Latest discoveries from Captain Scott's 1904 expedition to Antarctica could help the current climate change battle, according to experts.

An examination of biological samples returned to Britain by Captain Scott and his crew on the RRS Discovery have now been examined by a team of researchers.

They believe the samples show a global increase of cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, providing a snapshot of conditions on the frozen continent before widespread human activity.

Concentrated clumps of the algae can be toxic and are capable of killing animals or causing serious illness in humans.

Emeritus professor of Microbiology at Dundee University, Geoffrey Codd, said: "These findings from the Discovery Expedition will provide crucial baseline information given the steady global increase in cyanobacterial populations.

"These increases are in response to climate change and the growing human pressures on our water resources.

"Using modern analytical methods, we have identified several cyanobacterial toxins in the material, the earliest evidence of these toxins in Antarctica from a period before any real human influence on the continent and before the current period of increasing evidence for climate change."

The research was published in the European Journal of Phycology on Thursday.