Animal science

Sustained Monitoring of Whales at South Georgia

It is now estimated that >30,000 whales visit South Georgia in summer, making this sub-Antarctic island the highest-density UK hotspot for recovering whales, including critically endangered Antarctic blue whales. The …



CONSEC

CONSEC is addressing the challenge to understand the links between the biodiversity, structure and function of Southern Ocean ecosystems and the impacts of rapid environmental changes to improve scientific knowledge …



Gentoo Penguin Tracking

A fishery for Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) operates over the shelf breaks of the South Orkney, South Shetland and South Georgia archipelagos [8]. Krill is an important food source for …


SO-AntEco Biodiversity

In this collaboration with the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the University of Liverpool, we have developed novel methods for using existing data to contribute to marine conservation and fisheries …


Long term monitoring of plastics

This long-term study monitors the impact of marine plastics and other debris on breeding seabirds at Bird Island. Researchers have monitored the levels of marine plastics and other material from …


ASCCC

The ASCCC Project  has been funded by ACE (Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition) to investigate, quantify and understand the role of polar and subpolar seabeds in the carbon cycle, particularly in response …


Penguins and climate change

30 June, 2022

Introduction Reports suggest that climate change is putting some penguin species in peril. Scientists at British Antarctic Survey investigating long-term changes in penguin populations report what’s happening to these iconic …


Albatrosses

30 June, 2022

Introduction All but seven of the world’s 22 species of albatrosses are threatened with extinction. The main threats are incidental mortality (bycatch*) in commercial fisheries. British Antarctic Survey science and …


Plastic reduces how krill remove carbon into deep ocean

20 November, 2024

New research shows that increased levels of plastic pollution in the Southern Ocean could reduce the ability of Antarctic krill, a tiny shrimp-like crustacean, to help take CO2 from the atmosphere.  The …



BAS shortlisted for NERC’s 2023 Impact Awards

18 October, 2023

The shortlist has been announced for The Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) Impact Awards 2023. Four BAS projects have made the shortlist and commended list, ranging from biodiversity and ecology …


Fish survival in the extreme cold

30 June, 2023

An international team of researchers has sequenced the genomes of 24 Antarctic fish species to investigate how they survive the extreme cold. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, …



New emperor penguin colony discovered

20 January, 2023

Scientists have discovered a new emperor penguin colony in Antarctica using satellite mapping technology. This new colony makes a total of 62 known emperor penguin colonies around the coastline of …



Mysterious lives of sharks and rays revealed  

22 August, 2022

Scientists have unlocked the mysteries of how shark and ray species move up and down the ocean water column, in efforts to better understand them and protect their future.    …



Krill provide a highway for ocean carbon storage

27 November, 2020

Large krill swarms in the Southern Ocean could help remove additional carbon from the atmosphere, in a way that is currently ‘hidden’ in global models. Scientists knew that the carbon-rich …