| Antarctic
Dry Valleys Snow Project Project Title:Collaborative Research: The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys Project Duration: 15-Aug-2009 - 31-Jul-2012 Principal Investigators: John E. Barrett (Virginia Tech) Michael Gooseff (Penn State University) Cristina Takacs-Vesbach (University of New Mexico) |
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| Overview: It
is generally held that "where there is water, there is life". We
are investigating the control of discontinuous seasonal snow cover on
microbial structure and
biogeochemical cycling in soils across the valley bottoms of the
McMurdo
Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Very little snow falls in the Dry Valleys
during the summer. In the winter, snow is blown in from the polar
plateau, and it collects in topographic low points (behind ridges, in
streambeds, etc.). We expect that these snow packs are important local
controls of soil microbiology and biogeochemical cycling because they
occupy approximately the same locations each year. These snow
packs then slowly ablate during the austral spring and summer.
Most snow appears to be lost to sublimation, and some lost to melt that
infiltrates the underlying soils. Subnivian soils (soils under the snow pack) are likely influenced in several ways by the presence of the snow pack: 1) potential moisture source, 2) insulation during the winter and spring, 3) disconnection from the atmosphere during the winter. We expect that these factors influence the microbial communities under these snow packs, possibly selecting for specfic species, and that the associated biogeochemical cycles within the soils are different than in adjacent soils that are rarely covered by snow. Location: Our
field sites will be within Taylor Valley and Wright Valley, Antarctica. Project
Links: (links will be
come live as we generate these products)
Published Results from this Project: (* indicates student lead author; I indicates invited talk) Publications: Forthcoming... Conference Presentations: Forthcoming... Theses/Dissertations: Forthcoming... Graduate Students:
None yet, but we will be looking for undergraduate researchers soon! Related Links:
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This project is
funded through the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 0830050, 0838879, and 0838922. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation |
