10
R. K. DELL
fact that one boundary cuts the Ross Sea shows the difficulty of using
such a scheme. At the same time a number of workers trying to record
and analyse the distribution of organisms around the Antarctic Continent have used this scheme or a modification of it to codify their
distributional data.
Ekman (1935, 1953) largely on the basis of surface water temperatures subdivided the Antarctic Region into " High Antarctic " and
" Low Antarctic ". Hedgpeth (1970) has pointed out that Ekman used
the terms " region '' and " province " almost interchangeably in the
English translation (1953). Norman (1938), again considering fishes
utilized Regan's scheme, together with the Quadrants. He did not
believe that the evidence allowed any subdivision of the Glacial
District.
Nybelin (1947) working also with fishes subdivided the Antarctic
Zone as follows :
1. High Antarctic Region, the coasts of the Antarctic Continent and
associated islands.
A. East Antarctic Subregion.
B. West Antarctic Subregion.
2. Low Antarctic Region, South Georgia and Shag Rocks.
He showed that the South Sandwich Islands and Bouvet were both
related to the West Antarctic Subregion and to the Low Antarctic
Region, with an additional independent character.
The subdivision into East and West Antarctica, commonly used by
geologists is an extremely useful subdivision particularly if used in a
non-committal sense. The longitude of Greenwich and the equivalent
line of 180' divides Antarctica unequally into two sections, the western
section largely taken up with the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas and
the Antarctic Peninsula which together with the islands of the Scotia
Arc has its own biogeographic features. The boundaries should not be
taken too precisely because once again 180' longitude bisects the Ross
Sea (which surely belongs faunally to East Antarctica). The fauna off
the coast of Marie Byrd Land and the Amundsen Sea is so poorly known
that it can serve at present as a no-mans-land type of boundary.
Similarly the fauna from the eastern shores of the Weddell Sea and off
Crown Princess Martha Land is hardly known. The term West Antarctica is a very useful one in a strictly geographical sense as a kind of
shorthand for, " the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas, together with
the Antarctic Peninsula and the associated islands of the Scotia Arc ".
It is in this sense, and with the boundaries purposely left indefinite that
the term " West Antarctica " is used throughout the present work.
R. K. DELL
fact that one boundary cuts the Ross Sea shows the difficulty of using
such a scheme. At the same time a number of workers trying to record
and analyse the distribution of organisms around the Antarctic Continent have used this scheme or a modification of it to codify their
distributional data.
Ekman (1935, 1953) largely on the basis of surface water temperatures subdivided the Antarctic Region into " High Antarctic " and
" Low Antarctic ". Hedgpeth (1970) has pointed out that Ekman used
the terms " region '' and " province " almost interchangeably in the
English translation (1953). Norman (1938), again considering fishes
utilized Regan's scheme, together with the Quadrants. He did not
believe that the evidence allowed any subdivision of the Glacial
District.
Nybelin (1947) working also with fishes subdivided the Antarctic
Zone as follows :
1. High Antarctic Region, the coasts of the Antarctic Continent and
associated islands.
A. East Antarctic Subregion.
B. West Antarctic Subregion.
2. Low Antarctic Region, South Georgia and Shag Rocks.
He showed that the South Sandwich Islands and Bouvet were both
related to the West Antarctic Subregion and to the Low Antarctic
Region, with an additional independent character.
The subdivision into East and West Antarctica, commonly used by
geologists is an extremely useful subdivision particularly if used in a
non-committal sense. The longitude of Greenwich and the equivalent
line of 180' divides Antarctica unequally into two sections, the western
section largely taken up with the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas and
the Antarctic Peninsula which together with the islands of the Scotia
Arc has its own biogeographic features. The boundaries should not be
taken too precisely because once again 180' longitude bisects the Ross
Sea (which surely belongs faunally to East Antarctica). The fauna off
the coast of Marie Byrd Land and the Amundsen Sea is so poorly known
that it can serve at present as a no-mans-land type of boundary.
Similarly the fauna from the eastern shores of the Weddell Sea and off
Crown Princess Martha Land is hardly known. The term West Antarctica is a very useful one in a strictly geographical sense as a kind of
shorthand for, " the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas, together with
the Antarctic Peninsula and the associated islands of the Scotia Arc ".
It is in this sense, and with the boundaries purposely left indefinite that
the term " West Antarctica " is used throughout the present work.