[{"awards": "2228257 Michaud, Alexander", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.05 -79.28)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ice cores from glaciers and ice sheets provide detailed archives of past environmental conditions, furthering our understanding of Earth\u2019s climate. Microorganisms in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are buried over glaciological time and form a stratigraphy record providing the opportunity of analysis of the order and position of layers of geological events, with potential links to Southern Hemisphere climate. However, microbial cells that land on the ice sheet are subject to the stresses of changing habitat conditions due to burial and conditions associated with long-term isolation in ice. These processes may lead to a loss of fidelity within the stratigraphic record of microbial cells. We know little about how and if microorganisms survive burial and remain alive over glacial-interglacial time periods within an ice sheet. This analysis will identify the viable and preserved community of microorganisms and core genomic adaptation that permit cell viability, which will advance knowledge in the areas of microbiology and glaciology while increasing fidelity of ice core measurements relevant to past climate and potential future global climate impacts. This exploratory endeavor has the potential to be a transformative step toward understanding the ecology of one of the most understudied environments on Earth. The project will partner with the Museum of Science, Boston, to increase public scientific literacy via education and outreach. Additionally, this project will support two early-career scientists and two undergraduates in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of microbiology and climate science. Results from this project will provide the first DNA data based on single-cell whole genomic sequencing from the Antarctic Ice Sheet and inform whether post-depositional processes impact the interpretations of paleoenvironmental conditions from microbes. The goals to determine the taxonomic identity of viable and preserved microbial cells, and decode the genetic repertoire that confers survival of burial and long-term viability within glacial ice, will be achieved by utilizing subsamples from a ~60,000 year old record of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WD) Ice Core. WD samples will be melted using the Desert Research Institute\u2019s ice core melting system that is optimized for glaciobiological sampling. Microbial cells from the meltwater will be sorted using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and individually sorted cells will have their genomes sequenced. The fluorescence-based methods will discern the viable (metabolically active) cells from those cells that are non-viable but preserved in the ice (DNA-containing). The genomic analysis will identify the taxonomy of each cell, presence of known genes that confer survival in permanently frozen environments, and comparatively analyze genomes to determine the core set of genes required by viable cells to persist in an ice sheet. The outcomes of this work will expand the potential for biological measurements and contamination control from archived ice cores. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -112.05, "geometry": "POINT(-112.05 -79.28)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "WAIS Divide; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; ICE SHEETS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; ICE CORE RECORDS", "locations": "WAIS Divide", "north": -79.28, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Michaud, Alexander; Winski, Dominic A.", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.28, "title": "EAGER: ANT LIA: Persist or Perish: Records of Microbial Survival and Long-term Persistence from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "uid": "p0010421", "west": -112.05}, {"awards": "2037963 Smith, Heidi", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 11 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Glacial ice cores serve as a museum back in time, providing detailed records of past climatic conditions. In addition to chronological records such as temperature, chemistry and gas composition, ice provides a unique environment for preserving microbes and other biological materials through time. These microbes provide invaluable insight into the physiological capabilities necessary for survival in the Earth\u2019s cryosphere and other icy planetary bodies, yet little is known about them. This award supports fundamental research into the activity of microbes in ice, and directly supports major research priorities regarding Antarctic biota identified in the 2015 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, A Strategic Vision for NSF Investments in Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research. The broader impacts of this work are that it will be relevant to researchers across paleoclimate and biological fields. It will support two early career researchers, a graduate and an undergraduate student who will conduct laboratory analyses, participate in outreach activities, publish papers in scientific journals and present at conferences. This work will use previously collected ice cores to investigate englacial microbial activity from the Holocene back to the Last Glacial Maximum from the blue ice area of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. The proposal identified making significant contributions to 1) investing how Antarctic organisms evolve and adapt to changing environment, 2) understanding how microbes alter the preservation of paleorecord-relevant gas and trace element information in ice cores, and 3) identifying microbial life in cores and their activity in relation to dust depositional events. Two recently developed complementary techniques (bio-orthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging and deuterium isotope probing) in combination with Raman Confocal Microspectroscopy will be used to assess and quantify microbial activity in ice. During phase one of the project, these methods will be optimized using deaccessioned ice cores available at the National Science Foundation\u2019s Ice Core Facility. In phase two, ice cores in a time series from the Taylor Glacier will be analyzed for geochemistry and microbial activity. Research results will provide a comprehensive view of englacial microbial communities, including their metabolic diversity and activity, and the effect of geochemical parameters on microbial assemblages from different climate periods. Given the dearth of information available on englacial microbial communities, the results of this research will be of particular significance. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Microbial Activity; LABORATORY; Paleoclimate; CAMP; Taylor Glacier; Microbiology; Alaska; ICE CORE RECORDS", "locations": "CAMP; Alaska; Taylor Glacier", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Heidi; Foreman, Christine; Dieser, Markus", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Life in Ice: Probing Microbial Englacial Activity through Time", "uid": "p0010385", "west": null}, {"awards": "0732711 Smith, Craig; 0732917 McCormick, Michael; 0732450 Van Dover, Cindy; 0732983 Vernet, Maria", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60.5 -63.1,-59.99 -63.1,-59.48 -63.1,-58.97 -63.1,-58.46 -63.1,-57.95 -63.1,-57.44 -63.1,-56.93 -63.1,-56.42 -63.1,-55.91 -63.1,-55.4 -63.1,-55.4 -63.29,-55.4 -63.48,-55.4 -63.67,-55.4 -63.86,-55.4 -64.05,-55.4 -64.24,-55.4 -64.43,-55.4 -64.62,-55.4 -64.81,-55.4 -65,-55.91 -65,-56.42 -65,-56.93 -65,-57.44 -65,-57.95 -65,-58.46 -65,-58.97 -65,-59.48 -65,-59.99 -65,-60.5 -65,-60.5 -64.81,-60.5 -64.62,-60.5 -64.43,-60.5 -64.24,-60.5 -64.05,-60.5 -63.86,-60.5 -63.67,-60.5 -63.48,-60.5 -63.29,-60.5 -63.1))", "dataset_titles": "LARISSA: Impact of ice-shelf loss on geochemical profiles and microbial community composition in marine sediments of the Larsen A embayment, Antarctic Peninsula; NBP1001 cruise data; NBP1203 cruise data; Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601073", "doi": "10.15784/601073", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; LARISSA; Microbiology", "people": "McCormick, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "LARISSA: Impact of ice-shelf loss on geochemical profiles and microbial community composition in marine sediments of the Larsen A embayment, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601073"}, {"dataset_uid": "000142", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1001 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1001"}, {"dataset_uid": "000143", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1203 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1203"}, {"dataset_uid": "601304", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; Megafauna; NBP1203; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601304"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "A profound transformation in ecosystem structure and function is occurring in coastal waters of the western Weddell Sea, with the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. This transformation appears to be yielding a redistribution of energy flow between chemoautotrophic and photosynthetic production, and to be causing the rapid demise of the extraordinary seep ecosystem discovered beneath the ice shelf. This event provides an ideal opportunity to examine fundamental aspects of ecosystem transition associated with climate change. We propose to test the following hypotheses to elucidate the transformations occurring in marine ecosystems as a consequence of the Larsen B collapse: (1) The biogeographic isolation and sub-ice shelf setting of the Larsen B seep has led to novel habitat characteristics, chemoautotrophically dependent taxa and functional adaptations. (2) Benthic communities beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf are fundamentally different from assemblages at similar depths in the Weddell sea-ice zone, and resemble oligotrophic deep-sea communities. Larsen B assemblages are undergoing rapid change. (3) The previously dark, oligotrophic waters of the Larsen B embayment now support a thriving phototrophic community, with production rates and phytoplankton composition similar to other productive areas of the Weddell Sea. To document rapid changes occurring in the Larsen B ecosystem, we will use a remotely operated vehicle, shipboard samplers, and moored sediment traps. We will characterize microbial, macrofaunal and megafaunal components of the seep community; evaluate patterns of surface productivity, export flux, and benthic faunal composition in areas previously covered by the ice shelf, and compare these areas to the open sea-ice zone. These changes will be placed within the geological, glaciological and climatological context that led to ice-shelf retreat, through companion research projects funded in concert with this effort. Together these projects will help predict the likely consequences of ice-shelf collapse to marine ecosystems in other regions of Antarctica vulnerable to climate change. The research features international collaborators from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The broader impacts include participation of a science writer; broadcast of science segments by members of the Jim Lehrer News Hour (Public Broadcasting System); material for summer courses in environmental change; mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and showcasing scientific activities and findings to students and public through podcasts.", "east": -55.4, "geometry": "POINT(-57.95 -64.05)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NBP1203; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Species Abundance Data; R/V NBP; Antarctic Peninsula; NBP1001; USA/NSF; AMD; Antarctica; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Larsen Ice Shelf", "north": -63.1, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McCormick, Michael; Vernet, Maria; Van Dover, Cindy; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LARISSA", "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research in IPY: Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System, a Multidisciplinary Approach - Marine Ecosystems.", "uid": "p0010135", "west": -60.5}, {"awards": "1644187 Tulaczyk, Slawek", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -76.9,161.75 -76.9,162.5 -76.9,163.25 -76.9,164 -76.9,164.75 -76.9,165.5 -76.9,166.25 -76.9,167 -76.9,167.75 -76.9,168.5 -76.9,168.5 -77.04,168.5 -77.18,168.5 -77.32,168.5 -77.46,168.5 -77.6,168.5 -77.74,168.5 -77.88,168.5 -78.02,168.5 -78.16,168.5 -78.3,167.75 -78.3,167 -78.3,166.25 -78.3,165.5 -78.3,164.75 -78.3,164 -78.3,163.25 -78.3,162.5 -78.3,161.75 -78.3,161 -78.3,161 -78.16,161 -78.02,161 -77.88,161 -77.74,161 -77.6,161 -77.46,161 -77.32,161 -77.18,161 -77.04,161 -76.9))", "dataset_titles": "ANTAEM project airborne EM resistivity data from McMurdo Region", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601373", "doi": "10.15784/601373", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys; Hydrology; Ice Shelf; McMurdo; Permafrost", "people": "Tulaczyk, Slawek", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "ANTAEM project airborne EM resistivity data from McMurdo Region", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601373"}], "date_created": "Sun, 13 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "In Antarctica, millions of years of freezing have led to the development of hundreds of meters of thick permafrost (i.e., frozen ground). Recent research demonstrated that this slow freezing has trapped and concentrated water into local and regional briny aquifers, many times more salty than seawater. Because salt depresses the freezing point of water, these saline brines are able to persist as liquid water at temperatures well below the normal freezing point of freshwater. Such unusual groundwater systems may support microbial life, supply nutrients to coastal ocean and ice-covered lakes, and influence motion of glaciers. These briny aquifers also represent potential terrestrial analogs for deep life habitats on other planets, such as Mars, and provide a testing ground for the search for extraterrestrial water. Whereas much effort has been invested in understanding the physics, chemistry, and biology of surface and near-surface waters in cold polar regions, it has been comparably difficult to investigate deep subsurface aquifers in such settings. Airborne ElectroMagnetics (AEM) subsurface imaging provides an efficient way for mapping salty groundwater. An international collaboration with the University of Aarhus in Denmark will enable knowledge and skill transfer in AEM techniques that will enhance US polar research capabilities and provide US undergraduates and graduate students with unique training experiences. This project will survey over 1000 km2 of ocean and land near McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and will reveal if cold polar deserts hide a subsurface pool of liquid water. This will have significant implications for understanding cold polar glaciers, ice-covered lakes, frozen ground, and polar microbiology as well as for predictions of their response to future change. Improvements in permafrost mapping techniques and understanding of permafrost and of underlying groundwaters will benefit human use of high polar regions in the Antarctic and the Arctic. The project will provide the first integrative system-scale overview of subsurface water distribution and hydrological connectivity in a partly ice-free coastal region of Antarctica, the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Liquid water is relatively scarce in this environment but plays an outsized role by influencing, and integrating, biological, biogeochemical, glaciological, and geological processes. Whereas surface hydrology and its role in ecosystem processes has been thoroughly studied over the last several decades, it has been difficult to map out and characterize subsurface water reservoirs and to understand their interactions with regional lakes, glaciers, and coastal waters. The proposed project builds on the \"proof-of-concept\" use of AEM technology in 2011. Improvements in sensor and data processing capabilities will result in about double the depth of penetration of the subsurface during the new data collection when compared to the 2011 proof-of-concept survey, which reached depths of 300-400m. The first field season will focus on collecting deep soundings with a ground-based system in key locations where: (i) independent constraints on subsurface structure exist from past drilling projects, and (ii) the 2011 resistivity dataset indicates the need for deeper penetration and high signal-to-noise ratios achievable only with a ground-based system. The regional airborne survey will take place during the second field season and will yield subsurface electrical resistivity data from across several valleys of different sizes and different ice cover fractions.", "east": 168.5, "geometry": "POINT(164.75 -77.6)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FROZEN GROUND; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; HELICOPTER; GROUND WATER; RIVERS/STREAMS; Dry Valleys", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -76.9, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tulaczyk, Slawek; Mikucki, Jill", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e ROTORCRAFT/HELICOPTER \u003e HELICOPTER", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.3, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Airborne ElectroMagnetics (ANTAEM) - Revealing Subsurface Water in Coastal Antarctica", "uid": "p0010129", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1620976 Johnson, Sarah", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -77,160.3 -77,160.6 -77,160.9 -77,161.2 -77,161.5 -77,161.8 -77,162.1 -77,162.4 -77,162.7 -77,163 -77,163 -77.1,163 -77.2,163 -77.3,163 -77.4,163 -77.5,163 -77.6,163 -77.7,163 -77.8,163 -77.9,163 -78,162.7 -78,162.4 -78,162.1 -78,161.8 -78,161.5 -78,161.2 -78,160.9 -78,160.6 -78,160.3 -78,160 -78,160 -77.9,160 -77.8,160 -77.7,160 -77.6,160 -77.5,160 -77.4,160 -77.3,160 -77.2,160 -77.1,160 -77))", "dataset_titles": "GenBank Sequence Read Archive with accession numbers SRR8217969 - SRR8217976 and project accession PRJNA506221", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200164", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "GenBank Sequence Read Archive with accession numbers SRR8217969 - SRR8217976 and project accession PRJNA506221", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA506221/"}], "date_created": "Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Despite recent advances, we still know little about how life and its traces persist in extremely harsh conditions. What survival strategies do cells employ when pushed to their limit? Using a new technique, this project will investigate whether Antarctic paleolakes harbor \"microbial seed banks,\" or caches of viable microbes adapted to past paleoenvironments that could help transform our understanding of how cells survive over ancient timescales. Findings from this investigation could also illuminate novel DNA repair pathways with possible biomedical and biotechnology applications and help to refine life detection strategies for Mars. The project will bring Antarctic research to Georgetown University\u0027s campus for the first time, providing training opportunities in cutting edge analytical techniques for multiple students and a postdoctoral fellow. The field site will be the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which provide an unrivaled opportunity to investigate fundamental questions about the persistence of microbial life. Multiple lines of evidence, from interbedded and overlying ashfall deposits to parameterized models, suggest that the large-scale landforms there have remained essentially fixed as far back as the middle of the Miocene Epoch (i.e., ~8 million years ago). This geologic stability, coupled with geographic isolation and a steady polar climate, mean that biological activity has probably undergone few qualitative changes over the last one to two million years. The team will sample paleolake facies using sterile techniques from multiple Dry Valleys sites and extract DNA from entombed organic material. Genetic material will then be sequenced using Pacific Biosciences\u0027 Single Molecule, Real-Time DNA sequencing technology, which sequences native DNA as opposed to amplified DNA, thereby eliminating PCR primer bias, and enables read lengths that have never before been possible. The data will be analyzed with a range of bioinformatic techniques, with results that stand to impact our understanding of cell biology, Antarctic paleobiology, microbiology and biogeography, biotechnology, and planetary science.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(161.5 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; CYANOBACTERIA (BLUE-GREEN ALGAE); LABORATORY; Dry Valleys", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Johnson, Sarah", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "EAGER: Single-Molecule DNA Sequencing of Antarctic Paleolakes", "uid": "p0010125", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1543396 Christner, Brent; 1543453 Lyons, W. Berry; 1543537 Priscu, John; 1543441 Fricker, Helen; 1543347 Rosenheim, Brad; 1543405 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-163.611 -84.33543,-162.200034 -84.33543,-160.789068 -84.33543,-159.378102 -84.33543,-157.967136 -84.33543,-156.55617 -84.33543,-155.145204 -84.33543,-153.734238 -84.33543,-152.323272 -84.33543,-150.912306 -84.33543,-149.50134 -84.33543,-149.50134 -84.3659157,-149.50134 -84.3964014,-149.50134 -84.4268871,-149.50134 -84.4573728,-149.50134 -84.4878585,-149.50134 -84.5183442,-149.50134 -84.5488299,-149.50134 -84.5793156,-149.50134 -84.6098013,-149.50134 -84.640287,-150.912306 -84.640287,-152.323272 -84.640287,-153.734238 -84.640287,-155.145204 -84.640287,-156.55617 -84.640287,-157.967136 -84.640287,-159.378102 -84.640287,-160.789068 -84.640287,-162.200034 -84.640287,-163.611 -84.640287,-163.611 -84.6098013,-163.611 -84.5793156,-163.611 -84.5488299,-163.611 -84.5183442,-163.611 -84.4878585,-163.611 -84.4573728,-163.611 -84.4268871,-163.611 -84.3964014,-163.611 -84.3659157,-163.611 -84.33543))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ01-WIS_GroundingZone_01 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ13-WIS_GroundingZone_13 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA02-WIS_LAKES_02 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA06-WIS_LAKES_06 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA07-WIS_LAKES_07 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA09-WIS_LAKES_09 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Bistatic Radar Sounding of Whillans Ice Stream, Antarctica and Store Glacier, Greenland; CTD data from Mercer Subglacial Lake and access borehole; Discrete bulk sediment properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake; Isotopic data from Whillans Ice Stream grounding zone, West Antarctica; Mercer Subglacial Lake radiocarbon and stable isotope data ; Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) microbial composition: 16S rRNA genes (Sequence Read Archive; BioProject: PRJNA790995); Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) noble gas and isotopic data; Mercer Subglacial Lake water column viral metagenomic sequencing; Salsa sediment cores; Sediment porewater properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake; Water column biogeochemical data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200215", "doi": "10.7283/C503-KS23", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA06-WIS_LAKES_06 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/C503-KS23"}, {"dataset_uid": "200212", "doi": "10.7283/PT0Q-JB95", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ01-WIS_GroundingZone_01 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/PT0Q-JB95"}, {"dataset_uid": "200213", "doi": "10.7283/F7BB-JH05", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ13-WIS_GroundingZone_13 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/F7BB-JH05"}, {"dataset_uid": "200214", "doi": "10.7283/YW8Z-TK03", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA02-WIS_LAKES_02 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/YW8Z-TK03"}, {"dataset_uid": "200216", "doi": "10.7283/F8NH-CV04", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA07-WIS_LAKES_07 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/F8NH-CV04"}, {"dataset_uid": "601498", "doi": "10.15784/601498", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Noble Gas", "people": "Lyons, W. Berry; Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) noble gas and isotopic data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601498"}, {"dataset_uid": "200282", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) microbial composition: 16S rRNA genes (Sequence Read Archive; BioProject: PRJNA790995)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA790995"}, {"dataset_uid": "601657", "doi": "10.15784/601657", "keywords": "Antarctica; Conductivity; CTD; Depth; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Hot Water Drill; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Physical Properties; SALSA; Subglacial Lake; Temperature", "people": "Priscu, John; Rosenheim, Brad; Leventer, Amy; Dore, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD data from Mercer Subglacial Lake and access borehole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601657"}, {"dataset_uid": "200246", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OSU-MGR", "science_program": null, "title": "Salsa sediment cores", "url": "https://osu-mgr.org"}, {"dataset_uid": "601360", "doi": "10.15784/601360", "keywords": "Antarctica; Radiocarbon; Sediment; Whillans Ice Stream", "people": "Venturelli, Ryan A", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Isotopic data from Whillans Ice Stream grounding zone, West Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601360"}, {"dataset_uid": "601672", "doi": "10.15784/601672", "keywords": "Antarctica; Isotope; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Radiocarbon; Subglacial Lake", "people": "Venturelli, Ryan; Rosenheim, Brad", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake radiocarbon and stable isotope data ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601672"}, {"dataset_uid": "200342", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake water column viral metagenomic sequencing", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/32811410"}, {"dataset_uid": "200217", "doi": "10.7283/3JMY-Y504", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA09-WIS_LAKES_09 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/3JMY-Y504"}, {"dataset_uid": "601664", "doi": "10.15784/601664", "keywords": "Antarctica; Gas; Geochemistry; Glacier; Glaciology; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Methane; SALSA; Sediment Core; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Michaud, Alexander; Dore, John; Science Team, SALSA; Steigmeyer, August; Tranter, Martyn; Skidmore, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sediment porewater properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601664"}, {"dataset_uid": "601663", "doi": "10.15784/601663", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Cell Counts; Geochemistry; Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Microbes; Nutrients; SALSA; Stable Isotopes; Trace Elements; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Steigmeyer, August; Hawkings, Jon; Skidmore, Mark; Dore, John; Science Team, SALSA; Priscu, John; Tranter, Martyn; Barker, Joel; Li, Wei", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Water column biogeochemical data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601663"}, {"dataset_uid": "601661", "doi": "10.15784/601661", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Iron; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Mineralogy; Particle Size; Physical Properties; SALSA; Sediment Core; Sulfur; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Campbell, Timothy; Dore, John; Michaud, Alexander; Hawkings, Jon; Skidmore, Mark; Tranter, Martyn; Venturelli, Ryan A; Science Team, SALSA", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Discrete bulk sediment properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601661"}, {"dataset_uid": "601472", "doi": "10.15784/601472", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bistatic Radar; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPS Data; Greenland; Lake Whillans; Radar; Store Glacier; Whillans Ice Stream; WISSARD", "people": "Christoffersen, Poul; Peters, Sean; Bienert, Nicole; Siegfried, Matthew; Schroeder, Dustin; Dawson, Eliza; MacKie, Emma", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Bistatic Radar Sounding of Whillans Ice Stream, Antarctica and Store Glacier, Greenland", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601472"}], "date_created": "Thu, 16 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website. Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis \"Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments\". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.", "east": -149.50134, "geometry": "POINT(-156.55617 -84.4878585)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENTS; Antarctica; ISOTOPES; Subglacial Lake; USAP-DC; VIRUSES; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; LABORATORY; Radiocarbon; Whillans Ice Stream; AMD; SALSA; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; RADIOCARBON; FIELD INVESTIGATION; ICE MOTION; Mercer Ice Stream; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS", "locations": "Antarctica; Mercer Ice Stream; Whillans Ice Stream", "north": -84.33543, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rosenheim, Brad; Fricker, Helen; Priscu, John; Leventer, Amy; Dore, John; Lyons, W. Berry; Christner, Brent", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "UNAVCO", "repositories": "GenBank; NCBI GenBank; OSU-MGR; UNAVCO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.640287, "title": "Collaborative Research: Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA): Integrated Study of Carbon Cycling in Hydrologically-active Subglacial Environments", "uid": "p0010119", "west": -163.611}, {"awards": "1419979 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166.65 -78.62,166.654 -78.62,166.658 -78.62,166.662 -78.62,166.666 -78.62,166.67 -78.62,166.674 -78.62,166.678 -78.62,166.682 -78.62,166.686 -78.62,166.69 -78.62,166.69 -78.6205,166.69 -78.621,166.69 -78.6215,166.69 -78.622,166.69 -78.6225,166.69 -78.623,166.69 -78.6235,166.69 -78.624,166.69 -78.6245,166.69 -78.625,166.686 -78.625,166.682 -78.625,166.678 -78.625,166.674 -78.625,166.67 -78.625,166.666 -78.625,166.662 -78.625,166.658 -78.625,166.654 -78.625,166.65 -78.625,166.65 -78.6245,166.65 -78.624,166.65 -78.6235,166.65 -78.623,166.65 -78.6225,166.65 -78.622,166.65 -78.6215,166.65 -78.621,166.65 -78.6205,166.65 -78.62))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The PIs will design and build a new rapid access ice drill (RAID) for use in Antarctica. This drill will have the ability to rapidly drill through ice up to 3300 m thick and then collect samples of the ice, ice-sheet bed interface, and bedrock substrate below. This drilling technology will provide a new way to obtain in situ measurements and samples for interdisciplinary studies in geology, glaciology, paleoclimatology, microbiology, and astrophysics. The RAID drilling platform will give the scientific community access to records of geologic and climatic change on a variety of timescales, from the billion-year rock record to thousand-year ice and climate histories. Successful development of the RAID system will provide a research tool that is currently unavailable. Development of this platform will enable scientists to address critical questions about the deep interface between the Antarctic ice sheets and the substrate below. Development of RAID will provide a way to address many of the unknowns associated with general stability of the Antarctic ice sheets in the face of changing climate and sea level rise. The scientific rationale for RAID was reviewed in a previous proposal (Goodge 1242027). The PIs were granted ?Phase I? funding to develop a more detailed conceptual design for the RAID drill that would provide a better understanding of construction costs as well as operation and maintenance costs for RAID once it is constructed. Phase I support also allowed the PIs to work with the research community to develop more detailed science requirements for the drill. This proposal requests continued funding (Phase II) to construct, assemble and test the RAID drilling platform, through to staging it in Antarctic for future scientific operations.", "east": 166.69, "geometry": "POINT(166.67 -78.6225)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "WAIS Divide Ice Core; ICE CORE AIR BUBBLES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USAP-DC; Minna Bluff", "locations": "Minna Bluff", "north": -78.62, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.625, "title": "Collaborative Research: Phase 2 Development of A Rapid Access Ice Drilling (RAID) Platform for Research in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010099", "west": 166.65}, {"awards": "1056396 Morgan-Kiss, Rachael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Genetic sequence identifier: Accession Numbers: GU132860-GU132939; JN091926-JN091960; JQ9243533-JQ924384; KJ848331-KJ848439; KU196097-KU196166; PRJNA396917", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000241", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Genetic sequence identifier: Accession Numbers: GU132860-GU132939; JN091926-JN091960; JQ9243533-JQ924384; KJ848331-KJ848439; KU196097-KU196166; PRJNA396917", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 26 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This CAREER proposal will support an early career female PI to establish an integrated research and education program in the fields of polar biology and environmental microbiology, focusing on single-celled eukaryotes (protists) in high latitude ice-covered Antarctic lakes systems. Protists play important roles in energy flow and material cycling, and act as both primary producers (fixing inorganic carbon by photosynthesis) and consumers (preying on bacteria by phagotrophic digestion). The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) located in Victoria Land, Antarctica, harbor microbial communities which are isolated in the unique aquatic ecosystem of perennially ice-capped lakes. The lakes support exclusively microbial consortia in chemically stratified water columns that are not influenced by seasonal mixing, allochthonous inputs, or direct human impact. This project will exploit permanently stratified biogeochemistry that is unique across the water columns of several MDV lakes to address gaps in our understanding of protist trophic function in aquatic food webs. The proposed research will examine (1) the impact of permanent biogeochemical gradients on protist trophic strategy, (2) the effect of major abiotic drivers (light and nutrients) on the distribution of two key mixotrophic and photoautotrophic protist species, and (3) the effect of episodic nutrient pulses on mixotroph communities in high latitude (ultraoligotrophic) MDV lakes versus low latitude (eutrophic) watersheds. The project will impact the fields of microbial ecology and environmental microbiology by combining results from field, laboratory and in situ incubation studies to synthesize new models for the protist trophic roles in the aquatic food web. The research component of this proposed project will be tightly integrated with the development of two new education activities designed to exploit the inherent excitement associated with polar biological research. The educational objectives are: 1) to establish a teaching module in polar biology in a core undergraduate course for microbiology majors; 2) to develop an instructional module to engage middle school girls in STEM disciplines. Undergraduates and middle school girls will also work with a doctoral student on his experiments in local Ohio watersheds.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Morgan-Kiss, Rachael", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "CAREER:Protist Nutritional Strategies in Permanently Stratified Antarctic Lakes", "uid": "p0000310", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1141978 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -76,160.1 -76,160.2 -76,160.3 -76,160.4 -76,160.5 -76,160.6 -76,160.7 -76,160.8 -76,160.9 -76,161 -76,161 -76.1,161 -76.2,161 -76.3,161 -76.4,161 -76.5,161 -76.6,161 -76.7,161 -76.8,161 -76.9,161 -77,160.9 -77,160.8 -77,160.7 -77,160.6 -77,160.5 -77,160.4 -77,160.3 -77,160.2 -77,160.1 -77,160 -77,160 -76.9,160 -76.8,160 -76.7,160 -76.6,160 -76.5,160 -76.4,160 -76.3,160 -76.2,160 -76.1,160 -76))", "dataset_titles": "FT-ICR MS Metadata; Respiration Metadata; UPLC-Q-TOF data of Cotton Glacier exometabolites", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601089", "doi": "10.15784/601089", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Exometabolites; Mass Spectrometry; Microbes; Microbiology", "people": "Foreman, Christine; Tigges, Michelle; Bothner, Brian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "UPLC-Q-TOF data of Cotton Glacier exometabolites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601089"}, {"dataset_uid": "601077", "doi": "10.15784/601077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry", "people": "Foreman, Christine; D\u0027Andrilli, Juliana", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "FT-ICR MS Metadata", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601077"}, {"dataset_uid": "601076", "doi": "10.15784/601076", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry", "people": "Foreman, Christine; Smith, Heidi", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Respiration Metadata", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601076"}], "date_created": "Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Uncovering the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to an understanding of the global carbon cycle, as organic material from lakes, streams, oceans and soils passes through this pool. DOM acts as a key energy source for microbes in many ecosystems and therefore can affect regional nutrient cycling patterns. For example, preliminary results suggest that organisms isolated from a supraglacial stream on Cotton Glacier, Antarctica, may be important in DOM cycling in this relatively simple, low temperature system. However, little is known about the functional attributes of the microbes that interact with DOM in the environment. This project will use state-of-the-art genomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to understand the mechanisms by which two microbial isolates, CG3 and CG9_1, affect DOM cycling. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will also be used to better characterize the microbially-derived DOM from this ecosystem. This project will support the research and training of one undergraduate and two graduate students. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Understanding the relationship between cold-adapted microbial metabolisms and DOM pools is important as more than 90% of the Earth?s oceans are below 5 degrees Celsius.", "east": 161.0, "geometry": "POINT(160.5 -76.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine; Bothner, Brian", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "Multidimensional \"omics\" characterization of microbial metabolism and dissolved organic matter in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000408", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "0838970 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.667 -77.117)", "dataset_titles": "The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600104", "doi": "10.15784/600104", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Microbiology", "people": "Foreman, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600104"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant pool of Earth\u0027s organic carbon that dwarfs the amount present in living aquatic organisms. The properties and reactivity of DOM are not well defined, and the evolution of autochthonous DOM from its precursor materials in freshwater has not been observed. Recent sampling of a supraglacial stream formed on the Cotton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains revealed DOM that more closely resembles an assemblage of recognizable precursor organic compounds, based upon its UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. It is suggested that the DOM from this water evolved over time to resemble materials present in marine and many inland surface waters. The transient nature of the system i.e., it reforms seasonally, also prevents any accumulation of the refractory DOM present in most surface waters. Thus, the Cotton Glacier provides us with a unique environment to study the formation of DOM from precursor materials. An interdisciplinary team will study the biogeochemistry of this progenitor DOM and how microbes modify it. By focusing on the chemical composition of the DOM as it shifts from precursor material to the more humified fractions, the investigators will relate this transition to bioavailability, enzymatic activity, community composition and microbial growth efficiency. This project will support education at all levels, K-12, high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc and will increase participation by under-represented groups in science. Towards these goals, the investigators have established relationships with girls\u0027 schools and Native American programs. Additional outreach will be carried out in coordination with PolarTREC, PolarPalooza, and if possible, an Antarctic Artist and Writer.", "east": 161.667, "geometry": "POINT(161.667 -77.117)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.117, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.117, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000458", "west": 161.667}, {"awards": "1043265 Deming, Jody", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.1397 -77.14085,162.828507 -77.14085,163.517314 -77.14085,164.206121 -77.14085,164.894928 -77.14085,165.583735 -77.14085,166.272542 -77.14085,166.961349 -77.14085,167.650156 -77.14085,168.338963 -77.14085,169.02777 -77.14085,169.02777 -77.200745,169.02777 -77.26064,169.02777 -77.320535,169.02777 -77.38043,169.02777 -77.440325,169.02777 -77.50022,169.02777 -77.560115,169.02777 -77.62001,169.02777 -77.679905,169.02777 -77.7398,168.338963 -77.7398,167.650156 -77.7398,166.961349 -77.7398,166.272542 -77.7398,165.583735 -77.7398,164.894928 -77.7398,164.206121 -77.7398,163.517314 -77.7398,162.828507 -77.7398,162.1397 -77.7398,162.1397 -77.679905,162.1397 -77.62001,162.1397 -77.560115,162.1397 -77.50022,162.1397 -77.440325,162.1397 -77.38043,162.1397 -77.320535,162.1397 -77.26064,162.1397 -77.200745,162.1397 -77.14085))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The relatively pristine Antarctic continent with its extensive maritime zone represents a unique location on the planet to investigate the long distance aerial transport and deposition of marine microorganisms. The vast extent of new sea ice that forms each winter around the continent results in large numbers of frost flowers, delicate ice-crystal structures of high salt content that form on the surface of the ice and are readily dispersed by wind. The proposed research builds on earlier work in the Arctic and tests the new hypothesis that wind-borne frost flowers provide an effective mechanism for the transport of marine bacteria over long distances, one that can be uniquely sourced and tracked by the frost flower salt signature in the Antarctic realm. A highly resolved genomic snapshot of the microbial community will be acquired at each stage in the transport path, which will track decreasing fractions of the marine microbial community as it freezes into sea ice, incorporates into frost flowers, converts to aerosols, and ultimately deposits within continental snowpack. En route from sea ice to snowpack, marine bacteria will be exposed to an array of environmental stresses, including high salinity, low temperatures, UV light and potential desiccation. A parallel proteomic analysis will enable an evaluation of the microbial response to these extreme conditions and potential survival mechanisms that allow persistence or eventual colonization of deposition sites across Antarctica. Current understanding of microbes in the Antarctic atmosphere is based on a limited number of microscopic and culture-based assays and a single report of low-resolution 16S RNA gene sequence analysis. The research will broadly impact understanding of atmospheric microbiology, from source to deposition, and various issues of microbial survival, colonization, endemism, and diversity under extreme conditions. In addition to venues that reach the scientific community, the research team will develop a permanent multi-media and artifact-based exhibit on Antarctic Microbial Transport that will be showcased at Seattle\u0027s Pacific Science Center (PSC), which educates nearly a million visitors annually.", "east": 169.02777, "geometry": "POINT(165.583735 -77.440325)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.14085, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Deming, Jody", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7398, "title": "High Resolution Genomic and Proteomic Analyses of a Microbial Transport Mechanism from Antarctic Marine Waters to Permanent Snowpack", "uid": "p0000356", "west": 162.1397}, {"awards": "0839122 Saltzman, Eric; 0839093 McConnell, Joseph; 0839075 Priscu, John", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(112.05 -79.28)", "dataset_titles": "Fluorescence spectroscopy data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, WDC06A; Holocene Black Carbon in Antarctica; Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Prokaryotic cell concentration record from the WAIS Divide ice core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601006", "doi": "10.15784/601006", "keywords": "Antarctica; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Physical Properties; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Priscu, John; D\u0027Andrilli, Juliana", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Fluorescence spectroscopy data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, WDC06A", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601006"}, {"dataset_uid": "601072", "doi": "10.15784/601072", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cell Counts; Glaciology; Microbiology; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Santibanez, Pamela; Priscu, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Prokaryotic cell concentration record from the WAIS Divide ice core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601072"}, {"dataset_uid": "601034", "doi": "10.15784/601034", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Black Carbon; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Arienzo, Monica; McConnell, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Holocene Black Carbon in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601034"}, {"dataset_uid": "601361", "doi": "10.15784/601361", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbonyl Sulfide; Trace Gases", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601361"}], "date_created": "Fri, 30 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to use the WAIS Divide deep core to investigate the Last Deglaciation at sub-annual resolution through an integrated set of chemical and biological analyses. The intellectual merit of the project is that these analyses, combined with others, will take advantage of the high snow accumulation WAIS Divide site yielding the highest time resolution glacio-biogeochemical and gas record of any deep Antarctic ice core. With other high resolution Greenland cores (GISP2 and GRIP) and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change. The proposed chemical, biological, and elemental tracer measurements will also be used to address all of the WAIS Divide science themes. The broader impacts of the project include education and outreach activities such as numerous presentations to local K-12 students; opportunities for student and teacher involvement in the laboratory work; a teacher training program in Earth sciences in the heavily minority Santa Ana, Compton, and Costa Mesa, California school districts; and development of high school curricula. Extensive graduate and undergraduate student involvement also is planned and will include one post doctoral associate, one graduate student, and undergraduate hourly involvement at DRI; a graduate student and undergraduates at University of California, Irvine (UCI); and a post doctoral fellow at MSU. Student recruitment will be made from underrepresented groups building on a long track record of involvement and will include the NSF funded California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) and the Montana American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award does not involve field work in Antarctica.", "east": 112.05, "geometry": "POINT(112.05 -79.28)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e CARBON ANALYZERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e WAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e ICE CORE MELTER; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e PHOTOMETERS \u003e SPECTROPHOTOMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Bacteria Ice Core; LABORATORY; Ice Core; FIELD INVESTIGATION; West Antarctica; Not provided; Dissolved Organic Carbon", "locations": "West Antarctica", "north": -79.28, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY", "persons": "Foreman, Christine; Skidmore, Mark; Saltzman, Eric; McConnell, Joseph; Priscu, John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.28, "title": "Collaborative Research: Integrated High Resolution Chemical and Biological Measurements on the Deep WAIS Divide Core", "uid": "p0000273", "west": 112.05}, {"awards": "0838830 Cottrell, Matthew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.079666 -64.77966,-64.07576590000001 -64.77966,-64.0718658 -64.77966,-64.0679657 -64.77966,-64.0640656 -64.77966,-64.06016550000001 -64.77966,-64.0562654 -64.77966,-64.0523653 -64.77966,-64.04846520000001 -64.77966,-64.0445651 -64.77966,-64.040665 -64.77966,-64.040665 -64.78326100000001,-64.040665 -64.786862,-64.040665 -64.790463,-64.040665 -64.794064,-64.040665 -64.797665,-64.040665 -64.801266,-64.040665 -64.804867,-64.040665 -64.808468,-64.040665 -64.812069,-64.040665 -64.81567,-64.0445651 -64.81567,-64.04846520000001 -64.81567,-64.0523653 -64.81567,-64.0562654 -64.81567,-64.06016550000001 -64.81567,-64.0640656 -64.81567,-64.0679657 -64.81567,-64.0718658 -64.81567,-64.07576590000001 -64.81567,-64.079666 -64.81567,-64.079666 -64.812069,-64.079666 -64.808468,-64.079666 -64.804867,-64.079666 -64.801266,-64.079666 -64.797665,-64.079666 -64.794064,-64.079666 -64.790463,-64.079666 -64.786862,-64.079666 -64.78326100000001,-64.079666 -64.77966))", "dataset_titles": "Photoheterotrophic Microbes in the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600097", "doi": "10.15784/600097", "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; LTER Palmer Station; Microbiology; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Kirchman, David; Cottrell, Matthew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Photoheterotrophic Microbes in the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600097"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eLight quality and availability are likely to change in polar ecosystems as ice coverage and thickness decrease. How microbes adjust to these and other changes will have huge impacts on the polar marine ecosystems. Little is known about photoheterotrophic prokaryotes, which are hypothesized to gain a metabolic advantage by harvesting light energy in addition to utilizing dissolved organic matter (DOM). Photoheterotrophy is not included in current models of carbon cycling and energy flow. This research will examine three questions: 1. Are photoheterotrophic microbes present and active in Antarctic waters in winter and summer? 2. Does community structure of photoheterotrophs shift between summer and winter? 3. Which microbial groups assimilate more DOM in light than in the dark? The research will test hypotheses about activity of photoheterotrophs in winter and in summer, shifts in community structure between light and dark seasons and the potentially unique impacts of photoheterotrophs on biogeochemical processes in the Antarctic. The project will directly support a graduate student, will positively impact the NSF REU program at the College of Marine and Earth Studies, and will include students from the nation?s oldest historical minority college. The results will be featured during weekly tours of Lewes facilities (about 1000 visitors per year) and during Coast Day, an annual open-house that attracts about 10,000 visitors.", "east": -64.040665, "geometry": "POINT(-64.0601655 -64.797665)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.77966, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cottrell, Matthew; David, Kirchman", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.81567, "title": "Photoheterotrophic Microbes in the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem", "uid": "p0000473", "west": -64.079666}, {"awards": "0739698 Doran, Peter; 0739681 Murray, Alison", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.931 -77.3885)", "dataset_titles": "Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600080", "doi": "10.15784/600080", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Carbon-14; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Dry Valleys; Geochronology; Ice Core Records; Lake Vida; Microbiology", "people": "Murray, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600080"}], "date_created": "Thu, 12 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Lake Vida is the largest lake of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with an approximately 20 m ice cover overlaying a brine of unknown depth with at least 7 times seawater salinity and temperatures below -10 degrees C year-round. Samples of brine collected from ice above the main water body contain 1) the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth, 2) unusual geochemistry including anomalously high ammonia and iron concentrations, 3) high microbial counts with an unusual proportion (99%) of ultramicrobacteria. The microbial community is unique even compared to other Dry Valley Lakes. The research proposes to enter, for the first time the main brine body below the thick ice of Lake Vida and perform in situ measurements, collect samples of the brine column, and collect sediment cores from the lake bottom for detailed geochemical and microbiological analyses. The results will allow the characterization of present and past life in the lake, assessment of modern and past sedimentary processes, and determination of the lake\u0027s history. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that will uncover the biogeochemical processes associated with a non-photosynthetic microbial community isolated for a significant period of time. This research will address diversity, adaptive mechanisms and evolutionary processes in the context of the physical evolution of the environment of Lake Vida. Results will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations at national and international meetings, through the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE) web site and the McMurdo LTER web site. The research will support three graduate students and three undergraduate research assistants. The results will be incorporated into a new undergraduate biogeosciences course at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has an extremely diverse student body, dominated by minorities.", "east": 161.931, "geometry": "POINT(161.931 -77.3885)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.3885, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Murray, Alison; Doran, Peter", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.3885, "title": "Collaborative Research: Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "uid": "p0000485", "west": 161.931}, {"awards": "0739648 Cary, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(163 -77.5)", "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemistry of Cyanobactrial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley Glacial Meltwater Streams", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600079", "doi": "10.15784/600079", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cell Counts; Dry Valleys; Microbiology", "people": "Cary, S. Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemistry of Cyanobactrial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley Glacial Meltwater Streams", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600079"}], "date_created": "Tue, 10 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The glacial streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial mats that are a probable source of fixed C and N to the Valleys. The research will examine the interplay between the microbial mats in the ephemeral glacial streams and the microbiota of the hyporheic soils (wetted soil zone) underlying and adjacent to those mats. It is hypothesized that the mats are important sources of organic carbon and fixed nitrogen for the soil communities of the hyporheic zone, and release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) that serves the entire Dry Valley ecosystem. Field efforts will entail both observational and experimental components. Direct comparisons will be made between the mats and microbial populations underlying naturally rehydrated and desiccated mat areas, and between mat areas in the melt streams of the Adams and Miers Glaciers in Miers Valley. Both physiological and phylogenetic indices of the soil microbiota will be examined. Observations will include estimates of rates of mat carbon and nitrogen fixation, soil respiration and leucine and thymidine uptake (as measures of protein \u0026 DNA synthesis, respectively) by soil bacteria, bacterial densities and their molecular ecology. Experimental manipulations will include experimental re-wetting of soils and observations of the time course of response of the microbial community. The research will integrate modern molecular genetic approaches (ARISA-DNA fingerprinting and ultra deep 16S rDNA microbial phylogenetic analysis) with geochemistry to study the diversity, ecology, and function of microbial communities that thrive in these extreme environments. The broader impacts of the project include research and educational opportunities for graduate students and a postdoctoral associate. The P.I.s will involve undergraduates as work-study students and in REU programs, and will participate in educational and outreach programs.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(163 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cary, Stephen", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Biogeochemistry of Cyanobactrial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley Glacial Meltwater Streams", "uid": "p0000476", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "0838850 Gooseff, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.32 -77.62,162.418 -77.62,162.516 -77.62,162.614 -77.62,162.712 -77.62,162.81 -77.62,162.90800000000002 -77.62,163.006 -77.62,163.104 -77.62,163.202 -77.62,163.3 -77.62,163.3 -77.631,163.3 -77.64200000000001,163.3 -77.653,163.3 -77.664,163.3 -77.67500000000001,163.3 -77.686,163.3 -77.697,163.3 -77.708,163.3 -77.71900000000001,163.3 -77.73,163.202 -77.73,163.104 -77.73,163.006 -77.73,162.90800000000002 -77.73,162.81 -77.73,162.712 -77.73,162.614 -77.73,162.516 -77.73,162.418 -77.73,162.32 -77.73,162.32 -77.71900000000001,162.32 -77.708,162.32 -77.697,162.32 -77.686,162.32 -77.67500000000001,162.32 -77.664,162.32 -77.653,162.32 -77.64200000000001,162.32 -77.631,162.32 -77.62))", "dataset_titles": "The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600100", "doi": "10.15784/600100", "keywords": "Antarctica; Critical Zone; Mps-1 Water Potential Sensor; Physical Properties; Soil Moisture; Soil Temperature", "people": "Gooseff, Michael N.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600100"}], "date_created": "Tue, 26 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTwo models have been proposed to describe controls over microbial biogeography. One model proposes that microbes are ubiquitously distributed across the global environment, and that environmental conditions select for taxa physiologically adapted to local physical conditions. An alternative model predicts that dispersal is the important limitation to the distribution of microorganisms and that spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities is a result of both dispersal and local environmental limitations. According to both models, spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities may be especially pronounced in extreme ecosystems where the environmental selection for organisms with suitable physiology is most strongly manifest. We propose that Antarctic terrestrial environments are ideal places to examine microbial biogeography for 3 reasons: 1) the pristine nature and remoteness of Antarctica minimizes the prevalence of exotic species dispersed through human vectors; 2) the extreme conditions of Antarctic environments provide a strong environmental filter which limits the establishment of non-indigenous taxa; and 3) extreme heterogeneity in the terrestrial environment provides natural gradients of soil conditions (temperature, water and nutrient availability). In the proposed research we will investigate the influence of snow on the composition and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and linked biogeochemical cycling in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We will conduct fieldwork at the landscape scale (repeated remote sensing to characterize snow distribution), at the valley and patch scales (quantify snow patch ablation, microbial communities and biogeochemical cycling in subnivian soils). We hypothesize that snow patches play an important role in structuring the spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and their associated ecosystem functioning because of the physical and hydrological influences that snow patches have on the soil environment. The research will contribute to greater public awareness of the importance of polar research to fundamental questions of biology, ecology and hydrology through direct linkages with International Antarctic Institute public outreach activities, including dissemination of web-based learning units on environmental science and microbiology, targeted as resources for secondary and post-secondary educators. Three graduate students, one postdoctoral scholar and multiple undergraduates will participate in the research activities.", "east": 163.3, "geometry": "POINT(162.81 -77.675)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.62, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gooseff, Michael N.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.73, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys", "uid": "p0000489", "west": 162.32}, {"awards": "0838955 Gast, Rebecca", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((71.504166 -76.159164,71.5142214 -76.159164,71.5242768 -76.159164,71.5343322 -76.159164,71.5443876 -76.159164,71.554443 -76.159164,71.5644984 -76.159164,71.5745538 -76.159164,71.5846092 -76.159164,71.5946646 -76.159164,71.60472 -76.159164,71.60472 -76.2018032,71.60472 -76.2444424,71.60472 -76.2870816,71.60472 -76.3297208,71.60472 -76.37236,71.60472 -76.4149992,71.60472 -76.4576384,71.60472 -76.5002776,71.60472 -76.5429168,71.60472 -76.585556,71.5946646 -76.585556,71.5846092 -76.585556,71.5745538 -76.585556,71.5644984 -76.585556,71.554443 -76.585556,71.5443876 -76.585556,71.5343322 -76.585556,71.5242768 -76.585556,71.5142214 -76.585556,71.504166 -76.585556,71.504166 -76.5429168,71.504166 -76.5002776,71.504166 -76.4576384,71.504166 -76.4149992,71.504166 -76.37236,71.504166 -76.3297208,71.504166 -76.2870816,71.504166 -76.2444424,71.504166 -76.2018032,71.504166 -76.159164))", "dataset_titles": "Alternative Nutritional Strategies in Antarctic Protists", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600103", "doi": "10.15784/600103", "keywords": "Biota; Microbiology; NBP0305; NBP0405; NBP0508; NBP1101; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Gast, Rebecca", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Alternative Nutritional Strategies in Antarctic Protists", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600103"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eMost organisms meet their carbon and energy needs using photosynthesis (phototrophy) or ingestion/assimilation of organic substances (heterotrophy). However, a nutritional strategy that combines phototrophy and heterotrophy - mixotrophy - is geographically and taxonomically widespread in aquatic systems. While the presence of mixotrophs in the Southern Ocean is known only recently, preliminary evidence indicates a significant role in Southern Ocean food webs. Recent work on Southern Ocean dinoflagellate, Kleptodinium, suggests that it sequesters functional chloroplasts of the bloom-forming haptophyte, Phaeocystis antarctica. This dinoflagellate is abundant in the Ross Sea, has been reported elsewhere in the Southern Ocean, and may have a circumpolar distribution. By combining nutritional modes. mixotrophy may offer competitive advantages over pure autotrophs and heterotrophs. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe goals of this project are to understand the importance of alternative nutritional strategies for Antarctic species that combine phototrophic and phagotrophic processes in the same organism. The research will combine field investigations of plankton and ice communities in the Southern Ocean with laboratory experiments on Kleptodinium and recently identified mixotrophs from our Antarctic culture collections. The research will address: 1) the relative contributions of phototrophy and phagotrophy in Antarctic mixotrophs; 2) the nature of the relationship between Kleptodinium and its kleptoplastids; 3) the distributions and abundances of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium in the Southern Ocean during austral spring/summer; and 4) the impacts of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium on prey populations, the factors influencing these behaviors and the physiological conditions of these groups in their natural environment. The project will contribute to the maintenance of a culture collection of heterotrophic, phototrophic and mixotrophic Antarctic protists that are available to the scientific community, and it will train graduate and undergraduate students at Temple University. Research findings and activities will be summarized for non-scientific audiences through the PIs\u0027 websites and through other public forums, and will involve middle school teachers via collaboration with COSEE-New England.", "east": 71.60472, "geometry": "POINT(71.554443 -76.37236)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.159164, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gast, Rebecca", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.585556, "title": "Collaborative Research: Alternative Nutritional Strategies in Antarctic Protists", "uid": "p0000490", "west": 71.504166}, {"awards": "0739783 Junge, Karen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Metabolic Activities and Gene Expression of Marine Psychrophiles in Cold Ice", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600083", "doi": "10.15784/600083", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Microbiology; Oceans; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Junge, Karen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Metabolic Activities and Gene Expression of Marine Psychrophiles in Cold Ice", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600083"}], "date_created": "Wed, 25 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The mechanisms enabling bacteria to be metabolically active at very low temperatures are of considerable importance to polar microbial ecology, astrobiology, climate and cryopreservation. This research program has two main objectives. The first is to investigate metabolic activities and gene expression of polar marine psychrophilic bacteria when confronted with freezing conditions at temperatures above the eutectic of seawater (\u003c54C) to unveil cold adaptation mechanisms with relevance to wintertime sea-ice ecology. The second objective is to discern if psychrophilic processes of leucine incorporation into proteins, shown to occur to -196C, amount to metabolic activity providing for the survival of cells or are merely biochemical reactions still possible in flash-frozen samples without any effect on survival. We will examine extracellular and intracellular processes of psychrophilic activity above and below the eutectic by (i) determining the temperature range of metabolic activities such as DNA synthesis, carbon utilization, respiration and ATP generation using radioactive tracer technology, including a control at liquid helium temperature (-268.9C), (ii) analyzing gene expression in ice using whole genome and microarray analyses and iii) examining the role of exopolymeric substances (EPS) and ice micro-physics for the observed activity using an in-situ microscopy technique. Results of the proposed research can be expected to aid in the determination of cellular and genetic strategies that allow cells to maintain activity at extremely low temperatures within an icy matrix and/or to resume activity again when more growth-permissive conditions are encountered. The research is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving three different institutions with participants in Oceanography, Genomics, and Geophysical Sciences. The proposed activity will support the beginning professional career of a female researcher and will serve as the basis for several undergraduate student laboratory projects.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Junge, Karen", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Metabolic Activities and Gene Expression of Marine Psychrophiles in Cold Ice", "uid": "p0000673", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0801392 Swanson, Brian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Ice Nucleation by Marine Psychrophiles", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600087", "doi": "10.15784/600087", "keywords": "Biota; Microbiology; Oceans; Raman Spectroscopy; Sea Ice; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Swanson, Brian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Nucleation by Marine Psychrophiles", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600087"}], "date_created": "Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The primary objective of this research is to investigate polar marine psychrophilic bacteria for their potential to nucleate ice using a combination of microbiological, molecular biological and atmospheric science approaches in the laboratory. Very little is known about how psychrophiles interact and cope with ice or their adaptations to conditions of extreme cold and salinity. This work will involve a series of laboratory experiments using a novel freeze-tube technique for assaying freezing spectra which will provide quantitative information on: (i) the temperature-dependent freezing rates for heterogeneously frozen droplets containing sea-ice bacteria, (ii) the proportional occurrence of ice-nucleation activity versus anti-freeze activity among sea-ice bacterial isolates and (iii) the temperature-dependent freezing rates of bacteria with ice-nucleation activity grown at a range of temperatures and salinities. The compound(s) responsible for the observed activity will be identified, which is an essential step towards the development of an in-situ bacterial ice-nucleation detection assay that can be applied in the field to Antarctic water and cloud samples.\u003cbr/\u003e One of the goals of this work is to better understand survival and cold adaptation processes of polar marine bacteria confronted with freezing conditions in sea ice. Since sea ice strongly impacts polar, as well as the global climates, this research is of significant interest because it will also provide data for accessing the importance of bacterial ice nucleation in the formation of sea ice. These measurements of ice-nucleation rates will be the first high-resolution measurements for psychrophilic marine bacteria. Another goal is to better understand the impact of bacterial ice initiation processes in polar clouds by making high-resolution measurements of nucleation rates for cloud bacteria found over Arctic and Antarctic regions. Initial measurements indicate these bacteria nucleate ice at warmer temperatures and the effect in polar regions may be quite important, since ice can strongly impact cloud dynamics, cloud radiative properties, precipitation formation, and cloud chemistry. If these initial measurements are confirmed, the data collected here will be important for improving the understanding of polar cloud processes and models. A third goal is to better understand the molecular basis of marine bacterial ice nucleation by characterizing the ice-nucleation compound and comparing it with those of known plant-derived ice-nucleating bacteria, which are the only ice-nucleating bacteria examined in detail to date. The proposed activity will support the beginning academic career of a post-doctoral researcher and will serve as the basis for several undergraduate student laboratory projects. Results from this research will be widely published in various scientific journals and outreach venues.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Swanson, Brian", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Ice Nucleation by Marine Psychrophiles", "uid": "p0000195", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0537143 Blanchette, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69 -60,-68.3 -60,-67.6 -60,-66.9 -60,-66.2 -60,-65.5 -60,-64.8 -60,-64.1 -60,-63.4 -60,-62.7 -60,-62 -60,-62 -61,-62 -62,-62 -63,-62 -64,-62 -65,-62 -66,-62 -67,-62 -68,-62 -69,-62 -70,-62.7 -70,-63.4 -70,-64.1 -70,-64.8 -70,-65.5 -70,-66.2 -70,-66.9 -70,-67.6 -70,-68.3 -70,-69 -70,-69 -69,-69 -68,-69 -67,-69 -66,-69 -65,-69 -64,-69 -63,-69 -62,-69 -61,-69 -60))", "dataset_titles": "(Arenz et al. 2006) DQ317323, DQ317324, DQ317325, DQ317326, DQ317327, DQ317328, DQ317329, DQ317330, DQ317331, DQ317332, DQ317333, DQ317334, DQ317335, DQ317336, DQ317337, DQ317338, DQ317339, DQ317340, DQ317341, DQ317342, DQ317343, DQ317344, DQ317345, DQ317346, DQ317347, DQ317348, DQ317349, DQ317350, DQ317351, DQ317352, DQ317353, DQ317354, DQ317355, DQ317356, DQ317357, DQ317358, DQ317359, DQ317360, DQ317361, DQ317362, DQ317363, DQ317364, DQ317365, DQ317366, DQ317367, DQ317368, DQ317369, DQ317370, DQ317371, DQ317372, DQ317373, DQ317374, DQ317375, DQ317376, DQ317377, DQ317378, DQ317379, DQ317380, DQ317381, DQ317382, DQ317383, DQ317384, DQ317385, DQ317386, DQ317387, DQ317388, DQ317389 (Arenz and Blanchette 2009) FJ235934, FJ235935, FJ235936, FJ235937, FJ235938, FJ235939, FJ235940, FJ235941, FJ235942, FJ235943, FJ235944, FJ235945, FJ235946, FJ235947, FJ235948, FJ235949, FJ235950, FJ235951, FJ235952, FJ235953, FJ235954, FJ235955, FJ235956, FJ235957, FJ235958, FJ235959, FJ235960, FJ235961, FJ235962, FJ235963, FJ235964, FJ235965, FJ235966, FJ235967, FJ235968, FJ235969, FJ235970, FJ235971, FJ235972, FJ235973, FJ235974, FJ235975, FJ235976, FJ235977, FJ235978, FJ235979, FJ235980, FJ235981, FJ235982, FJ235983, FJ235984, FJ235985, FJ235986, FJ235987, FJ235988, FJ235989, FJ235990, FJ235991, FJ235992, FJ235993, FJ235994, FJ235995, FJ235996, FJ235997, FJ235998, FJ235999, FJ236000, FJ236001, FJ236002, FJ236003, FJ236004, FJ236005, FJ236006, FJ236007, FJ236008, FJ236009, FJ236010, FJ236011, FJ236012, FJ236013, FJ236014 (Blanchette et al. 2010) GU212367, GU212368, GU212369, GU212370, GU212371, GU212372, GU212373, GU212374, GU212375, GU212376, GU212377, GU212378, GU212379, GU212380, GU212381, GU212382, GU212383, GU212384, GU212385, GU212386, GU212387, GU212388, GU212389, GU212390, GU212391, GU212392, GU212393, GU212394, GU212395, GU212396, GU212397, GU212398, GU212399, GU212400, GU212401, GU212402, GU212403, GU212404, GU212405, GU212406, GU212407, GU212408, GU212409, GU212410, GU212411, GU212412, GU212413, GU212414, GU212415, GU212416, GU212417, GU212418, GU212419, GU212420, GU212421, GU212422, GU212423, GU212424, GU212425, GU212426, GU212427, GU212428, GU212429, GU212430, GU212431, GU212432, GU212433, GU212434", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000121", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "(Arenz et al. 2006) DQ317323, DQ317324, DQ317325, DQ317326, DQ317327, DQ317328, DQ317329, DQ317330, DQ317331, DQ317332, DQ317333, DQ317334, DQ317335, DQ317336, DQ317337, DQ317338, DQ317339, DQ317340, DQ317341, DQ317342, DQ317343, DQ317344, DQ317345, DQ317346, DQ317347, DQ317348, DQ317349, DQ317350, DQ317351, DQ317352, DQ317353, DQ317354, DQ317355, DQ317356, DQ317357, DQ317358, DQ317359, DQ317360, DQ317361, DQ317362, DQ317363, DQ317364, DQ317365, DQ317366, DQ317367, DQ317368, DQ317369, DQ317370, DQ317371, DQ317372, DQ317373, DQ317374, DQ317375, DQ317376, DQ317377, DQ317378, DQ317379, DQ317380, DQ317381, DQ317382, DQ317383, DQ317384, DQ317385, DQ317386, DQ317387, DQ317388, DQ317389 (Arenz and Blanchette 2009) FJ235934, FJ235935, FJ235936, FJ235937, FJ235938, FJ235939, FJ235940, FJ235941, FJ235942, FJ235943, FJ235944, FJ235945, FJ235946, FJ235947, FJ235948, FJ235949, FJ235950, FJ235951, FJ235952, FJ235953, FJ235954, FJ235955, FJ235956, FJ235957, FJ235958, FJ235959, FJ235960, FJ235961, FJ235962, FJ235963, FJ235964, FJ235965, FJ235966, FJ235967, FJ235968, FJ235969, FJ235970, FJ235971, FJ235972, FJ235973, FJ235974, FJ235975, FJ235976, FJ235977, FJ235978, FJ235979, FJ235980, FJ235981, FJ235982, FJ235983, FJ235984, FJ235985, FJ235986, FJ235987, FJ235988, FJ235989, FJ235990, FJ235991, FJ235992, FJ235993, FJ235994, FJ235995, FJ235996, FJ235997, FJ235998, FJ235999, FJ236000, FJ236001, FJ236002, FJ236003, FJ236004, FJ236005, FJ236006, FJ236007, FJ236008, FJ236009, FJ236010, FJ236011, FJ236012, FJ236013, FJ236014 (Blanchette et al. 2010) GU212367, GU212368, GU212369, GU212370, GU212371, GU212372, GU212373, GU212374, GU212375, GU212376, GU212377, GU212378, GU212379, GU212380, GU212381, GU212382, GU212383, GU212384, GU212385, GU212386, GU212387, GU212388, GU212389, GU212390, GU212391, GU212392, GU212393, GU212394, GU212395, GU212396, GU212397, GU212398, GU212399, GU212400, GU212401, GU212402, GU212403, GU212404, GU212405, GU212406, GU212407, GU212408, GU212409, GU212410, GU212411, GU212412, GU212413, GU212414, GU212415, GU212416, GU212417, GU212418, GU212419, GU212420, GU212421, GU212422, GU212423, GU212424, GU212425, GU212426, GU212427, GU212428, GU212429, GU212430, GU212431, GU212432, GU212433, GU212434", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Fungi in Antarctic ecosystems are major contributors to biodiversity and have great influence on many processes such as biodegradation and nutrient cycling. It is essential for biological surveys as well as genomic and proteomic studies to be completed so a better understanding of these organisms is obtained. Previous research has identified unique fungi associated with historic wooden structures brought to Antarctica by Robert F. Scott and Ernest Shackleton during the Heroic Era of exploration. Many of the fungi found are previously undescribed species that belong to the little known genus Cadophora. The research team will obtain important new information on the fungi present in the Ross Sea and Peninsula Regions of Antarctica, particularly their role in decomposition and nutrient recycling and their mechanisms and strategies for survival in the polar environment. New tools and methods include denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), real-time PCR, and proteomic profiling. These analyses will reveal key details of the physiological adaptations these fungi have evolved to carry out processes such as biodegradation and nutrient cycling under conditions that would inhibit other fungi. This work, coupled with the training and learning opportunities it provides, will be of value to many fields of study including microbial ecology, polar biology, wood microbiology, environmental science, soil science, geobiochemistry, and mycology as well as fungal phylogenetics, proteomics and genomics. Results obtained will have immediate applied use to help preserve and protect Antarctica\u0027s historic monuments. The investigations proposed are a continuation of research to identify the microbes attacking these historic structures and artifacts and to elucidate their biology and ecology in the polar environment. New research will also be done at the historic Cape Adare huts, the first wooden structures to be built in Antarctica and also at East Base, an American historic site on Stonington Island from the Admiral Byrd and Ronne Expeditions of 1939-1948. The research team will conduct vital studies needed to successfully conserve the wooden structures and artifacts at these sites and protect them for future generations", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-65.5 -65)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Blanchette, Robert", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "Studies of Antarctic Fungi: Adaptive Stratigies for Survival and Protecting Antarctica\u0027s Historic Structures", "uid": "p0000187", "west": -69.0}, {"awards": "9118439 Karl, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-76.8432 -52.3533,-74.99221 -52.3533,-73.14122 -52.3533,-71.29023 -52.3533,-69.43924 -52.3533,-67.58825 -52.3533,-65.73726 -52.3533,-63.88627 -52.3533,-62.03528 -52.3533,-60.18429 -52.3533,-58.3333 -52.3533,-58.3333 -54.01689,-58.3333 -55.68048,-58.3333 -57.34407,-58.3333 -59.00766,-58.3333 -60.67125,-58.3333 -62.33484,-58.3333 -63.99843,-58.3333 -65.66202,-58.3333 -67.32561,-58.3333 -68.9892,-60.18429 -68.9892,-62.03528 -68.9892,-63.88627 -68.9892,-65.73726 -68.9892,-67.58825 -68.9892,-69.43924 -68.9892,-71.29023 -68.9892,-73.14122 -68.9892,-74.99221 -68.9892,-76.8432 -68.9892,-76.8432 -67.32561,-76.8432 -65.66202,-76.8432 -63.99843,-76.8432 -62.33484,-76.8432 -60.67125,-76.8432 -59.00766,-76.8432 -57.34407,-76.8432 -55.68048,-76.8432 -54.01689,-76.8432 -52.3533))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002292", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9302"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The annual advance and retreat of pack ice may be the major physical determinant of spatial/temporal changes in the structure and function of antarctic marine communities. Interannual cycles and/or trends in the annual extent of pack ice may also have significant effects on all levels of the food web, from total annual primary production to breeding success in seabirds. Historical records indicate a 6 to 8 year cycle in the maximum extent of pack ice in the winter. During this decade winters were colder in 1980 and 1981, and again in 1986 and 1987. In order to understand the interactions between pack ice and ecosystem dynamics, especially the influences of the well- documented interannual variability in ice cover on representative populations, a long-term ecological research (LTER) site has been established in the Antarctic Peninsula region near Palmer Station. The LTER project, will conduct comprehensive measurements of ice-dominated ecosystems in this region with a focus on primary production, krill populations and swarms and seabirds. A primary emphasis will be placed on the development of ecosystem models that will provide a predictive capability for issues related to global environmental change. This proposal will add to the existing LTER project detailed studies of the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and associated bioelements. The microbiology and carbon flux component of LTER will provide measurements of a suite of core parameters relevant to the carbon cycle and will test several hypotheses pertaining to carbon flux, including bacterial productivity and nutrient regeneration.", "east": -58.3333, "geometry": "POINT(-67.58825 -60.67125)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.3533, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Karl, David; Ross, Robin Macurda", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -68.9892, "title": "Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) on the Antarctic Marine Ecosystem: Microbiology and Carbon Flux", "uid": "p0000651", "west": -76.8432}, {"awards": "0125794 Price, P. Buford", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Optical Logging for Dust and Microbes in Boreholes in Glacial Ice", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609403", "doi": "10.7265/N59P2ZKB", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dust; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Microbiology; Optical Backscatter", "people": "Bay, Ryan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Optical Logging for Dust and Microbes in Boreholes in Glacial Ice", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609403"}], "date_created": "Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0125794\u003cbr/\u003ePrice\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports research in climatology, geosciences, and life in extreme environments to be carried out with a newly developed optical borehole logger. The logger fits into a fluid-filled borehole in glacial ice. It emits light at 370 nm in a horizontal plane in order to probe optical properties of particles embedded in the ice out to several meters from the borehole. After leaving the borehole, the light is partially absorbed and scattered by dust, biomolecules, or microbes. A fraction of the light is scattered back into the borehole and is detected by a system of seven phototubes, each of which collects light with high efficiency in a separate wavelength band. One of them collects light that scatters off of dust and air bubbles without wavelength shift, and serves as a dust logger. The other six are covered with notch filters that measure six different wavelength bands and measure the shape of the fluorescence spectrum of microbes and biomolecules. Thus, the same instrument serves as both a dust logger and a microbe logger. Applications include: 1) Precise chronologies and long-period solar variability. With a resolution of 1 to 2 cm for both GISP2 and Siple Dome, the logger will record annual dust maxima and evaluate claims of modulations of dust concentration with periods ranging from 11 yrs (the solar cycle) to 2300 yrs; 2) Volcanism and age-depth markers. Dozens of volcanic ash bands will be detectable and will serve as primary age-depth markers for other boreholes; 3) Microorganisms and biomolecules. The vertical distribution of living, dormant, and dead microbes can be logged, and searches for archaea and aeolian polyaromatic hydrocarbons can be made. The logging experiments will be carried out at Siple Dome and Dome C in Antarctica and at GISP2 and GRIP in Greenland.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e OPTICAL DUST LOGGERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core Data; Not provided; Climate Research; Climate; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Climate Change; FIELD SURVEYS; LABORATORY; Paleoclimate; Ice Core; Volcanic", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Arctic Natural Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bay, Ryan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Optical Logging for Dust and Microbes in Boreholes in Glacial Ice", "uid": "p0000156", "west": null}, {"awards": "0742057 Gallager, Scott", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-168.291 -64.846,-165.018 -64.846,-161.745 -64.846,-158.472 -64.846,-155.199 -64.846,-151.926 -64.846,-148.653 -64.846,-145.38 -64.846,-142.107 -64.846,-138.834 -64.846,-135.561 -64.846,-135.561 -66.0269,-135.561 -67.2078,-135.561 -68.3887,-135.561 -69.5696,-135.561 -70.7505,-135.561 -71.9314,-135.561 -73.1123,-135.561 -74.2932,-135.561 -75.4741,-135.561 -76.655,-138.834 -76.655,-142.107 -76.655,-145.38 -76.655,-148.653 -76.655,-151.926 -76.655,-155.199 -76.655,-158.472 -76.655,-161.745 -76.655,-165.018 -76.655,-168.291 -76.655,-168.291 -75.4741,-168.291 -74.2932,-168.291 -73.1123,-168.291 -71.9314,-168.291 -70.7505,-168.291 -69.5696,-168.291 -68.3887,-168.291 -67.2078,-168.291 -66.0269,-168.291 -64.846))", "dataset_titles": "SGER: Primary and Secondary Production and Carbon Flux Through the Microbial Community Along the Western Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone on the Oden Southern Ocean 2007 Expeditions", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600086", "doi": "10.15784/600086", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Biota; Microbiology; Navigation; Oceans; Oden; OSO2007; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Dennett, Mark; Gallager, Scott", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SGER: Primary and Secondary Production and Carbon Flux Through the Microbial Community Along the Western Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone on the Oden Southern Ocean 2007 Expeditions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600086"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe research will continue and extend the study in the Southern Ocean that was initiated during the Oden Southern Ocean 2006 expedition in collaboration with Swedish scientist Mellissa Chierici. We will quantify carbon flux through the food web in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) by measuring size fractionated primary and secondary production, grazing and carbon flux through nanoplankton (2-20 um), microplankton (20-200um), and mesoplankton (200-2000 um). Community structure, species abundance and size specific grazing rates will be quantified using a variety of techniques both underway and at ice stations along the MIZ. The proposed cruise track extends across the Drake Passage to the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) with three station transects along a gradient from the open ocean through the marginal ice zone (MIZ) in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and into the Ross Sea Polynya. Ice stations along each transect will provide material to characterize production associated with annual ice. Underway measurements of primary and secondary production (chlorophyll, CDOM, microplankton, and mesoplankton) and hydrography (temperature, salinity, pH, DO, turbidity) will establish a baseline for future cruises and as support for other projects such as biogeochemical studies on carbon dioxide drawdown and trace metal work on primary production. The outcome of these measurements will be a description of nano to mesoplankton standing stocks, community structure, and carbon flux along the MIZ in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and the Ross Sea Polynya.", "east": -135.561, "geometry": "POINT(-151.926 -70.7505)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.846, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gallager, Scott; Dennett, Mark", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.655, "title": "SGER: Primary and Secondary Production and Carbon Flux Through the Microbial Community Along the Western Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone on the Oden Southern Ocean 2007 Expeditions", "uid": "p0000563", "west": -168.291}, {"awards": "0230276 Ward, Bess", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77.2,162.16 -77.2,162.32 -77.2,162.48 -77.2,162.64 -77.2,162.8 -77.2,162.96 -77.2,163.12 -77.2,163.28 -77.2,163.44 -77.2,163.6 -77.2,163.6 -77.26,163.6 -77.32,163.6 -77.38,163.6 -77.44,163.6 -77.5,163.6 -77.56,163.6 -77.62,163.6 -77.68,163.6 -77.74,163.6 -77.8,163.44 -77.8,163.28 -77.8,163.12 -77.8,162.96 -77.8,162.8 -77.8,162.64 -77.8,162.48 -77.8,162.32 -77.8,162.16 -77.8,162 -77.8,162 -77.74,162 -77.68,162 -77.62,162 -77.56,162 -77.5,162 -77.44,162 -77.38,162 -77.32,162 -77.26,162 -77.2))", "dataset_titles": "What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600033", "doi": "10.15784/600033", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; CTD Data; Dry Valleys; Lake Bonney; Lake Vanda; Microbiology; Taylor Valley", "people": "Ward, Bess", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600033"}], "date_created": "Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Denitrification is the main process by which fixed nitrogen is lost from ecosystems and the regulation of this process may directly affect primary production and carbon cycling over short and long time scales. Previous investigations of the role of bioactive metals in regulating denitrification in bacteria from permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of East Antarctica indicated that denitrifying bacteria can be negatively affected by metals such as copper, iron, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, silver and zinc; and that there is a distinct difference in denitrifying activity between the east and west lobes of the lake. Low iron concentrations were found to exacerbate the potential toxicity of the other metals, while silver has the potential to specifically inhibit denitrification because of its ability to interfere with copper binding in redox proteins, such as nitrite reductase and nitrous oxide reductase. High silver concentrations might prevent the functioning of nitrous oxide reductase in the same way that simple copper limitation does, thereby causing the buildup of nitrous oxide and resulting in a nonfunctional nitrogen cycle. Other factors, such as oxygen concentration, are likely also to affect bacterial activity in Lake Bonney. This project will investigate silver toxicity, general metal toxicity and oxygen concentration to determine their effect on denitrification in the lake by using a suite of \"sentinel\" strains of denitrifying bacteria (isolated from the lake) incubated in Lake Bonney water and subjected to various treatments. The physiological responses of these strains to changes in metal and oxygen concentration will be quantified by flow cytometric detection of single cell molecular probes whose sensitivity and interpretation have been optimized for the sentinel strains. Understanding the relationships between metals and denitrification is expected to enhance our understanding of not only Lake Bonney\u0027s unusual nitrogen cycle, but more generally, of the potential role of metals in the regulation of microbial nitrogen transformations.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts of this work include not only a better understanding of regional biogeochemistry and global perspectives on these processes; but also the training of graduate students and a substantial outreach effort for school children.", "east": 163.6, "geometry": "POINT(162.8 -77.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -77.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ward, Bess", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?", "uid": "p0000223", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "0338267 Gooseff, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.6 -77.4,161.773 -77.4,161.946 -77.4,162.119 -77.4,162.292 -77.4,162.465 -77.4,162.638 -77.4,162.811 -77.4,162.984 -77.4,163.157 -77.4,163.33 -77.4,163.33 -77.435,163.33 -77.47,163.33 -77.505,163.33 -77.54,163.33 -77.575,163.33 -77.61,163.33 -77.645,163.33 -77.68,163.33 -77.715,163.33 -77.75,163.157 -77.75,162.984 -77.75,162.811 -77.75,162.638 -77.75,162.465 -77.75,162.292 -77.75,162.119 -77.75,161.946 -77.75,161.773 -77.75,161.6 -77.75,161.6 -77.715,161.6 -77.68,161.6 -77.645,161.6 -77.61,161.6 -77.575,161.6 -77.54,161.6 -77.505,161.6 -77.47,161.6 -77.435,161.6 -77.4))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic Hydrologic Margin Microbiology and Biogeochemistry - data; Hydrologic Margins Research Project, 2004-2008, McMurdo Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000238", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Hydrologic Margin Microbiology and Biogeochemistry - data", "url": "http://water.engr.psu.edu/gooseff/web_antarctica/data.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "600016", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Gooseff, Michael N.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hydrologic Margins Research Project, 2004-2008, McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600016"}], "date_created": "Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aquatic-terrestrial transition zones are crucial environments in understanding the biogeochemistry of landscapes. In temperate watersheds, these areas are generally dominated by riparian zones, which have been identified as regions of special interest for biogeochemistry because of the increased microbial activity in these locations, and because of the importance of these hydrological margins in facilitating and buffering hydrologic and biogeochemical exchanges between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In the Antarctic Dry Valleys, terrestrial-aquatic transition zones are intriguing landscape features because of the vast importance of water in this polar desert, and because the material and energy budgets of dry valley ecosystems are linked by hydrology. Hydrological margins in aquatic-terrestrial transition zones will be studied in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica to answer two overarching questions: (1) what are the major controls over hydrologic and biogeochemical exchange across aquaticterrestrial transition zones and (2) to what extent do trends in nutrient cycling (e.g. nitrogen cycling) across these transition zones reflect differences in microbial communities or function vs. differences in the physical and chemical environment (e.g., redox potential)? The hydrologic gradients that define these interfaces provide the opportunity to assess the relative influence of physical conditions and microbial biodiversity and functioning upon biogeochemical cycling. Coordinated hydrologic, biogeochemical, and molecular microbial studies will be executed within hydrologic margins with the following research objectives: to determine the role of sediment characteristics, permafrost and active layer dynamics, and topography on sub-surface water content and distribution in hydrologic margins, to determine the extent to which transformations of nitrogen in hydrological margins are influenced by physical conditions (i.e., moisture, redox potential and pH) or by the presence of specific microbial communities (e.g., denitrifiers), and to characterize the microbial community structure and function of saturated zones.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis proposed research will provide an improved understanding of the interaction of liquid water, soils, microbial communities, and biogeochemistry within the important hydrologic margin landscape units of the dry valleys. Dry valleys streams and lakes are unique because there is no influence of higher vegetation on the movement of water and may therefore provide a model system for understanding physical and hydrological influences on microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Hence the findings will contribute to Antarctic science as well as the broader study of riparian zones and hydrologic margins worldwide. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be involved with fieldwork and research projects. Information will be disseminated through a project web site, and outreach activities will include science education in local elementary, middle and high schools near the three universities involved.", "east": 163.33, "geometry": "POINT(162.465 -77.575)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gooseff, Michael N.; Barrett, John; Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.75, "title": "Collaborative Research: Hydrologic Controls over Biogeochemistry and Microbial Community Structure and Function across Terrestrial/Aquatic Interfaces in a Polar Desert", "uid": "p0000340", "west": 161.6}, {"awards": "0127022 Jeffrey, Wade", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-177.639 -43.5676,-143.1091 -43.5676,-108.5792 -43.5676,-74.0493 -43.5676,-39.5194 -43.5676,-4.9895 -43.5676,29.5404 -43.5676,64.0703 -43.5676,98.6002 -43.5676,133.1301 -43.5676,167.66 -43.5676,167.66 -46.99877,167.66 -50.42994,167.66 -53.86111,167.66 -57.29228,167.66 -60.72345,167.66 -64.15462,167.66 -67.58579,167.66 -71.01696,167.66 -74.44813,167.66 -77.8793,133.1301 -77.8793,98.6002 -77.8793,64.0703 -77.8793,29.5404 -77.8793,-4.9895 -77.8793,-39.5194 -77.8793,-74.0493 -77.8793,-108.5792 -77.8793,-143.1091 -77.8793,-177.639 -77.8793,-177.639 -74.44813,-177.639 -71.01696,-177.639 -67.58579,-177.639 -64.15462,-177.639 -60.72345,-177.639 -57.29228,-177.639 -53.86111,-177.639 -50.42994,-177.639 -46.99877,-177.639 -43.5676))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Ross Sea microbial biomass and production", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600029", "doi": "10.15784/600029", "keywords": "Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Microbiology; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Jeffrey, Wade H.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ross Sea microbial biomass and production", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600029"}, {"dataset_uid": "001584", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0508"}, {"dataset_uid": "001690", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0304B"}], "date_created": "Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ultraviolet radiation influences the dynamics of plankton processes in the near-surface waters of most aquatic ecosystems. In particular, the Southern Ocean is affected in the austral spring period when biologically damaging ultraviolet radiation is enhanced by ozone depletion. While progress has been made in estimating the quantitative impact of ultraviolet radiation on bacteria and phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean, some important issues remain to be resolved. Little is known about responses in systems dominated by the colonial haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, which dominates spring blooms in a polyna that develops in the southern Ross Sea. The Ross Sea is also of interest because of the occurrence of open water at a far southerly location in the spring, well within the ozone hole, and continuous daylight, with implications for the regulation of DNA repair. A number of studies suggest that vertical mixing can significant modify the impact of ultraviolet radiation in the Southern Ocean and elsewhere. However, there are limited measurements of turbulence intensity in the surface layer and measurements have not been integrated with parallel studies of ultraviolet radiation effects on phytoplankton and bacterioplankton. To address these issues, this collaborative study will focus on vertical mixing and the impact of ultraviolet radiation in the Ross Sea. The spectral and temporal responses of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton to ultraviolet radiation will be characterized in both laboratory and solar incubations. These will lead to the definition of biological weighting functions and response models capable of predicting the depth and time distribution of ultraviolet radiation impacts on photosynthesis, bacterial incorporation and DNA damage in the surface layer. Diel sampling will measure depth-dependent profiles of DNA damage, bacterial incorporation, photosynthesis and fluorescence parameters over a 24 h cycle. Sampling will include stations with contrasting wind-driven mixing and stratification as the polyna develops. The program of vertical mixing measurements is optimized for the typical springtime Ross Sea situation in which turbulence of intermediate intensity is insufficient to mix the upper layer thoroughly in the presence of stabilizing influences like solar heating and/or surface freshwater input from melting ice. Fine-scale vertical density profiles will be measured with a free-fall CTD unit and the profiles will be used to directly estimate large-eddy scales by determining Thorpe scales. Eddy scales and estimated turbulent diffusivities will be directly related to surface layer effects, and used to generate lagrangian depth-time trajectories in models of ultraviolet radiation responses in the surface mixed layer. The proposed research will be the first in-depth study of ultraviolet radiation effects in the Ross Sea and provide a valuable comparison with previous work in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence and Palmer Station regions. It will also enhance the understanding of vertical mixing processes, trophic interactions and biogeochemical cycling in the Ross Sea.", "east": 167.66, "geometry": "POINT(-4.9895 -60.72345)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e WATER BOTTLES; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e MICROSCOPES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e GO-FLO BOTTLES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP; B-15J", "locations": "B-15J", "north": -43.5676, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jeffrey, Wade H.; Neale, Patrick", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8793, "title": "Collaborative Proposal: Interactive Effects of UV Radiation and Vertical Mixing on Phytoplankton and Bacterial Productivity of Ross See Phaeocystis Blooms", "uid": "p0000578", "west": -177.639}]
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Ice cores from glaciers and ice sheets provide detailed archives of past environmental conditions, furthering our understanding of Earth’s climate. Microorganisms in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are buried over glaciological time and form a stratigraphy record providing the opportunity of analysis of the order and position of layers of geological events, with potential links to Southern Hemisphere climate. However, microbial cells that land on the ice sheet are subject to the stresses of changing habitat conditions due to burial and conditions associated with long-term isolation in ice. These processes may lead to a loss of fidelity within the stratigraphic record of microbial cells. We know little about how and if microorganisms survive burial and remain alive over glacial-interglacial time periods within an ice sheet. This analysis will identify the viable and preserved community of microorganisms and core genomic adaptation that permit cell viability, which will advance knowledge in the areas of microbiology and glaciology while increasing fidelity of ice core measurements relevant to past climate and potential future global climate impacts. This exploratory endeavor has the potential to be a transformative step toward understanding the ecology of one of the most understudied environments on Earth. The project will partner with the Museum of Science, Boston, to increase public scientific literacy via education and outreach. Additionally, this project will support two early-career scientists and two undergraduates in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of microbiology and climate science. Results from this project will provide the first DNA data based on single-cell whole genomic sequencing from the Antarctic Ice Sheet and inform whether post-depositional processes impact the interpretations of paleoenvironmental conditions from microbes. The goals to determine the taxonomic identity of viable and preserved microbial cells, and decode the genetic repertoire that confers survival of burial and long-term viability within glacial ice, will be achieved by utilizing subsamples from a ~60,000 year old record of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WD) Ice Core. WD samples will be melted using the Desert Research Institute’s ice core melting system that is optimized for glaciobiological sampling. Microbial cells from the meltwater will be sorted using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and individually sorted cells will have their genomes sequenced. The fluorescence-based methods will discern the viable (metabolically active) cells from those cells that are non-viable but preserved in the ice (DNA-containing). The genomic analysis will identify the taxonomy of each cell, presence of known genes that confer survival in permanently frozen environments, and comparatively analyze genomes to determine the core set of genes required by viable cells to persist in an ice sheet. The outcomes of this work will expand the potential for biological measurements and contamination control from archived ice cores. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Glacial ice cores serve as a museum back in time, providing detailed records of past climatic conditions. In addition to chronological records such as temperature, chemistry and gas composition, ice provides a unique environment for preserving microbes and other biological materials through time. These microbes provide invaluable insight into the physiological capabilities necessary for survival in the Earth’s cryosphere and other icy planetary bodies, yet little is known about them. This award supports fundamental research into the activity of microbes in ice, and directly supports major research priorities regarding Antarctic biota identified in the 2015 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, A Strategic Vision for NSF Investments in Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research. The broader impacts of this work are that it will be relevant to researchers across paleoclimate and biological fields. It will support two early career researchers, a graduate and an undergraduate student who will conduct laboratory analyses, participate in outreach activities, publish papers in scientific journals and present at conferences. This work will use previously collected ice cores to investigate englacial microbial activity from the Holocene back to the Last Glacial Maximum from the blue ice area of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. The proposal identified making significant contributions to 1) investing how Antarctic organisms evolve and adapt to changing environment, 2) understanding how microbes alter the preservation of paleorecord-relevant gas and trace element information in ice cores, and 3) identifying microbial life in cores and their activity in relation to dust depositional events. Two recently developed complementary techniques (bio-orthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging and deuterium isotope probing) in combination with Raman Confocal Microspectroscopy will be used to assess and quantify microbial activity in ice. During phase one of the project, these methods will be optimized using deaccessioned ice cores available at the National Science Foundation’s Ice Core Facility. In phase two, ice cores in a time series from the Taylor Glacier will be analyzed for geochemistry and microbial activity. Research results will provide a comprehensive view of englacial microbial communities, including their metabolic diversity and activity, and the effect of geochemical parameters on microbial assemblages from different climate periods. Given the dearth of information available on englacial microbial communities, the results of this research will be of particular significance. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
A profound transformation in ecosystem structure and function is occurring in coastal waters of the western Weddell Sea, with the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. This transformation appears to be yielding a redistribution of energy flow between chemoautotrophic and photosynthetic production, and to be causing the rapid demise of the extraordinary seep ecosystem discovered beneath the ice shelf. This event provides an ideal opportunity to examine fundamental aspects of ecosystem transition associated with climate change. We propose to test the following hypotheses to elucidate the transformations occurring in marine ecosystems as a consequence of the Larsen B collapse: (1) The biogeographic isolation and sub-ice shelf setting of the Larsen B seep has led to novel habitat characteristics, chemoautotrophically dependent taxa and functional adaptations. (2) Benthic communities beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf are fundamentally different from assemblages at similar depths in the Weddell sea-ice zone, and resemble oligotrophic deep-sea communities. Larsen B assemblages are undergoing rapid change. (3) The previously dark, oligotrophic waters of the Larsen B embayment now support a thriving phototrophic community, with production rates and phytoplankton composition similar to other productive areas of the Weddell Sea. To document rapid changes occurring in the Larsen B ecosystem, we will use a remotely operated vehicle, shipboard samplers, and moored sediment traps. We will characterize microbial, macrofaunal and megafaunal components of the seep community; evaluate patterns of surface productivity, export flux, and benthic faunal composition in areas previously covered by the ice shelf, and compare these areas to the open sea-ice zone. These changes will be placed within the geological, glaciological and climatological context that led to ice-shelf retreat, through companion research projects funded in concert with this effort. Together these projects will help predict the likely consequences of ice-shelf collapse to marine ecosystems in other regions of Antarctica vulnerable to climate change. The research features international collaborators from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The broader impacts include participation of a science writer; broadcast of science segments by members of the Jim Lehrer News Hour (Public Broadcasting System); material for summer courses in environmental change; mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and showcasing scientific activities and findings to students and public through podcasts.
In Antarctica, millions of years of freezing have led to the development of hundreds of meters of thick permafrost (i.e., frozen ground). Recent research demonstrated that this slow freezing has trapped and concentrated water into local and regional briny aquifers, many times more salty than seawater. Because salt depresses the freezing point of water, these saline brines are able to persist as liquid water at temperatures well below the normal freezing point of freshwater. Such unusual groundwater systems may support microbial life, supply nutrients to coastal ocean and ice-covered lakes, and influence motion of glaciers. These briny aquifers also represent potential terrestrial analogs for deep life habitats on other planets, such as Mars, and provide a testing ground for the search for extraterrestrial water. Whereas much effort has been invested in understanding the physics, chemistry, and biology of surface and near-surface waters in cold polar regions, it has been comparably difficult to investigate deep subsurface aquifers in such settings. Airborne ElectroMagnetics (AEM) subsurface imaging provides an efficient way for mapping salty groundwater. An international collaboration with the University of Aarhus in Denmark will enable knowledge and skill transfer in AEM techniques that will enhance US polar research capabilities and provide US undergraduates and graduate students with unique training experiences. This project will survey over 1000 km2 of ocean and land near McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and will reveal if cold polar deserts hide a subsurface pool of liquid water. This will have significant implications for understanding cold polar glaciers, ice-covered lakes, frozen ground, and polar microbiology as well as for predictions of their response to future change. Improvements in permafrost mapping techniques and understanding of permafrost and of underlying groundwaters will benefit human use of high polar regions in the Antarctic and the Arctic. The project will provide the first integrative system-scale overview of subsurface water distribution and hydrological connectivity in a partly ice-free coastal region of Antarctica, the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Liquid water is relatively scarce in this environment but plays an outsized role by influencing, and integrating, biological, biogeochemical, glaciological, and geological processes. Whereas surface hydrology and its role in ecosystem processes has been thoroughly studied over the last several decades, it has been difficult to map out and characterize subsurface water reservoirs and to understand their interactions with regional lakes, glaciers, and coastal waters. The proposed project builds on the "proof-of-concept" use of AEM technology in 2011. Improvements in sensor and data processing capabilities will result in about double the depth of penetration of the subsurface during the new data collection when compared to the 2011 proof-of-concept survey, which reached depths of 300-400m. The first field season will focus on collecting deep soundings with a ground-based system in key locations where: (i) independent constraints on subsurface structure exist from past drilling projects, and (ii) the 2011 resistivity dataset indicates the need for deeper penetration and high signal-to-noise ratios achievable only with a ground-based system. The regional airborne survey will take place during the second field season and will yield subsurface electrical resistivity data from across several valleys of different sizes and different ice cover fractions.
Despite recent advances, we still know little about how life and its traces persist in extremely harsh conditions. What survival strategies do cells employ when pushed to their limit? Using a new technique, this project will investigate whether Antarctic paleolakes harbor "microbial seed banks," or caches of viable microbes adapted to past paleoenvironments that could help transform our understanding of how cells survive over ancient timescales. Findings from this investigation could also illuminate novel DNA repair pathways with possible biomedical and biotechnology applications and help to refine life detection strategies for Mars. The project will bring Antarctic research to Georgetown University's campus for the first time, providing training opportunities in cutting edge analytical techniques for multiple students and a postdoctoral fellow. The field site will be the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which provide an unrivaled opportunity to investigate fundamental questions about the persistence of microbial life. Multiple lines of evidence, from interbedded and overlying ashfall deposits to parameterized models, suggest that the large-scale landforms there have remained essentially fixed as far back as the middle of the Miocene Epoch (i.e., ~8 million years ago). This geologic stability, coupled with geographic isolation and a steady polar climate, mean that biological activity has probably undergone few qualitative changes over the last one to two million years. The team will sample paleolake facies using sterile techniques from multiple Dry Valleys sites and extract DNA from entombed organic material. Genetic material will then be sequenced using Pacific Biosciences' Single Molecule, Real-Time DNA sequencing technology, which sequences native DNA as opposed to amplified DNA, thereby eliminating PCR primer bias, and enables read lengths that have never before been possible. The data will be analyzed with a range of bioinformatic techniques, with results that stand to impact our understanding of cell biology, Antarctic paleobiology, microbiology and biogeography, biotechnology, and planetary science.
The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website. Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis "Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.
The PIs will design and build a new rapid access ice drill (RAID) for use in Antarctica. This drill will have the ability to rapidly drill through ice up to 3300 m thick and then collect samples of the ice, ice-sheet bed interface, and bedrock substrate below. This drilling technology will provide a new way to obtain in situ measurements and samples for interdisciplinary studies in geology, glaciology, paleoclimatology, microbiology, and astrophysics. The RAID drilling platform will give the scientific community access to records of geologic and climatic change on a variety of timescales, from the billion-year rock record to thousand-year ice and climate histories. Successful development of the RAID system will provide a research tool that is currently unavailable. Development of this platform will enable scientists to address critical questions about the deep interface between the Antarctic ice sheets and the substrate below. Development of RAID will provide a way to address many of the unknowns associated with general stability of the Antarctic ice sheets in the face of changing climate and sea level rise. The scientific rationale for RAID was reviewed in a previous proposal (Goodge 1242027). The PIs were granted ?Phase I? funding to develop a more detailed conceptual design for the RAID drill that would provide a better understanding of construction costs as well as operation and maintenance costs for RAID once it is constructed. Phase I support also allowed the PIs to work with the research community to develop more detailed science requirements for the drill. This proposal requests continued funding (Phase II) to construct, assemble and test the RAID drilling platform, through to staging it in Antarctic for future scientific operations.
This CAREER proposal will support an early career female PI to establish an integrated research and education program in the fields of polar biology and environmental microbiology, focusing on single-celled eukaryotes (protists) in high latitude ice-covered Antarctic lakes systems. Protists play important roles in energy flow and material cycling, and act as both primary producers (fixing inorganic carbon by photosynthesis) and consumers (preying on bacteria by phagotrophic digestion). The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) located in Victoria Land, Antarctica, harbor microbial communities which are isolated in the unique aquatic ecosystem of perennially ice-capped lakes. The lakes support exclusively microbial consortia in chemically stratified water columns that are not influenced by seasonal mixing, allochthonous inputs, or direct human impact. This project will exploit permanently stratified biogeochemistry that is unique across the water columns of several MDV lakes to address gaps in our understanding of protist trophic function in aquatic food webs. The proposed research will examine (1) the impact of permanent biogeochemical gradients on protist trophic strategy, (2) the effect of major abiotic drivers (light and nutrients) on the distribution of two key mixotrophic and photoautotrophic protist species, and (3) the effect of episodic nutrient pulses on mixotroph communities in high latitude (ultraoligotrophic) MDV lakes versus low latitude (eutrophic) watersheds. The project will impact the fields of microbial ecology and environmental microbiology by combining results from field, laboratory and in situ incubation studies to synthesize new models for the protist trophic roles in the aquatic food web. The research component of this proposed project will be tightly integrated with the development of two new education activities designed to exploit the inherent excitement associated with polar biological research. The educational objectives are: 1) to establish a teaching module in polar biology in a core undergraduate course for microbiology majors; 2) to develop an instructional module to engage middle school girls in STEM disciplines. Undergraduates and middle school girls will also work with a doctoral student on his experiments in local Ohio watersheds.
Uncovering the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to an understanding of the global carbon cycle, as organic material from lakes, streams, oceans and soils passes through this pool. DOM acts as a key energy source for microbes in many ecosystems and therefore can affect regional nutrient cycling patterns. For example, preliminary results suggest that organisms isolated from a supraglacial stream on Cotton Glacier, Antarctica, may be important in DOM cycling in this relatively simple, low temperature system. However, little is known about the functional attributes of the microbes that interact with DOM in the environment. This project will use state-of-the-art genomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to understand the mechanisms by which two microbial isolates, CG3 and CG9_1, affect DOM cycling. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will also be used to better characterize the microbially-derived DOM from this ecosystem. This project will support the research and training of one undergraduate and two graduate students. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Understanding the relationship between cold-adapted microbial metabolisms and DOM pools is important as more than 90% of the Earth?s oceans are below 5 degrees Celsius.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant pool of Earth's organic carbon that dwarfs the amount present in living aquatic organisms. The properties and reactivity of DOM are not well defined, and the evolution of autochthonous DOM from its precursor materials in freshwater has not been observed. Recent sampling of a supraglacial stream formed on the Cotton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains revealed DOM that more closely resembles an assemblage of recognizable precursor organic compounds, based upon its UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. It is suggested that the DOM from this water evolved over time to resemble materials present in marine and many inland surface waters. The transient nature of the system i.e., it reforms seasonally, also prevents any accumulation of the refractory DOM present in most surface waters. Thus, the Cotton Glacier provides us with a unique environment to study the formation of DOM from precursor materials. An interdisciplinary team will study the biogeochemistry of this progenitor DOM and how microbes modify it. By focusing on the chemical composition of the DOM as it shifts from precursor material to the more humified fractions, the investigators will relate this transition to bioavailability, enzymatic activity, community composition and microbial growth efficiency. This project will support education at all levels, K-12, high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc and will increase participation by under-represented groups in science. Towards these goals, the investigators have established relationships with girls' schools and Native American programs. Additional outreach will be carried out in coordination with PolarTREC, PolarPalooza, and if possible, an Antarctic Artist and Writer.
The relatively pristine Antarctic continent with its extensive maritime zone represents a unique location on the planet to investigate the long distance aerial transport and deposition of marine microorganisms. The vast extent of new sea ice that forms each winter around the continent results in large numbers of frost flowers, delicate ice-crystal structures of high salt content that form on the surface of the ice and are readily dispersed by wind. The proposed research builds on earlier work in the Arctic and tests the new hypothesis that wind-borne frost flowers provide an effective mechanism for the transport of marine bacteria over long distances, one that can be uniquely sourced and tracked by the frost flower salt signature in the Antarctic realm. A highly resolved genomic snapshot of the microbial community will be acquired at each stage in the transport path, which will track decreasing fractions of the marine microbial community as it freezes into sea ice, incorporates into frost flowers, converts to aerosols, and ultimately deposits within continental snowpack. En route from sea ice to snowpack, marine bacteria will be exposed to an array of environmental stresses, including high salinity, low temperatures, UV light and potential desiccation. A parallel proteomic analysis will enable an evaluation of the microbial response to these extreme conditions and potential survival mechanisms that allow persistence or eventual colonization of deposition sites across Antarctica. Current understanding of microbes in the Antarctic atmosphere is based on a limited number of microscopic and culture-based assays and a single report of low-resolution 16S RNA gene sequence analysis. The research will broadly impact understanding of atmospheric microbiology, from source to deposition, and various issues of microbial survival, colonization, endemism, and diversity under extreme conditions. In addition to venues that reach the scientific community, the research team will develop a permanent multi-media and artifact-based exhibit on Antarctic Microbial Transport that will be showcased at Seattle's Pacific Science Center (PSC), which educates nearly a million visitors annually.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>This award supports a project to use the WAIS Divide deep core to investigate the Last Deglaciation at sub-annual resolution through an integrated set of chemical and biological analyses. The intellectual merit of the project is that these analyses, combined with others, will take advantage of the high snow accumulation WAIS Divide site yielding the highest time resolution glacio-biogeochemical and gas record of any deep Antarctic ice core. With other high resolution Greenland cores (GISP2 and GRIP) and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change. The proposed chemical, biological, and elemental tracer measurements will also be used to address all of the WAIS Divide science themes. The broader impacts of the project include education and outreach activities such as numerous presentations to local K-12 students; opportunities for student and teacher involvement in the laboratory work; a teacher training program in Earth sciences in the heavily minority Santa Ana, Compton, and Costa Mesa, California school districts; and development of high school curricula. Extensive graduate and undergraduate student involvement also is planned and will include one post doctoral associate, one graduate student, and undergraduate hourly involvement at DRI; a graduate student and undergraduates at University of California, Irvine (UCI); and a post doctoral fellow at MSU. Student recruitment will be made from underrepresented groups building on a long track record of involvement and will include the NSF funded California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) and the Montana American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO).<br/><br/>This award does not involve field work in Antarctica.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>Light quality and availability are likely to change in polar ecosystems as ice coverage and thickness decrease. How microbes adjust to these and other changes will have huge impacts on the polar marine ecosystems. Little is known about photoheterotrophic prokaryotes, which are hypothesized to gain a metabolic advantage by harvesting light energy in addition to utilizing dissolved organic matter (DOM). Photoheterotrophy is not included in current models of carbon cycling and energy flow. This research will examine three questions: 1. Are photoheterotrophic microbes present and active in Antarctic waters in winter and summer? 2. Does community structure of photoheterotrophs shift between summer and winter? 3. Which microbial groups assimilate more DOM in light than in the dark? The research will test hypotheses about activity of photoheterotrophs in winter and in summer, shifts in community structure between light and dark seasons and the potentially unique impacts of photoheterotrophs on biogeochemical processes in the Antarctic. The project will directly support a graduate student, will positively impact the NSF REU program at the College of Marine and Earth Studies, and will include students from the nation?s oldest historical minority college. The results will be featured during weekly tours of Lewes facilities (about 1000 visitors per year) and during Coast Day, an annual open-house that attracts about 10,000 visitors.
Lake Vida is the largest lake of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with an approximately 20 m ice cover overlaying a brine of unknown depth with at least 7 times seawater salinity and temperatures below -10 degrees C year-round. Samples of brine collected from ice above the main water body contain 1) the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth, 2) unusual geochemistry including anomalously high ammonia and iron concentrations, 3) high microbial counts with an unusual proportion (99%) of ultramicrobacteria. The microbial community is unique even compared to other Dry Valley Lakes. The research proposes to enter, for the first time the main brine body below the thick ice of Lake Vida and perform in situ measurements, collect samples of the brine column, and collect sediment cores from the lake bottom for detailed geochemical and microbiological analyses. The results will allow the characterization of present and past life in the lake, assessment of modern and past sedimentary processes, and determination of the lake's history. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that will uncover the biogeochemical processes associated with a non-photosynthetic microbial community isolated for a significant period of time. This research will address diversity, adaptive mechanisms and evolutionary processes in the context of the physical evolution of the environment of Lake Vida. Results will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations at national and international meetings, through the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE) web site and the McMurdo LTER web site. The research will support three graduate students and three undergraduate research assistants. The results will be incorporated into a new undergraduate biogeosciences course at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has an extremely diverse student body, dominated by minorities.
The glacial streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial mats that are a probable source of fixed C and N to the Valleys. The research will examine the interplay between the microbial mats in the ephemeral glacial streams and the microbiota of the hyporheic soils (wetted soil zone) underlying and adjacent to those mats. It is hypothesized that the mats are important sources of organic carbon and fixed nitrogen for the soil communities of the hyporheic zone, and release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) that serves the entire Dry Valley ecosystem. Field efforts will entail both observational and experimental components. Direct comparisons will be made between the mats and microbial populations underlying naturally rehydrated and desiccated mat areas, and between mat areas in the melt streams of the Adams and Miers Glaciers in Miers Valley. Both physiological and phylogenetic indices of the soil microbiota will be examined. Observations will include estimates of rates of mat carbon and nitrogen fixation, soil respiration and leucine and thymidine uptake (as measures of protein & DNA synthesis, respectively) by soil bacteria, bacterial densities and their molecular ecology. Experimental manipulations will include experimental re-wetting of soils and observations of the time course of response of the microbial community. The research will integrate modern molecular genetic approaches (ARISA-DNA fingerprinting and ultra deep 16S rDNA microbial phylogenetic analysis) with geochemistry to study the diversity, ecology, and function of microbial communities that thrive in these extreme environments. The broader impacts of the project include research and educational opportunities for graduate students and a postdoctoral associate. The P.I.s will involve undergraduates as work-study students and in REU programs, and will participate in educational and outreach programs.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>Two models have been proposed to describe controls over microbial biogeography. One model proposes that microbes are ubiquitously distributed across the global environment, and that environmental conditions select for taxa physiologically adapted to local physical conditions. An alternative model predicts that dispersal is the important limitation to the distribution of microorganisms and that spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities is a result of both dispersal and local environmental limitations. According to both models, spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities may be especially pronounced in extreme ecosystems where the environmental selection for organisms with suitable physiology is most strongly manifest. We propose that Antarctic terrestrial environments are ideal places to examine microbial biogeography for 3 reasons: 1) the pristine nature and remoteness of Antarctica minimizes the prevalence of exotic species dispersed through human vectors; 2) the extreme conditions of Antarctic environments provide a strong environmental filter which limits the establishment of non-indigenous taxa; and 3) extreme heterogeneity in the terrestrial environment provides natural gradients of soil conditions (temperature, water and nutrient availability). In the proposed research we will investigate the influence of snow on the composition and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and linked biogeochemical cycling in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We will conduct fieldwork at the landscape scale (repeated remote sensing to characterize snow distribution), at the valley and patch scales (quantify snow patch ablation, microbial communities and biogeochemical cycling in subnivian soils). We hypothesize that snow patches play an important role in structuring the spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and their associated ecosystem functioning because of the physical and hydrological influences that snow patches have on the soil environment. The research will contribute to greater public awareness of the importance of polar research to fundamental questions of biology, ecology and hydrology through direct linkages with International Antarctic Institute public outreach activities, including dissemination of web-based learning units on environmental science and microbiology, targeted as resources for secondary and post-secondary educators. Three graduate students, one postdoctoral scholar and multiple undergraduates will participate in the research activities.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). <br/><br/>Most organisms meet their carbon and energy needs using photosynthesis (phototrophy) or ingestion/assimilation of organic substances (heterotrophy). However, a nutritional strategy that combines phototrophy and heterotrophy - mixotrophy - is geographically and taxonomically widespread in aquatic systems. While the presence of mixotrophs in the Southern Ocean is known only recently, preliminary evidence indicates a significant role in Southern Ocean food webs. Recent work on Southern Ocean dinoflagellate, Kleptodinium, suggests that it sequesters functional chloroplasts of the bloom-forming haptophyte, Phaeocystis antarctica. This dinoflagellate is abundant in the Ross Sea, has been reported elsewhere in the Southern Ocean, and may have a circumpolar distribution. By combining nutritional modes. mixotrophy may offer competitive advantages over pure autotrophs and heterotrophs. <br/><br/>The goals of this project are to understand the importance of alternative nutritional strategies for Antarctic species that combine phototrophic and phagotrophic processes in the same organism. The research will combine field investigations of plankton and ice communities in the Southern Ocean with laboratory experiments on Kleptodinium and recently identified mixotrophs from our Antarctic culture collections. The research will address: 1) the relative contributions of phototrophy and phagotrophy in Antarctic mixotrophs; 2) the nature of the relationship between Kleptodinium and its kleptoplastids; 3) the distributions and abundances of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium in the Southern Ocean during austral spring/summer; and 4) the impacts of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium on prey populations, the factors influencing these behaviors and the physiological conditions of these groups in their natural environment. The project will contribute to the maintenance of a culture collection of heterotrophic, phototrophic and mixotrophic Antarctic protists that are available to the scientific community, and it will train graduate and undergraduate students at Temple University. Research findings and activities will be summarized for non-scientific audiences through the PIs' websites and through other public forums, and will involve middle school teachers via collaboration with COSEE-New England.
The mechanisms enabling bacteria to be metabolically active at very low temperatures are of considerable importance to polar microbial ecology, astrobiology, climate and cryopreservation. This research program has two main objectives. The first is to investigate metabolic activities and gene expression of polar marine psychrophilic bacteria when confronted with freezing conditions at temperatures above the eutectic of seawater (<54C) to unveil cold adaptation mechanisms with relevance to wintertime sea-ice ecology. The second objective is to discern if psychrophilic processes of leucine incorporation into proteins, shown to occur to -196C, amount to metabolic activity providing for the survival of cells or are merely biochemical reactions still possible in flash-frozen samples without any effect on survival. We will examine extracellular and intracellular processes of psychrophilic activity above and below the eutectic by (i) determining the temperature range of metabolic activities such as DNA synthesis, carbon utilization, respiration and ATP generation using radioactive tracer technology, including a control at liquid helium temperature (-268.9C), (ii) analyzing gene expression in ice using whole genome and microarray analyses and iii) examining the role of exopolymeric substances (EPS) and ice micro-physics for the observed activity using an in-situ microscopy technique. Results of the proposed research can be expected to aid in the determination of cellular and genetic strategies that allow cells to maintain activity at extremely low temperatures within an icy matrix and/or to resume activity again when more growth-permissive conditions are encountered. The research is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving three different institutions with participants in Oceanography, Genomics, and Geophysical Sciences. The proposed activity will support the beginning professional career of a female researcher and will serve as the basis for several undergraduate student laboratory projects.
The primary objective of this research is to investigate polar marine psychrophilic bacteria for their potential to nucleate ice using a combination of microbiological, molecular biological and atmospheric science approaches in the laboratory. Very little is known about how psychrophiles interact and cope with ice or their adaptations to conditions of extreme cold and salinity. This work will involve a series of laboratory experiments using a novel freeze-tube technique for assaying freezing spectra which will provide quantitative information on: (i) the temperature-dependent freezing rates for heterogeneously frozen droplets containing sea-ice bacteria, (ii) the proportional occurrence of ice-nucleation activity versus anti-freeze activity among sea-ice bacterial isolates and (iii) the temperature-dependent freezing rates of bacteria with ice-nucleation activity grown at a range of temperatures and salinities. The compound(s) responsible for the observed activity will be identified, which is an essential step towards the development of an in-situ bacterial ice-nucleation detection assay that can be applied in the field to Antarctic water and cloud samples.<br/> One of the goals of this work is to better understand survival and cold adaptation processes of polar marine bacteria confronted with freezing conditions in sea ice. Since sea ice strongly impacts polar, as well as the global climates, this research is of significant interest because it will also provide data for accessing the importance of bacterial ice nucleation in the formation of sea ice. These measurements of ice-nucleation rates will be the first high-resolution measurements for psychrophilic marine bacteria. Another goal is to better understand the impact of bacterial ice initiation processes in polar clouds by making high-resolution measurements of nucleation rates for cloud bacteria found over Arctic and Antarctic regions. Initial measurements indicate these bacteria nucleate ice at warmer temperatures and the effect in polar regions may be quite important, since ice can strongly impact cloud dynamics, cloud radiative properties, precipitation formation, and cloud chemistry. If these initial measurements are confirmed, the data collected here will be important for improving the understanding of polar cloud processes and models. A third goal is to better understand the molecular basis of marine bacterial ice nucleation by characterizing the ice-nucleation compound and comparing it with those of known plant-derived ice-nucleating bacteria, which are the only ice-nucleating bacteria examined in detail to date. The proposed activity will support the beginning academic career of a post-doctoral researcher and will serve as the basis for several undergraduate student laboratory projects. Results from this research will be widely published in various scientific journals and outreach venues.
Fungi in Antarctic ecosystems are major contributors to biodiversity and have great influence on many processes such as biodegradation and nutrient cycling. It is essential for biological surveys as well as genomic and proteomic studies to be completed so a better understanding of these organisms is obtained. Previous research has identified unique fungi associated with historic wooden structures brought to Antarctica by Robert F. Scott and Ernest Shackleton during the Heroic Era of exploration. Many of the fungi found are previously undescribed species that belong to the little known genus Cadophora. The research team will obtain important new information on the fungi present in the Ross Sea and Peninsula Regions of Antarctica, particularly their role in decomposition and nutrient recycling and their mechanisms and strategies for survival in the polar environment. New tools and methods include denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), real-time PCR, and proteomic profiling. These analyses will reveal key details of the physiological adaptations these fungi have evolved to carry out processes such as biodegradation and nutrient cycling under conditions that would inhibit other fungi. This work, coupled with the training and learning opportunities it provides, will be of value to many fields of study including microbial ecology, polar biology, wood microbiology, environmental science, soil science, geobiochemistry, and mycology as well as fungal phylogenetics, proteomics and genomics. Results obtained will have immediate applied use to help preserve and protect Antarctica's historic monuments. The investigations proposed are a continuation of research to identify the microbes attacking these historic structures and artifacts and to elucidate their biology and ecology in the polar environment. New research will also be done at the historic Cape Adare huts, the first wooden structures to be built in Antarctica and also at East Base, an American historic site on Stonington Island from the Admiral Byrd and Ronne Expeditions of 1939-1948. The research team will conduct vital studies needed to successfully conserve the wooden structures and artifacts at these sites and protect them for future generations
The annual advance and retreat of pack ice may be the major physical determinant of spatial/temporal changes in the structure and function of antarctic marine communities. Interannual cycles and/or trends in the annual extent of pack ice may also have significant effects on all levels of the food web, from total annual primary production to breeding success in seabirds. Historical records indicate a 6 to 8 year cycle in the maximum extent of pack ice in the winter. During this decade winters were colder in 1980 and 1981, and again in 1986 and 1987. In order to understand the interactions between pack ice and ecosystem dynamics, especially the influences of the well- documented interannual variability in ice cover on representative populations, a long-term ecological research (LTER) site has been established in the Antarctic Peninsula region near Palmer Station. The LTER project, will conduct comprehensive measurements of ice-dominated ecosystems in this region with a focus on primary production, krill populations and swarms and seabirds. A primary emphasis will be placed on the development of ecosystem models that will provide a predictive capability for issues related to global environmental change. This proposal will add to the existing LTER project detailed studies of the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and associated bioelements. The microbiology and carbon flux component of LTER will provide measurements of a suite of core parameters relevant to the carbon cycle and will test several hypotheses pertaining to carbon flux, including bacterial productivity and nutrient regeneration.
0125794<br/>Price<br/><br/>This award supports research in climatology, geosciences, and life in extreme environments to be carried out with a newly developed optical borehole logger. The logger fits into a fluid-filled borehole in glacial ice. It emits light at 370 nm in a horizontal plane in order to probe optical properties of particles embedded in the ice out to several meters from the borehole. After leaving the borehole, the light is partially absorbed and scattered by dust, biomolecules, or microbes. A fraction of the light is scattered back into the borehole and is detected by a system of seven phototubes, each of which collects light with high efficiency in a separate wavelength band. One of them collects light that scatters off of dust and air bubbles without wavelength shift, and serves as a dust logger. The other six are covered with notch filters that measure six different wavelength bands and measure the shape of the fluorescence spectrum of microbes and biomolecules. Thus, the same instrument serves as both a dust logger and a microbe logger. Applications include: 1) Precise chronologies and long-period solar variability. With a resolution of 1 to 2 cm for both GISP2 and Siple Dome, the logger will record annual dust maxima and evaluate claims of modulations of dust concentration with periods ranging from 11 yrs (the solar cycle) to 2300 yrs; 2) Volcanism and age-depth markers. Dozens of volcanic ash bands will be detectable and will serve as primary age-depth markers for other boreholes; 3) Microorganisms and biomolecules. The vertical distribution of living, dormant, and dead microbes can be logged, and searches for archaea and aeolian polyaromatic hydrocarbons can be made. The logging experiments will be carried out at Siple Dome and Dome C in Antarctica and at GISP2 and GRIP in Greenland.
Abstract<br/><br/>The research will continue and extend the study in the Southern Ocean that was initiated during the Oden Southern Ocean 2006 expedition in collaboration with Swedish scientist Mellissa Chierici. We will quantify carbon flux through the food web in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) by measuring size fractionated primary and secondary production, grazing and carbon flux through nanoplankton (2-20 um), microplankton (20-200um), and mesoplankton (200-2000 um). Community structure, species abundance and size specific grazing rates will be quantified using a variety of techniques both underway and at ice stations along the MIZ. The proposed cruise track extends across the Drake Passage to the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) with three station transects along a gradient from the open ocean through the marginal ice zone (MIZ) in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and into the Ross Sea Polynya. Ice stations along each transect will provide material to characterize production associated with annual ice. Underway measurements of primary and secondary production (chlorophyll, CDOM, microplankton, and mesoplankton) and hydrography (temperature, salinity, pH, DO, turbidity) will establish a baseline for future cruises and as support for other projects such as biogeochemical studies on carbon dioxide drawdown and trace metal work on primary production. The outcome of these measurements will be a description of nano to mesoplankton standing stocks, community structure, and carbon flux along the MIZ in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and the Ross Sea Polynya.
Denitrification is the main process by which fixed nitrogen is lost from ecosystems and the regulation of this process may directly affect primary production and carbon cycling over short and long time scales. Previous investigations of the role of bioactive metals in regulating denitrification in bacteria from permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of East Antarctica indicated that denitrifying bacteria can be negatively affected by metals such as copper, iron, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, silver and zinc; and that there is a distinct difference in denitrifying activity between the east and west lobes of the lake. Low iron concentrations were found to exacerbate the potential toxicity of the other metals, while silver has the potential to specifically inhibit denitrification because of its ability to interfere with copper binding in redox proteins, such as nitrite reductase and nitrous oxide reductase. High silver concentrations might prevent the functioning of nitrous oxide reductase in the same way that simple copper limitation does, thereby causing the buildup of nitrous oxide and resulting in a nonfunctional nitrogen cycle. Other factors, such as oxygen concentration, are likely also to affect bacterial activity in Lake Bonney. This project will investigate silver toxicity, general metal toxicity and oxygen concentration to determine their effect on denitrification in the lake by using a suite of "sentinel" strains of denitrifying bacteria (isolated from the lake) incubated in Lake Bonney water and subjected to various treatments. The physiological responses of these strains to changes in metal and oxygen concentration will be quantified by flow cytometric detection of single cell molecular probes whose sensitivity and interpretation have been optimized for the sentinel strains. Understanding the relationships between metals and denitrification is expected to enhance our understanding of not only Lake Bonney's unusual nitrogen cycle, but more generally, of the potential role of metals in the regulation of microbial nitrogen transformations.<br/><br/>The broader impacts of this work include not only a better understanding of regional biogeochemistry and global perspectives on these processes; but also the training of graduate students and a substantial outreach effort for school children.
Aquatic-terrestrial transition zones are crucial environments in understanding the biogeochemistry of landscapes. In temperate watersheds, these areas are generally dominated by riparian zones, which have been identified as regions of special interest for biogeochemistry because of the increased microbial activity in these locations, and because of the importance of these hydrological margins in facilitating and buffering hydrologic and biogeochemical exchanges between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In the Antarctic Dry Valleys, terrestrial-aquatic transition zones are intriguing landscape features because of the vast importance of water in this polar desert, and because the material and energy budgets of dry valley ecosystems are linked by hydrology. Hydrological margins in aquatic-terrestrial transition zones will be studied in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica to answer two overarching questions: (1) what are the major controls over hydrologic and biogeochemical exchange across aquaticterrestrial transition zones and (2) to what extent do trends in nutrient cycling (e.g. nitrogen cycling) across these transition zones reflect differences in microbial communities or function vs. differences in the physical and chemical environment (e.g., redox potential)? The hydrologic gradients that define these interfaces provide the opportunity to assess the relative influence of physical conditions and microbial biodiversity and functioning upon biogeochemical cycling. Coordinated hydrologic, biogeochemical, and molecular microbial studies will be executed within hydrologic margins with the following research objectives: to determine the role of sediment characteristics, permafrost and active layer dynamics, and topography on sub-surface water content and distribution in hydrologic margins, to determine the extent to which transformations of nitrogen in hydrological margins are influenced by physical conditions (i.e., moisture, redox potential and pH) or by the presence of specific microbial communities (e.g., denitrifiers), and to characterize the microbial community structure and function of saturated zones.<br/><br/>This proposed research will provide an improved understanding of the interaction of liquid water, soils, microbial communities, and biogeochemistry within the important hydrologic margin landscape units of the dry valleys. Dry valleys streams and lakes are unique because there is no influence of higher vegetation on the movement of water and may therefore provide a model system for understanding physical and hydrological influences on microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Hence the findings will contribute to Antarctic science as well as the broader study of riparian zones and hydrologic margins worldwide. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be involved with fieldwork and research projects. Information will be disseminated through a project web site, and outreach activities will include science education in local elementary, middle and high schools near the three universities involved.
Ultraviolet radiation influences the dynamics of plankton processes in the near-surface waters of most aquatic ecosystems. In particular, the Southern Ocean is affected in the austral spring period when biologically damaging ultraviolet radiation is enhanced by ozone depletion. While progress has been made in estimating the quantitative impact of ultraviolet radiation on bacteria and phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean, some important issues remain to be resolved. Little is known about responses in systems dominated by the colonial haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, which dominates spring blooms in a polyna that develops in the southern Ross Sea. The Ross Sea is also of interest because of the occurrence of open water at a far southerly location in the spring, well within the ozone hole, and continuous daylight, with implications for the regulation of DNA repair. A number of studies suggest that vertical mixing can significant modify the impact of ultraviolet radiation in the Southern Ocean and elsewhere. However, there are limited measurements of turbulence intensity in the surface layer and measurements have not been integrated with parallel studies of ultraviolet radiation effects on phytoplankton and bacterioplankton. To address these issues, this collaborative study will focus on vertical mixing and the impact of ultraviolet radiation in the Ross Sea. The spectral and temporal responses of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton to ultraviolet radiation will be characterized in both laboratory and solar incubations. These will lead to the definition of biological weighting functions and response models capable of predicting the depth and time distribution of ultraviolet radiation impacts on photosynthesis, bacterial incorporation and DNA damage in the surface layer. Diel sampling will measure depth-dependent profiles of DNA damage, bacterial incorporation, photosynthesis and fluorescence parameters over a 24 h cycle. Sampling will include stations with contrasting wind-driven mixing and stratification as the polyna develops. The program of vertical mixing measurements is optimized for the typical springtime Ross Sea situation in which turbulence of intermediate intensity is insufficient to mix the upper layer thoroughly in the presence of stabilizing influences like solar heating and/or surface freshwater input from melting ice. Fine-scale vertical density profiles will be measured with a free-fall CTD unit and the profiles will be used to directly estimate large-eddy scales by determining Thorpe scales. Eddy scales and estimated turbulent diffusivities will be directly related to surface layer effects, and used to generate lagrangian depth-time trajectories in models of ultraviolet radiation responses in the surface mixed layer. The proposed research will be the first in-depth study of ultraviolet radiation effects in the Ross Sea and provide a valuable comparison with previous work in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence and Palmer Station regions. It will also enhance the understanding of vertical mixing processes, trophic interactions and biogeochemical cycling in the Ross Sea.