Scientists find life near the South Pole  Thu, 05/06/2010 -
4:26am Planet Earth Online  Scientists have found a simple but
functioning community of bacteria and micro-organisms thriving
in the lakes and soils of the Dufek Massif region in Antarctica.
These are the southernmost terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
ever described on Earth, less than 800km from the South Pole.
Forlidas Pond  The lakes range from small ponds a few metres in
diameter to a proglacial lake 750m in diameter.  The ecosystems
were found in glacial lakes, ponds and soils in the Davis and
Forlidas valleys, part of the Dufek Massif at 82°S latitude. The
lakes are covered by ice for most of the year, but in some
summers the ice melts around the edges.  British Antarctic
Survey biologist Dr Dominic Hodgson led a scientific expedition
to the site in December 2003. This was only the third visit to
the Davis and Forlidas valleys since their discovery in 1957.
'Our aim was to do a bit of traditional descriptive science to
find out what is there,