Invasive species are also of large concern, as is climate change. The impacts of these pollutants on Antarctic species is unknown, but they have been shown to have deleterious affects on humans and wildlife.

Other stressors include pollution in the form of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), particularly DDT, which, even though released into ecosystems thousands of miles away and in many cases decades ago, concentrate in polar regions and bio-accumulate up the food chain. Since the 1950s, overharvesting of fish and krill has also altered these populations, and ongoing overharvesting remains of large concern. These species are still recovering and Antarctica’s ecosystems continue to be shaped by the massive human-induced population declines that occurred in the past. Large-scale whaling in Antarctica began in the early 1900s and similarly saw the populations of many species nearly become extinct. In the late 1700s, early explorers decimated many seal populations, almost wiping out species like the Antarctic fur seal. A 1920s painting by Carl Dornberger of a blue whale being flensed at Whalers Bay.