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Flora and fauna

The islands bordering the Scotia Sea are rocky and partly covered in ice and snow year round; despite these harsh conditions, however, the islands do support vegetation and have been described as the Scotia Sea Islands tundra ecoregion, which includes South Georgia, the volcanic South Sandwich Islands, and the South Orkneys in the Scotia Sea, as well as the remote South Shetland Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula and the small isolated volcano called Bouvet Island. All these islands lie in the cold seas below the Antarctic Convergence. These areas support tundra vegetation consisting of mosses, lichens, and algae, while seabirds, penguins, and seals feed in the surrounding waters.

Seabirds include four species of albatross: black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris), grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma), light-mantled albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata), and wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans). Only five species of birds remain on land on the islands, and these include an endemic race of the yellow-billed pintail duck (Anas georgica) and the endemic South Georgia pipit (Anthus antarcticus). Other birds include the southern giant petrel, with sizeable colonies on Bird Island.

Penguin species found here include large numbers of king penguins on South Georgia especially, as well as chinstrap penguin, macaroni penguin, gentoo penguin, Adelie penguin, and rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome).

Seals include the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) and sub-Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) in large numbers, leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii), the huge southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), and crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus).