 Antarctica is teeming with unique plants and animals that could face extinction with environmental change. Some of them have amazing adaptations that have helped us to improve our own lives, such as anti-freeze proteins that help us to keep our ice cream creamy instead of crunchy and anti-tumour and antibacterial compounds that we've used in pharmaceuticals. But decisions about environmental regulation in Antarctica, such as the establishment of marine protected areas, currently require consensus agreement by nearly 30 countries and that's not easy to achieve. So a proposed marine protected area in East Antarctica, for example, has failed to gain consensus approval after more than seven years of discussions. Meanwhile, Antarctica's environment has been changing very rapidly. Parts of Antarctica are among the fastest-warming regions on Earth and scientists predict we're soon going to see very rapid ecological changes. Ice will melt, plants will grow and new species could establish. Most Antarctic species are thought to have evolved in almost complete isolation for millions of years. Antarctica is surrounded by the enormous Southern Ocean with the strongest current in the world, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and very strong Easterly Circumpolar Winds. And so for a long time, we've thought of this ocean as an almost completely impassable barrier to plants and animals. In fact, a lot of my recent research has been focused on trying to understand just how plants and animals could have survived in Antarctica for so long, for example, through past ice ages. Many seem to have survived around warm volcanoes and some possibly even beneath the ice. I've recently found traces of DNA from plants and animals in soil from volcanic ice caves like this one. But I've been starting to suspect that Antarctica might not be as isolated as we've always thought. We've assumed that because we see very different plants and animals in Antarctica to elsewhere, such as penguins and mosses in Antarctica and trees and parrots in Australia, and because there's an enormous ocean between Antarctica and the rest of the world, nothing is getting in or out. This concept of long-term isolation has also made us think that Antarctica will be reasonably protected from an influx of other species with global warming. We've been worried about the sorts of species we might take with us when we go, for example, through seeds attached to our clothing and shoes, but not particularly worried about what might be able to get there on its own because we think that nothing can. But my research is showing that plants and animals are actually much better at crossing oceans than we've given them credit for. We are not the only species that can raft or fly. This floating seaweed, for example, is now known to be able to travel thousands of kilometres at sea and can act as a raft carrying many other hitchhiking plants and animals with it. And I've even recently recorded rafts of seaweed which normally grows around temperate regions like New Zealand and Chile, crossing south into Antarctic waters. And that makes me think that many plants and animals are actually getting to Antarctica all the time, but simply aren't able to establish at the moment because it's so incredibly cold and inhospitable there. And if that's the case, we can expect to see very big changes in Antarctic ecosystems in the near future. As ice melts and oceans warm, plants and animals will arrive in Antarctica that were never there before. And the species that have been in Antarctica for millions of years could be rapidly outcompeted and replaced. Such changes are going to create very big challenges. How much should we interfere? Should we try to keep Antarctica as it is, protecting its unique plants and animals? Or should we allow and maybe even assist ecological change? Because after all, environments are changing everywhere and many plants and animals are going to have to move to survive. Unfortunately, we don't yet know enough to be able to confidently predict just how ecosystems will change. The disappearance of a tiny worm or a seaweed species could destroy entire fish stocks. We need to urgently prioritise research on Antarctic ecosystems if we're going to be able to predict and manage rapid change in the region. We actually now have top-notch scientific tools for making such predictions. Genomic data will allow us to pinpoint where plants and animals that have reached Antarctica have come from. And combining that information with high-resolution environmental and oceanographic modelling will help to show us where we should focus conservation efforts. But critically, we can't afford to sit around tables arguing for years on end. Decisions about environmental regulation in Antarctica do need to be based on strong scientific evidence but have to be made as rapidly as possible. Antarctic treaty partners and UN organisation colleagues also need to communicate and cooperate more over areas of common interest. To achieve the best possible management and science outcomes and to safeguard the future of Antarctica and of ourselves, we're going to have to learn to get along, to set long-term goals and to coordinate international efforts because while nations continue to bicker for years on end, Antarctica continues to change. Thank you very much.