Abstract:

Coastal region on the Antarctic continent, where it is under the influences both of ocean and ice sheet, as well as frequent human activities, could be considered as a fragile zone in Antarctic ecological environment. There are many lakes in coastal region, showing much differences from each other in physical-chemical features because of individual evolutionary history in their geographical environments, and suffering from different outside factors, such as climate changes and precipitation. Thus, it results in respective biological distribution and ecological structure in lakes. The present paper reports the results from the studies of chemical components, species distributions and community structures, which mainly consisted of planktons in lakes in the Vestfold Hills (68°38′S, 78°06′E), and the Larsemann Hills (69°30′S, 76°20′E), East Antarctica. It also treats the biological diversities and nutrient relationships of these different types of lakes. So as to provide more scientific basis for monitoring of climate changes and environmental protection in Antarctica.

Key words: ecological structure, lakes, Antarctic continent