The work during the expedition was planned in close cooperation with the Finnish Antarctic Research Program, FINNARP.
Wasa and Svea
The Wasa Research Station was built at Vestfjella in Dronning Maud Land during the 1988/89 Antarctic Expedition. The station is located at 73°03’S, 13°25’W at the Basen nunatak. Nearby is the Finnish Aboa Research Station that, together with Wasa, constitutes the Nordenskiold Base.
The Svea Research Station was built during the 1987/88 Antarctic Expedition, and was the first Swedish research station in Antarctica built since the Maudheim Station in 1949 and the Snow Hill Station in 1901. Svea is located in the Heimefront Range about 40 metric miles from the coast in the Scharffenbergbotnen niche valley at 74°35’S, 11°13’W. Svea is used periodically during the field season and was the main base for the 1992/93 expedition.
Research
During the expedition, personnel from Swedish Polar Research Secretariat collected specimens for use in studies of the distribution of bdelloid rotifers. These small animal planktons are easily moved by the wind when the water in which they live dries out, but they can recover rapidly if they reach new water. This makes it possible to find the same types of rotifers in multiple places around the world, with one exception: Antarctica, which has species that do not occur anywhere else. The question is: how is that some species that are found in Antarctica are also found elsewhere in the world, while others are not?
Principal investigator
Diego Fontaneto
Swedish Museum of Natural History