Directory

Start date:
Early November
End date:
Early February
Locations:
Dry Valleys, 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).
Integrative Science
Research team members will reside at fixed camps and access field sites by helicopter and on foot. They will process and analyze some samples in the field but will also perform work in Crary Laboratory, with radioisotopes used in some analyses. The team will also conduct diving operations in Lakes Bonney and Fryxell. Field activities may include: (1) collecting soils, lake water, and sampling microbial mats; (2) diving and snorkeling in moats to deploy benthic chambers, collect benthic mat and sediment samples, and conduct surveys; (3) recording cyanobacterial mat locations in the moats of Lakes Bonney and Fryxell; and (4) conducting the Lake Integrated Connectivity Experiment (LICE) and the transplant Lake Integrated Connectivity Experiment (tLICE).