52 ) Iceland at 65
degrees North latitude is home to 870 species of native plants and abundant
various animal life. Compare this with the Isle of Georgia at just 54 degrees
South latitude where there are only 18 species of native plants and animal life
is almost non-existent. The same latitude as Canada or England in the North
where dense forests of various tall trees abound, the infamous Captain Cook
wrote of Georgia that he was unable to find a single shrub large enough to make
a toothpick! Cook wrote, “Not a tree was to be seen. The lands which lie to the
south are doomed by nature to perpetual frigidness - never to feel the warmth
of the sun’s rays; whose horrible and savage aspect I have not words to
describe. Even marine life is sparse in certain tracts of vast extent, and the
sea-bird is seldom observed flying over such lonely wastes. The contrasts
between the limits of organic life in Arctic and Antarctic zones is very
remarkable and significant.”
Latitude is not the only factor that alters climate, or influences the environment, plant and animal life, as explained in Point 50. Why should it be?
The gulf stream makes the UK and western Europe much warmer than areas
in, say, Canada on the same latitude that don’t have a huge flow of warmer
water flowing towards them.
“What's (point 52) even supposed to mean?
1) South Georgia has an area of 4,000km², while Iceland covers 103,000 km².
2) As shown in #50, the northern hemisphere generally is warmer than the south.
3) Iceland is influenced by the warm Gulf Stream, while waters around South Georgia are dominated by the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current resulting in much stronger and colder winds.
4) South Georgia is 2,000 km away from continental mainland, Iceland 1,000 km.
That's why there is no reason to expect anything near an equal amount of wildlife/diversity in South Georgia compared to Iceland.
5) It's called "South Georgia" with "Georgia" being a country in Eurasia.
6) There aren't many trees in Iceland, either.”
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