How some species survived ice ages has been a question scientist have been trying hard to answer. An international research seems to have found the answer that steam and heat from volcanoes acted as an oasis of life during long extremely cold periods.

Lead researcher Ceridwen Fraser from the Australian National University said volcanic steam has proved quite useful for species. It would have melt ice caves under the glaciers, which made the surroundings warmer than outside.

During this time, caves and warm steam fields would have been great places for species to live safe. "We can learn a lot from looking at the impacts of past climate change as we try to deal with the accelerated change that humans are now causing", said Fraser.

Researchers studied tens of thousands of Antarctic mosses, lichens and bugs. These records were collected for over decades by a number of researchers. After studying them, it was found more species lived closer to volcanoes and very less far away. Aleks Terauds from the Australian Antarctic Division said as one moves closer to volcanoes, he will most probably find more species.

It has been found that Antarctica has at least 16 volcanoes and they are active since the last ice age, 20,000 years ago. Though the research was focused on Antarctica, researchers believe that the findings will help other scientists to know about how species survived past ice ages in other cold regions.

Knowledge of 'hotspots' of diversity will help experts to protect them as already climate change has been affecting Antarctica. It has also been unveiled that around 60% of Antarctic invertebrate species cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study is also supporting the idea that species keep on expanding their ranges.