TY - JOUR N2 - Although the Antarctic has avoided the worst effects of alien species, its future seems endangered due to increasing natural and man-made pressures. Rapid changes in three major environmental variables have occurred in the Antarctic region during the last decades. In the short term terrestrial biota are likely to benefit from reduced environmental stresses, but in the long run the colonization of the region by lower latitude species with greater competitive ability will become increasingly important and can lead to large-scale changes in biological composition and trophic complexity in some existing Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems. Moreover, the recent dynamic climate changes combined with human activities in the Antarctic region might modify the status of several alien species which have hitherto been considered transient or persistent and could, therefore, become naturalized and threaten the native communities on a larger scale than today, or influence the status of naturalized species. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/110551/PDF-MASTER/PPR30-263.pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/110551 PY - 2009 IS - No 3 EP - 276 KW - Antarctica KW - alien species KW - human impact A1 - Chwedorzewska, Katarzyna J. PB - Polish Academy of Sciences PB - Committee on Polar Research VL - vol. 30 DA - 2009 T1 - Terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems in the changing world: An overview SP - 263 UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/110551 T2 - Polish Polar Research ER -