The Role of Natural Legacy on Ecosystem Structure and Function in a Polar Desert: The Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valley LTER Program

Antarctic marine and terrestrial ecosystem scientists meet at CSU

Kneeling L-R: Maria Sabacka, Peter Doran, Breana Simmons, Tom Cioppa, Berry Lyons, Hugh Ducklow, Ed Ayres, Byron Adams and Chris Gardner
Standing: Kathy Welch, Doug Martinson, Diane McKnight, Andrew Fountain, Diana Wall, Bill Hunt, Sanjay Advani, Langdon Quentin, Jeb Barrett, Robin Ross, Bill Fraser, John Priscu, Martin Montes

A one-day informal workshop was held on September 24, 2006 at Colorado State University (Fort Collins). The day after the LTER All Scientists Meeting, Antarctic investigators gathered at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory to share site overviews and to consider topics of mutual interest. The two participating LTER sites, McMurdo (MCM) and Palmer (PAL), are supported by the NSF Office of Polar Programs in coordination with the Division of Environmental Biology. The meeting, organized by lead PIs Berry Lyons and Hugh Ducklow, was hosted by Diana Wall, an MCM co-pi and Sanjay Advani at CSU, and coordinated by new MCM PI Andrew Fountain.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys comprise a terrestrial site on the Antarctic Continent; Palmer Station is a marine site located off the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Located nearly 2,500 miles apart on opposite sides of Antarctica, they present a unique opportunity for comparative Antarctic studies.

The Antarctic sites share the challenges and opportunities of conducting field programs in a remote and harsh high-latitude arena. At this first meeting, researchers were able to compare research agendas for their field seasons, review recent discussions with the French ‘Zone-Atelier’ project, and consider the upcoming International Polar Year which starts in 2007. Shared themes of interest include: abrupt ecosystem transformations in a changing polar climate, state changes in a polar environment, ecological impacts of changing ice conditions in polar environments, and detection of polar amplification in ecosystem structure and function. And though remote, both remote sites recognize tourism as an important outreach mechanism.

This meeting of 25 U.S. Antarctic researchers addressed how ocean and terrestrial ecosystems are responding to global changes. Discussions about ecosystem processes and the distribution of soil, fauna and flora included summaries about effects of marine inputs on soil communities in the Dry Valleys and of sea ice extent on penguin populations.  The Tribune, a northern Colorado newspaper, reported Diana Wall as saying “This first meeting with researchers from the two LTER sites is paramount because it is a stimulus for future collaborations addressing how climate changes influence Antarctic marine and land ecosystems”. The two ecosystem sites are crucial in understanding regions where life exists at environmental extremes. The sites represent extremes in the spectrum of environments included in the LTER network. Research conducted at both sites has demonstrated the sensitivity of polar region ecosystems to climate change.

Both sites have logistics supported by NSF-OPP and Raytheon Polar Services. However, because of the distance between the two sites and differences in logistics in deploying from New Zealand and Chile, interactions between the researchers have been limited during field seasons that run from November to March. The meeting provided a venue for exploring how to exchange personnel and initiate comparative field studies as well as cross-site synthesis of existing results. Interest in cross-site synthesis efforts was stimulated by identification of specific periods of climate change such as 1990-2000 when PAL was becoming warmer and MCM was becoming colder. In the period after 2000, there were abrupt anomalies when PAL experienced unusual southerly winds, heavy snows, and extensive sea ice while MCM experienced floods.

The work of MCM and PAL occurs in what some have called our first international park. Antarctica, a continent without a government, is recognized as an important scientific laboratory. It is subject to an international treaty that has been the focus of study by political scientist Tom Cioppa. Tom’s work is seen as another integrative element of cross-site interest as political ramifications and human ramifications on high-latitude environments are considered across the Antarctic continent.

This one day meeting served to initiate both scientific discussions between the sites as well as to further planning in terms of network events. The next LTER science council meeting will be held 17-19 May 2007 in Portland Oregon. This meeting will be hosted jointly by MCM and PAL and will provide an opportunity to highlight Antarctic science within the context of the LTER.

Antarctic Research

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