Biological invasion and environmental change pose major threats to ecosystems. While long-term ecological change is commonly evaluated through sediment cores in lakes, it is generally not feasible for smaller ponds, and spatial resolution is limited. Here, we analyze pond diatom communities collected during Shackleton's Nimrod expedition at Cape Royds, Antarctica, to compare with the same waterbodies a century later. We find historical samples to be almost identical to modern counterparts, and provide no evidence of exotic introductions despite increasing human activity. However, a shift occurred in the pond nearest Shackleton's hut, Pony Lake, which was dominated by Luticola muticopsis a century ago, and was replaced by Craspedostauros laevissimus. Both are endemic species previously and currently present at Cape Royds, and we hypothesize that a shift in conductivity accompanying changing precipitation patterns may be responsible. Collectively, these results provide important data for assessing human and climate impacts among Antarctic lacustrine habitats.

中文翻译：

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从英雄时代到今天：沙克尔顿宁录探险队的硅藻可以告诉我们南极池塘的生态轨迹

生物入侵和环境变化对生态系统构成重大威胁。虽然通常通过湖泊中的沉积物核心来评估长期生态变化，但对于较小的池塘通常不可行，并且空间分辨率有限。在这里，我们分析了沙克尔顿在南极洲罗伊兹角的Nimrod探险期间收集的池塘硅藻群落，以与一个世纪后的相同水体进行比较。我们发现历史样本与现代样本几乎相同，尽管人类活动增加，但没有提供外来引入的证据。然而，离沙克尔顿小屋最近的池塘发生了变化，小马湖，一个世纪前由Luticola muticopsis主宰，取而代之的是Craspedostauros laevissimus. 两者都是以前和目前存在于 Cape Royds 的地方性物种，我们假设伴随降水模式变化的电导率变化可能是原因。总的来说，这些结果为评估南极湖泊栖息地的人类和气候影响提供了重要数据。