Melting ice breaks polar food chain

Research has disclosed that numbers of the tiny shrimp-like creatures that prop up the Antarctic marine food chain have fallen by 80 per cent since the 1970s, creating food shortages that are endangering larger animals and birds.
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The decline appears to have been caused by the loss of sea-ice around the frozen continent, and that is believed to be an effect of global warming.
Sea ice is critical to the life cycle of krill, as the ice shelters their larvae from predators and is rich in the algae on which they feed. The ocean around the mountainous continuation of the Andes within the Antarctic Circle, known as the Antarctic Peninsula, is an important breeding ground for krill. It is warming at one of the fastest rates of any location on the planet, with a corresponding reduction in the extent of sea-ice around it.