Project Title

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

Summary

Event Number:
C-511-M
NSF / OPP Award 2224760

Program Director:
Dr. William Ambrose

ASC POC/Implementer:
Ryan Steiner / Jenny Cunningham

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Peter Doran
pdoran@lsu.edu
Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Project Web Site:
https://mcm.lternet.edu/

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

Four participants will deploy from late October to mid-December, basing out of McMurdo Station and then Lake Hoare, Lake Fryxell, and Lake Bonney camps to maintain long-term automated lake monitoring equipment and meteorological stations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The team will also carry out manual measurements of lake properties and perform maintenance on their tracking global positioning system (GPS) station on Taylor Glacier with the assistance of EarthScope personnel and an Antarctic Support Contract mountaineer. Sites will be accessed on foot and via helicopter day trips.

Deploying Team Members