. The difference in mean duration of shore visits was significant and the longer onshore attendance of A. tropicalis probably related to the lower demand by their pups which grow at a slower rate. The subpolar maternal adaptations of A. gazella were unchanged under the more temperate environment at Marion Island, and it remains to be established unequivocally whether conditions there are limiting to the species.

Echinozone quadrispinosa (Beddard, 1886) is reduced to synonymy with E. spicata (Hodgson, 1910). A key is given to the four Antarctic species together with biogeographical information.

The dense High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) which spreads out below parts of the Ross Ice Shelf represents a heat-reservoir that can induce ablation if it comes into contact with the ice shelf base. One source of the mechanical energy necessary to lift the dense HSSW is small-scale turbulence induced by the shear of tidal currents at the sea-floor and at the ice shelf base. A one-dimensional Kraus-Turner-type model which is forced by a barotropic tidal current is coupled to the ice shelf by postulating that the ice-water interface is at the freezing point. The calculations indicate that the results of this two-layer approach allow a classification into a freezing and melting regime, depending strongly on the variability of the tidal currents with time and less on the intensity and the corresponding high production rate of turbulent kinetic energy. Based on an extended three-layer model ablation rates exceeding 0.4 m yr−1 are obtained in the south-eastern part of the Ross Ice Shelf. Advection processes in the mixed layer directly beneath the ice shelf base are not considered. These results can therefore be regarded as indicating the maximum amount of ablation occuring in the deeper reaches of the ice shelf cavity. Application of the three-layer model to the J9-area in the central Ross Ice Shelf indicate a tidally induced vertical heat flux of 1.8 W m−2 and a corresponding melting rate of 0.17 m yr−1. As supported by ice core measurements, however, an accumulation rate of 0.03–0.05 m yr−1 is estimated due to advection of freshwater produced immediately south of the J9-area.

Nematodes of the families Heterorhabditidae and Steinernematidae are obligate parasites of a wide range of insects (Poinar 1979). The third stage juvenile of these nematodes is a non-feeding infective form which carries symbiotic insect-pathogenic bacteria (Xenorhabdus spp.) in its intestine. Under favourable conditions the juveniles can survive for months in the soil. They are attracted to and enter insects. After invading the haemocoel they release the symbiont. The bacteria multiply, kill the host by septicaemia, and provide suitable conditions for nematode growth and reproduction. After one to two weeks, the newly formed infective juveniles leave the cadaver and seek new hosts.

Population growth rates of Antarctic and temperate isolates of the microflagellate Heteromita globosa Stein and of the ciliate Colpoda cucullus Müller were determined during incubation both under constant 3.5° and 8.0°C, and under temperature regimes fluctuating on 24-hour cycles, between 0° and 15°C, to simulate Antarctic microclimates. Fluctuating temperatures did not inhibit growth. No growth of Colpoda occurred at 3.5°C. It is suggested that successful growth in nature depends upon the microclimate providing sufficient degree-hours per day above encystment/excystment threshold temperature (+1.5°C for Heteromita about +4°C for Colpoda). The minimum number of degree-hours above threshold needed for growth of Colpoda is estimated to lie between 48 and 96. Monitored microclimates in the maritime Antarctic do not provide enough degree-hours per day, though subantarctic microclimates are more favourable, as may be exceptionally warm localities in the continental Antarctic where daily insolation is high in summer. These data are consistent with the recorded presence of Colpoda spp. in the subantarctic and rarely in the continental Antarctic, and their absence from the maritime Antarctic.

Euphausiid life histories and distribution in the vicinity of South Georgia were studied from a series of samples taken in April 1980, November–December 1981, and July–August 1983. Size frequency data indicated a two-year life cycle for Euphausia frigida and the possibility of a three-year cycle for E. triacantha. The genus Thysanoessa was represented by a mixture of T. macrura and the dominant T. vicina. A one-year life cycle is proposed for the latter but that of the former is unknown. Spawning in E. frigida and to a lesser extent Thysanoessa spp. commenced as early as July and euphausiid calyptopes were a feature of the plankton for much of the year. E. superba eggs were found in low abundance over the shelf to the north of the island, but no hatched larvae were found. Behaviour patterns such as diurnal and seasonal migration partially confounded attempts to relate euphausiid distribution to environmental features. However calyptopes of most species, were generally more abundant in oceanic water deeper than 500 m and there was limited evidence that in August, E. frigida had commenced spawning in the colder part of the survey area.

The diet of Heard Island cormorants was investigated by examination of casts over three summer seasons. The diet was composed mainly of benthic organisms, with polychaetes being the most common prey for the greater part of the population. Fish were taken commonly only by the small breeding population at the western end of the island, whereas elsewhere only 22% of casts contained any fish remains at all. The diet is therefore different from that reported for Phalacrocorax atriceps at other localities.