No mercy
Doom Traps have devasted every single environment of Antarctica, but not homogeneously.
There's nothing much to say about the Doom Traps' impact in Weddell, Ellsworth and Marie Byrd: these islands are no more and so is their complex biota. There's nothing left, only an infinite barren volcanic desert. Wedducks, stiltpeckers, dodoves, pantters, mariebirds,...they are all just a distant memory. Things of the past.
Lava flows were so large and violent that the three archipelagos don't even exist geographically anymore, now being completely connected to the mainland.
Polarica was the least directly affected antarctic landmass by the eruptions: only some areas concentrated along the Transantarctic Mountains were greatly impacted by large lava flows, which caused the complete destruction of the Day-Night steppe.
The major defaunation of Polarica however was caused by the indirect consequences of the Doom Traps: the volcanic winter.
Ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water released by volcanoes have caused a partial obscuration of the Sun and raised Earth's albedo, causing a decrease of global temperatures of 3°C. The lack of enough sunlight reaching the ground also impacted photosynthesis, leading to massive deforestation in the entire continent, and surely also elsewhere in the globe.
Atmospheric currents were also impacted by the volcanic winter, causing the complete redirection of the main precipitations that occurred in the continent: both internal and coastal regions become arid and cold, like the Belgrano wetlowland: this once humid, warm and rich ecoregion was rapidly converted in a cold dryland in a few decades, decimating native herbivores.
With less prey to eat, large predators were the first ones to perish: vojagers, herdstalkers, large geotters...none was able to survive.
Mesocarnivores' populations exploded, due to the absence of large predators controlling their numbers, leading to an increase of their predation on young herbivorous birds. With recruitment rates set to zero, herbivores entered a severe vortex of extinction, followed then by mesopredators too.
Few animals were able to survive this lethal domino effect. Even insect biomass was depleted, affecting insectivorous birds and mammals.
Not even ocean life was spared by Doom Traps, which transformed the rich antarctic kelp forest of the continental shelf into a toxic submerged desert.
Water temperatures locally rose by 10°C (18°F), triggering algal blooms that have subsequently reduced dissolved oxygen, causing deadly hypoxic (and anoxic) events.
Millions of lifeless sea animals have been washed ashore, from the smallest crab to the largest sea mammal, a horrifying scenario that none would ever want to see with their own eyes.
It's hell, but things are not even at their worse. When the volcanic winter will end, the enormous amounts of greenhouse gases will cause a sharp increase of global temperature, worsening the already precarious conditions. Few species were able to survive the first part of the E.N.D., and even fewer will endure the second part.
Against any evolution law, the END will not be a race won by the fittest...
There're no good adaptations for the apocalypse, except luck.
