Directory

Start date:
Early November
End date:
Mid February
Locations:
Dry Valleys, Taylor Valley, Lake Bonney, Lake Fryxell
Principle Investigator:
Dr. Cristina Takacs-Vesbach
Organisation:
University of New Mexico
State
New Mexico
Initially funded in 1980, the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network is a collaborative effort of more than 1,800 scientists and students. The McMurdo LTER program is a multi-disciplinary aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems study in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is one of 26 LTER sites where researchers are studying ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. This event will focus on microbial ecology, activity, and biodiversity across a variety of Dry Valleys' habitats, including soils, streams, and lakes. This six-year award cycle comprises seven collaborative projects: C-504-M (Gooseff), C-505-M (Priscu), C-506-M (Gooseff), C-507-M (Adams), C-508-M (Takacs-Vesbach), C-509-M (Gooseff), and C-511-M (Doran).
Five participants will deploy in two groups, with one participant deploying between 5 November and 20 December (Takacs-Vesbach), and four deploying between 30 December and 5 February (led by Morgan-Kiss). The group will stay at Lake Bonney and Lake Fryxell fixed camps, and will access field sites with helicopter day trips and on foot. They will process and analyze some samples in Dry Valleys fixed camp laboratories, and will also perform work in Crary Laboratory.