Volcano Heat Helped Antarctic Species Survive Through Ice Age

Some plants and animals were able to survive through ice ages because of volcanic steam and heat emissions, according to scientists.

The research focused on Antarctic species which have been collected throughout the decades. Of these tens of thousands of species on record, the researchers found that more species were collected close to volcanoes than there were specimens collected farther away.

If the researchers' theory is correct, it could solve a long-standing mystery surrounding why some species survived and continued to evolve through past ice ages in parts of the planet covered by glaciers.

"Volcanic steam can melt large ice caves under the glaciers, and it can be tens of degrees warmer in there than outside," research leader Ceridwen Frase, a biogeographer from the Australian National University, said in a statement. "Caves and warm steam fields would have been great places for species to hang out during ice ages."

"Volcanoes are generally seen as these big, explosive destroyers of life, but they might be important in promoting biodiversity," Fraser said, according to LiveScience. "This explains how life survived in Antarctica, but we think this idea of geothermal refuges could also apply elsewhere."

"We can learn a lot from looking at the impacts of past climate change as we try to deal with the accelerated change that humans are now causing," she added.

The researchers examined diversity patterns of mosses, lichens and bugs which are still common in Antarctica today. About 60 percent of Antarctic invertebrate species are found no where else on Earth, said British Antarctic Survey's Peter Convey.

"They have clearly not arrived on the continent recently, but must have been there for millions of years. How they survived past ice ages - the most recent of which ended less than 20,000 years ago - has long puzzled scientists," Convey said.

Antarctica has at least 16 volcanoes that have been active since the last ice age 20,000 years ago.

Fraser and her colleagues, including Aleks Terauds from the Australian Antarctic Division, suggest that this revelation may help scientist understand how species survived past ice ages in icy regions other than Antarctica.

"The closer you get to volcanoes, the more species you find. This pattern supports our hypothesis that species have been expanding their ranges and gradually moving out from volcanic areas since the last ice age," Terauds said.

The researchers said these biodiversity "hot spots" can be identified and protected as Antarctica continues to be affected by anthropogenic climate change.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.