Stowaway Seeds Carried By Unwitting Humans Are Colonizing Antarctica

The problem also exists on the Mars landers which could have easily spread earth bugs to Mars and hence the credibility of finding unique life on Mars could already be a mute point.

But whatever happens happens you can't stop it all. All you can do is slow it. Even the winds can sometimes drop seeds thousands of miles and you can't stop the winds.

This is the NATURAL evolution of our planet... These seeds developed to be spread in this way by animals, LIKE US. DUH...

It's unnatural!

Yes, exactly as jeffsback said, this is natural. We are natural. Why do people insist on acting as though we are some kind of aliens from outer space polluting someone's planet? If the seeds had come from some bird migration (who knows, maybe they did) nobody would be complaining. But oh, no, not HUMANS, they're not part of the world, stop them!

Geez. If a monkey learns to break off some green branches and put them together to make a more comfortable home in the trees, are we going to brand it unnatural too, since it is "destroying the environment" for its own personal comfort? Or how about those animals who have the audacity to migrate to somewhere that has more grass to eat? Goodness!

Plants and animals change, evolve, adapt, control the world around them! We are animals too! We've just gotten better at it than others! Enough with the double-standard already! This IS natural evolution in it's purest form, and so are we and all our actions!

1.) Animals can disperse plant seeds in several ways, all named zoochory. Do a search on the internet for zoochory.

2.) Many aquatic (water) and some terrestrial (ground) plant species use hydrochory, or seed dispersal through water.

3.) Wind dispersal (anemochory) is one of the more primitive means of dispersal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_dispersal
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I would think the seeds have always been showing up there and just did not have the correct environment to take.
If anything this article may have a snippet of chance, had they blamed global warming, verse the terrible bad evil humans...

But hey, scientist need jobs and funding just like me, so they make a good argument to keep their jobs for another year.

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Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.

What is with the exact figures Rebecca?
Since only 2% of the visitors were sampled, you can extrapolate to approx 32,000 seeds on tourists and 39,000 on scientists.
Using numbers more exact than your observational error just looks ike you are making these numbers up.

lmao.

The planet is constantly evolving and will continue to do so. It's absurd to freak out because something "Changes".

Pristine! You mean Sterile. If we bring green to Antarctica it sounds like it would be a good thing.

I don't really think we have to worry though. While the author obviously believes that global warming will ruin Antarctica I think the whole global warming thing is silly.

I have been here over 6 decades and I've seen it hotter than now and colder than now, global warming is not something I worry about. I have been reading Popular Science since the 50's. This is the most political I have ever seen them get. Global Cooling, now that is something to worry about if it happens, let hope for Global Warming.

Global warming does exist, but its part of the natural cycle of our planet. Eventually things will reset and the cycle will restart. Its not necessarily a bad thing that humans will most likely die off, its life.

MelonHead,
Our natural enviroment has been moving seeds around forever without humans and they have when the conditions are correct sprouting all by themselves too, again without human intervention.

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.

I thought Antarctika was growing in ice while the North Pole melts and was a sign the poles would shift and Earth's magnetosphere would reverse polarity causing catastrophic solar damage. In comparison, if the ice sheets are melting I'm sure it will break down the gigantic rock it sits on to create very articulate soil along the edges (for now). I wonder if we can recreate Darwinian evolution in a new age version where a fish grows legs and washes up on the beach to eventually create new species like the 25 ft flying tree octopus. This could finally put an end to the creationist debate. But when the snow all melts and the entire continent is underwater it won't matter too much anyhow. I imagine a new rain forest is less likely.

DeeSee,
You got a lot going on up in that brain of yours.
Just make the assumption tomorrow the sh#t will hit the fan.
With that said, give up your worries and just enjoy your day, forgive yourself and your friends, be caring, good to others! Try living your life with no regrets. You or I or anyone else do not control the cosmos. I promise, everything is going to be alright!