1st map of Antarctica's green space unveiled. Here's what it shows.

A tiny seed is stuck between loose gravel and coarse sand. There is nothing else alive around it. All it can see is a wall of ice reaching 20 metres up into the sky. It is cold. Survival is hard around here. In winter, it is dark even during the day. In summer, the sun bakes the ground hard and dry for 24 hours.

The seed was left here by tourists several years ago, who came to see the wonders of the last remaining wilderness on planet Earth: Antarctica.

Life is changing. Warmer temperatures are melting the glaciers and the meltwater allows the seed to start growing. Antarctica is in the grip of some of the world's fastest climate change. Its melting ice could contribute up to 5 meters of sea-level rise. Where the ice disappears, it leaves barren ground behind. By the end of this century, a small country's-worth of land could appear from below the ice.

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New land in Antarctica is colonised by pioneer organisms. The first to appear are algae and cyanobacteria – minuscule organisms tiny enough to fit between sand grains. Here, sheltered from the burning sun rays, the algae live and die and as they normally do, slowly stick the sand particles together to create a surface for other organisms to grow on.

Lichens and mosses follow. They are just a few centimetres tall but compared to other life on Antarctica's shores they look like giants. Once lichens and mosses have made themselves a home, even larger organisms may show up and eventually the plants take hold. Their seeds, if stuck in a soft and moist mossy cushion, proliferate and grow.

Only two plant species are native to Antarctica. Both spread their seeds by wind. This makes them independent from Animals and insects, which aren't needed to carry the pollen or seed to another flower or fresh patch of soil. The wind just blows them there. All these plants need is that bit of moss or lichen to hold on to, so they are not blown away into the cold desert of snow and ice.