Research Objectives:
We plan to study prokaryotic organisms in the permanently ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in order to identify and characterize novel organisms and elucidate those aspects of their genome and metabolism that are critical to understanding their role in biogeochemical cycles. We will use molecular tools in concert with conventional and high-throughput culturing techniques to define representative prokaryotic groups responsible for the contemporary geochemical gradients existing in these lakes.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys form the driest and coldest ecosystem on Earth and, until relatively recently, have been thought to harbor little life. A primary reason for establishing a microbial observatory for these lakes is to understand not only how the environment controls the diversity of organisms, but also how diversity itself controls the way ecosystems function. The McMurdo Dry Valley lake systems lend themselves to answering this question in a unique way. Given their isolation, the lack of higher life forms, and their evolutionary history, these lakes offer a unique experimental arena to search for novel microorganisms and to study the interplay of microbial diversity and ecosystem function.
The results we derive will be significant to the growing body of literature in biodiversity, biotechnology, geobiology, polar ecology, and astrobiology. We will work with existing and new programs to archive the phylogenetic and physiological data we collect so that anyone who is interested can access it easily over the Internet. Strong linkages will be made with the highly visible education, outreach, and human diversity programs supported by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs and the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research Program to yield a project that will have a broad impact on society.
