MELBOURNE, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Researchers say analyzing the DNA of tiny Antarctic land animals could help accurately predict the continent's impact on global sea levels by revealing its icy past.
Researchers from Australia and the United States identified that the DNA of creatures in specific regions can provide a roadmap of ice sheet collapse during previous warm periods in Earth's history, said a statement from Australia's Monash University released Saturday.
Similar DNA in distant species suggests "the ice between them must have melted away at some point in the past, creating a corridor that allowed them to meet and breed," while DNA differences indicate long-term separation by "a massive, permanent wall of ice," said the study published in the journal One Earth.
Biological data provides fresh insights where traditional geological evidence is limited, said study lead author Richard Jones from Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF) at Monash University.
"Strategically harnessing terrestrial biological data offers a powerful, independent avenue to test scenarios of collapse, reducing the uncertainty in future sea-level projections," Jones said.
SAEF Director Professor Steven Chown said, "We want to look for animals in specific locations that are currently separated by either small or large expanses of uninhabitable ice."
Australia's 2025 National Climate Risk Assessment warns that sea-level rise could expose more than 1.5 million people in Australian coastal areas to extreme flooding by 2050.
The study identifies key Antarctic regions where biological surveys can provide decisive evidence of past ice retreat and guide future expeditions. ■
