Project Title

LTER: MCM6: The Roles of Legacy and Ecological Connectivity in a Polar Desert Ecosystem

Summary

Event Number:
C-509-M
NSF / OPP Award 2224760

Program Director:
Dr. William Ambrose

ASC POC/Implementer:
Ryan Steiner / Jenny Cunningham

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Lydia Helen Zeglin
lzeglin@ksu.edu
Manhattan, Kansas

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: McMurdo Dry Valleys

Description

In this iteration of the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research (MCM-LTER) project (MCM6), the team will test ecological connectivity and stability theory in a system subject to strong physical drivers (e.g., geological legacies, extreme seasonality, contemporary climate change) and driven by microbial organisms. The team hypothesizes that the structure and functioning of the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem depends on legacies and the contemporary frequency, duration, and magnitude of ecological connectivity. This hypothesis will be tested with new and continuing monitoring, experiments, and analyses of long-term datasets to examine (1) the stability of these ecosystems as reflected by sentinel taxa; (2) the relationship between ecological legacies and ecosystem resilience; (3) the importance of material carryover during periods of low connectivity to maintaining biological activity and community stability; and (4) how changes in disturbance dynamics disrupt ecological cycles through the polar night. Tests of these hypotheses will occur in field and modeling activities using new and existing long-term datasets.

Field Season Overview

Two participants will stagger their deployments, with one arriving in early December and the other arriving in late December. The team will primarily base out of F6 camp to sample long-term established algal transects, along with newer transects at various locations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The team will modify stream flow at one location as part of an experiment to measure algal mat resilience to hydrological fluctuation at interannual timescales. Following sampling efforts in December and January, one participant will redeploy while the other remains at Crary Lab to process and analyze samples. Additional samples will be packaged for shipment, and the participant will redeploy in mid-February.

Deploying Team Members