查看文章

Globally, species distributions are shifting in response to environmental change,¹ and those that cannot disperse risk extinction.² Many taxa, including marine species, are showing poleward range shifts as the climate warms.³ In the Southern Hemisphere, however, circumpolar oceanic fronts can present barriers to dispersal.⁴ Although passive, southward movement of species across this barrier has been considered unlikely,^5,6 the recent discovery of buoyant kelp rafts on beaches in Antarctica^7,8 demonstrates that such journeys are possible. Rafting is a key process by which diverse taxa—including terrestrial, e.g., Lindo,⁹ Godinot,¹⁰ and Censky et al.,¹¹ and marine, e.g., Carlton et al.¹² and Gillespie et al.¹³ species—can cross oceans.¹⁴ Kelp rafts can carry passengers^7,15–17 and thus can act as vectors for long-distance dispersal of coastal organisms. The small numbers of kelp rafts previously found in …