How to survive the apocalypse
The Green Refuges
The END has caused the complete collapse of the antarctic biota, extinguishing a huge number of invertebrates and nearly all the endemic vertebrates. The range of this annihilation can be easily labeled with a polygon, the Ring of Doom, where no terrestrial vertebrates were able to survive. Only Amery Bay, thanks to the protection of large mountains and climate mitigation by the ocean, was less impacted by the effects of the END, maintaining in some areas a (fairly) untouched plant association: these places are called Green Refuges, where most of antarctic life was able to survive.
Three main Green Refuges can be found:
The Clifforest: this forest is located along a coastal mountain range, rich in small humid canyons. Highly steep terrain and lack of substrate allow the growth of few small tree species, but it also makes it impossible for large herbivores to move and feed there. This is where some flying and arboreal species were able to survive in complete isolation for thousands of years.
Pocket Islands: These small islands located on a small volcanic hot spot are roughly the size of Hawaii. They are the only predator-free Green Refuge and their small size never allowed the presence of large herbivores. Lots of continental plants and animals can be found in this archipelago due to its proximity to Polarica; some of these species were able to survive exclusively here during the END, and only in a second moment they dispersed again in Polarica.
Willowcoal Peninsula: here can be found the only planitial forest of Antarctica. It's a highly degraded woodland (50% of plant species were completely lost), but it was able to maintain a closed canopy thanks to the large mountains of Amery Bay, which acted as a barrier from large herbivorous ducktails.
