{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "Population Dynamics"}
[{"awards": "2535120 Ballard, Grant; 2535122 Bowie, Rauri; 2535124 Varsani, Arvind; 2535121 Cimino, Megan", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-163 -60,-146 -60,-129 -60,-112 -60,-95 -60,-78 -60,-61 -60,-44 -60,-27 -60,-10 -60,-10 -61.8,-10 -63.6,-10 -65.4,-10 -67.2,-10 -69,-10 -70.8,-10 -72.6,-10 -74.4,-10 -76.2,-10 -78,-27 -78,-44 -78,-61 -78,-78 -78,-95 -78,-112 -78,-129 -78,-146 -78,-163 -78,180 -78,175.5 -78,171 -78,166.5 -78,162 -78,157.5 -78,153 -78,148.5 -78,144 -78,139.5 -78,135 -78,135 -76.2,135 -74.4,135 -72.6,135 -70.8,135 -69,135 -67.2,135 -65.4,135 -63.6,135 -61.8,135 -60,139.5 -60,144 -60,148.5 -60,153 -60,157.5 -60,162 -60,166.5 -60,171 -60,175.5 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical abstract \r\n\r\nAd\u00e9lie penguins are an early indicator of change in Antarctica. One study population in the Ross Sea is stable or growing, while another near the Antarctic Peninsula is declining quickly, even though both face a warming climate. This project asks a question that matters for conservation and for our broader understanding of how species adapt to environmental change: what allows some penguin populations to cope while others do not? Researchers will follow penguins from the two regions through the parts of their lives that are hardest to observe. Small tracking tags placed on young penguins just before they leave their colonies will reveal where they travel on their first trips to sea and how many survive. Recording devices retrieved from adult penguins will show where and when they molt their feathers and how deep and how often they dive for food through the winter. Blood samples will map how penguins from the two regions are related ancestrally and whether the populations mix regularly. Together these measurements show how each population feeds, travels, and survives, and whether differences in behavior help explain why the two are heading in opposite directions, informing how Antarctic wildlife is understood and protected as the region changes. The tracking and recording devices collect temperature and other ocean data from a remote region during the season when it is most difficult to study, adding to the information available for understanding and managing the Southern Ocean. The project also trains the next generation of polar scientists, supporting a doctoral student and a field apprentice, and it continues long-term monitoring that reaches back decades. Education and public outreach will include \"Live From the Penguins\" video calls and updates on penguin colony and breeding behavior through the PenguinScience.com website and social media.\r\n\r\n\r\nTechnical abstract\r\n\r\nAd\u00e9lie penguins are a key Antarctic mesopredator and a useful model for studying the limits of biological adaptation under rapid environmental change. This two-year project unites two of the longest-running United States Ad\u00e9lie penguin research programs (a stable-to-increasing population in the Ross Sea and a declining population near Palmer Station on the western Antarctic Peninsula) as a natural experiment in adaptive capacity. The work centers on three traits measurable from one intensive field season combined with existing biologging and multi-decadal monitoring data. Satellite-linked transmitters deployed on fledglings before colony departure in both regions will quantify juvenile dispersal routes, habitat use, and at-sea survival. Archival geolocating dive recorders recovered from adults will characterize molt timing and location (sea ice versus land). The same instruments yield year-long dive, light, and temperature profiles, allowing foraging performance and environmental thresholds to be compared across contrasting breeding and wintering regions. A genetic component addresses population structure: whether mitochondrial lineages sort by colony, how genetically contained the Ross Sea population is, and how prevalent the Ross Sea lineage is in the under-sampled Palmer region. Together these provide a framework against which trait differences can be interpreted. A second field season supports instrument retrieval and continued long-term monitoring. The project trains one doctoral student and one field apprentice and extends datasets that reach back decades in both regions.\r\n\r\nThis award reflects NSF\u0027\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 135.0, "geometry": "POINT(-117.5 -69)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e RADIO; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS RECEIVERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e GLS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e BINOCULAR; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e VISUAL OBSERVATIONS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Survival Rates; Population Dynamics; FIELD SURVEYS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; UNCREWED AERIAL VEHICLES; Evolutionary Adaptation; Post-Breeding Periods; Antarctica; PELAGIC; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; Migratory Rates/Routes; RADIO TRANSMITTERS; UAV; Use/Feeding Habitats", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Lescroel, Amelie; Cimino, Megan; Varsani, Arvind", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e UNCREWED AERIAL VEHICLES; AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e UNCREWED AERIAL VEHICLES \u003e UAV; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e RADIO TRANSMITTERS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Beyond the Black-and-White: Uncovering Hidden Keys to Success in Adelie Penguins", "uid": "p0010584", "west": -10.0}, {"awards": "2042032 Huckstadt, Luis", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Crabeater seal tracking data 2022-2023", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601861", "doi": "10.15784/601861", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Huckstadt, Luis", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Crabeater seal tracking data 2022-2023", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601861"}], "date_created": "Wed, 27 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: The crabeater seal is the most important predator of Antarctic krill in the western Antarctic Peninsula oceanic waters after the disappearance of large whales due to human hunting 100 years ago. The crabeater seals are expected to consume large quantities of krill due to their high abundance (about 7 million individuals), large body size (about 700 pounds in body weight), high metabolism and a diet specializing in krill. This species depends on sea ice presence all year long, living, reproducing, and diving to feed from that environment, making this marine mammal species a good indicator, or sentinel, of how the Antarctic ecosystem responds to a changing climate. As sea ice has been decreasing in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, this project aims to understand if the species food availability has changed in the last decades in response to environmental changes. In particular, the proposed work will concentrate on known populations of crabeater seals in northern (i.e., warmer, sub-polar) and southern (i.e., colder, polar) Antarctic Peninsula, 450 miles apart, making measurements on the abundance, physiology, metabolic needs and movement of the crabeater populations in both locations. The data will be combined to build models that will quantify the existing differences between northern and southern populations, as well as predict their future change, and compare present-day measurements with those collected by the British Antarctic Survey in the mid-1900s. The project is a collaboration between an international and interdisciplinary team from the United States and United Kingdom, benefitting NSF goals to facilitate collaborative geoscience research projects involving these two countries as well as aligning directly with U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) to better understand the forces shaping the global environment, both human and natural, and their impacts on society. To further increase polar literacy and education, Principal Investigators will train at least 2 graduate students and several undergraduates across two US institutions, as well as one UK-based post-doctoral researcher. Part II: Technical description: Crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) are considered an excellent sentinel species through which to examine the effects of a changing climate on the extended Antarctic krill-dependent predator community and the structure of the entire ecosystem of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Over the last forty years, there have been significant changes in the temporal and spatial patterns of primary productivity, and shifts in the population dynamics of Antarctic krill, the dominant mid-trophic level species. The impact of such changes on year-round resident species of crabeater seals (the most important predator of Antarctic krill) is more difficult to understand as they are not associated with breeding colonies where their population fluctuations could be more readily observed. The proposed research is conceived under the premise that environmental change has accentuated the differences between the northern and southern western Antarctic Peninsula crabeater seal populations due to differential reductions in sea-ice and its possible effect on prey availability. To address this question, this research will combine measurements on animal movement, stable isotope analyses, whole-animal physiology, and novel survey technologies (small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, satellite imagery) to build models. The project is a collaboration between an international and interdisciplinary team from the United States and United Kingdom. These studies will be essential to detect past, and project future, changes in the ecology of this species in response to changes in sea ice when comparing present-day measurements with those collected by the British Antarctic Survey in the mid-1900s. To further increase polar literacy and education, Principal Investigators will train at least 2 graduate students and several undergraduates across two US institutions, as well as one UK-based post-doctoral researcher. Students involved with this project will gain invaluable research experience in the lab and will have a unique opportunity to participate in Antarctic fieldwork. 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": "ANIMAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Huckstadt, Luis", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "NSFGEO-NERC Collaborative Research: Effects of a Changing Climate on the Habitat Utilization, Foraging Ecology and Distribution of Crabeater Seals", "uid": "p0010490", "west": null}, {"awards": "1744989 LaRue, Michelle", "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": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin; Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018); Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200410", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.m63xsj48v", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj48v"}, {"dataset_uid": "601491", "doi": "10.15784/601491", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601491"}, {"dataset_uid": "601513", "doi": "10.15784/601513", "keywords": "Antarctica; Breeding Success; Emperor Penguin; Fast Sea Ice", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Labrousse, Sara", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601513"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys - these results have been uploaded to MAPPPD (penguinmap.com) and are freely available for use. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; Antarctica; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "platforms": null, "repo": "Dryad", "repositories": "Dryad; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins", "uid": "p0010447", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2137377 Bergstrom, Anna; 2137375 Schmidt, Steven; 2137378 Varsani, Arvind; 2137376 Porazinska, Dorota", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemical characterization of bulk soils and sediments from Taylor Valley, Antarctica; De novo assembled contigs for a cryoconite microcosm study - Canada Glacier Cryoconite hole sample - NCBI BioProject PRJNA1315162; Evidence for rapid ecosystem retrogression along a post-glacial chronosequence in Antarctica NCBI SRA database project PRJNA836937; Fungal diversity and function in metagenomes sequenced from extreme environments; Fungal metagenomes from Antarctic environments; Metabarcoding (16S, 18S) ASV Table", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601958", "doi": "10.15784/601958", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Cryosphere; Nitrogen; Phosphate; Taylor Valley", "people": "Bergstrom, Anna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemical characterization of bulk soils and sediments from Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601958"}, {"dataset_uid": "601982", "doi": "10.15784/601982", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Taylor Valley", "people": "Varsani, Arvind", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "De novo assembled contigs for a cryoconite microcosm study - Canada Glacier Cryoconite hole sample - NCBI BioProject PRJNA1315162", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601982"}, {"dataset_uid": "200515", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.10642140", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Fungal diversity and function in metagenomes sequenced from extreme environments", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10642140"}, {"dataset_uid": "601942", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "SCHMIDT, STEVEN", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Fungal metagenomes from Antarctic environments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601942"}, {"dataset_uid": "200514", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)", "science_program": null, "title": "Evidence for rapid ecosystem retrogression along a post-glacial chronosequence in Antarctica NCBI SRA database project PRJNA836937", "url": ""}, {"dataset_uid": "601957", "doi": "10.15784/601957", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Microbial Diversity; Taylor Valley", "people": "Porazinska, Dorota", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Metabarcoding (16S, 18S) ASV Table", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601957"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Cryoconite holes are sediment-filled melt holes in the surface of glaciers that can be important sites of active microbial life in an otherwise mostly frozen and barren landscape. Previous studies in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica suggest that viral infections of microbes, and a general lack of fertilizers (i.e., nutrients), may be important factors shaping the development and functioning of microbial communities in cryoconite holes. The researchers propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects diversity (number of species) and overall abundance of microbes, and how the diversity and abundance of microbes in turn affects the diversity, abundance, and infection type of viruses that parasitize the microbes in cryoconite sediments. The researchers will use sediments previously collected from Antarctic glaciers that have varying concentrations of viruses and nutrients, to set up a nutrient-addition experiment to determine how nutrients affect microbial and viral population dynamics. The results will deepen our understanding of how microbial communities in general are shaped by nutrients and viruses and give new insights into the functioning of viruses in extremely cold environments. The researchers will publish their findings in scientific journals and will share their discoveries with K-12 students from rural schools in collaboration with the Pinhead Institute and will connect undergraduate students from under-represented minorities to polar research through participation in the university\u2019s Science, Technology, Engineering \u0026 Mathematics Routes Uplift Research Program. Outreach will be achieved through videos produced and distributed by a professional science communicator. The research advances a National Science Foundation goal of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes by utilizing the unique characteristics of the Antarctic region as a science observing platform. The Principal Investigators propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects microbial diversity and abundances and their cascading effects on virus diversity, abundance, and mode of infection (lysis vs. lysogeny) in Antarctic cryoconite holes. Cryoconite holes are ideal natural microcosms for manipulative studies, not available in other cryospheric ecosystems. The PIs will use previously collected cryoconite from across a gradient of both viral diversity and nutrient levels to address questions about key limiting nutrients and microbial-viral community dynamics in cryoconite sediments. Nutrient manipulation experiments will be conducted in a growth chamber that closely approximates the light and temperature regime of in situ cryoconite holes to test three core hypotheses: (1) phosphorus availability limits microbial productivity and abundance in cryoconite holes; (2) relaxing nutrient limitation in cryoconite from low-diversity glaciers will increase species diversity, leading microbial communities to resemble those found on more nutrient-rich glaciers; (3) relaxing nutrient limitation will increase the diversity and abundance of viruses by increasing the availability of suitable hosts, and decrease the prevalence of lysogenic infections. By manipulating nutrient limitation within a realistic range, this project will help verify hypothesized phosphorus limitation of Antarctic cryoconite holes and will extend understanding of the connections between nutrients, diversity, and viral infection dynamics in the cryosphere more generally. A better understanding of these dynamics in cryoconite sediments improves the ability of scientists to forecast future impacts of environmental changes in the cryosphere. 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": "AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS; Taylor Valley", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schmidt, Steven; Varsani, Arvind; Porazinska, Dorota; Bergstrom, Anna", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "GitHub; National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI); USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Role of Nutrient Limitation and Viral Interactions on Antarctic Microbial Community Assembly: A Cryoconite Microcosm Study", "uid": "p0010418", "west": null}, {"awards": "2147553 Rotella, Jay; 1640481 Rotella, Jay; 2147554 Chen, Nancy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -74.95,162.8 -74.95,163.6 -74.95,164.4 -74.95,165.2 -74.95,166 -74.95,166.8 -74.95,167.6 -74.95,168.4 -74.95,169.2 -74.95,170 -74.95,170 -75.295,170 -75.64,170 -75.985,170 -76.33,170 -76.67500000000001,170 -77.02000000000001,170 -77.36500000000001,170 -77.71000000000001,170 -78.055,170 -78.4,169.2 -78.4,168.4 -78.4,167.6 -78.4,166.8 -78.4,166 -78.4,165.2 -78.4,164.4 -78.4,163.6 -78.4,162.8 -78.4,162 -78.4,162 -78.055,162 -77.71000000000001,162 -77.36500000000001,162 -77.02000000000001,162 -76.67500000000001,162 -76.33,162 -75.985,162 -75.64,162 -75.295,162 -74.95))", "dataset_titles": "Demographic data for Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay through the 2023 Antarctic field season", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601837", "doi": "10.15784/601837", "keywords": "AMD; Amd/Us; Antarctica; Cryosphere; McMurdo Sound; Population Dynamics; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; Weddell Seal", "people": "Rotella, Jay", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Demographic data for Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay through the 2023 Antarctic field season", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601837"}], "date_created": "Sun, 07 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Non-technical description This is a continuation of a long-term population dynamics study (1978-present) using an intensive mark-recapture tagging of Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica. Past work has become a global model for population studies of large animals. Results have documented strong annual variation in reproduction, abundance, and population composition. This program will add components to evaluate the demographic role of immigrant mothers, evaluate possible drivers of annual variation in overall population dynamics, assess genetic differences between immigrant and locally born mothers, and document patterns of gene flow among seal colonies in the Ross Sea region. These new aspects will focus on understanding of population structure, function, and genetics and provide key information for predicting how the seal population will respond to environmental change. The addition of genetic approaches will advance available data for multiple groups in multiple countries working on Weddell Seals. This work includes an early career scientists training program for faculty university graduate and undergraduate students and well as a defined program for data sharing. The research is paired with active education and outreach programs, social media, websites, educational resources, videos and high-profile public lecture activities. The informal science education program will expand on the project\u2019s successful efforts at producing and delivering short-form videos that have been viewed over 1.6 million times to date. In addition, the education program will add new topics such as learning about seals using genomics and how seals respond to a changing world to a multimedia-enhanced electronic book about the project\u2019s long-term research on Weddell seals, which will be freely available to the public early in the project. Part 2: Technical description Reliable predictions are needed for how populations of wild species, especially those at high latitudes, will respond to future environmental conditions. This study will use a strategic extension of the long-term demographic research program that has been conducted annually on the Erebus Bay population of Weddell seals since 1978 to help meet that need. Recent analyses of the study population indicate strong annual variation in reproduction, abundance, and population composition. The number of new immigrant mothers that join the population each year has recently grown such that most new mothers are now immigrants. Despite the growing number of immigrants, the demographic importance and geographic origins of immigrants are unknown. The research will (1) add new information on drivers of annual variation in immigrant numbers, (2) compare and combine information on the vital rates and demographic role of immigrant females and their offspring with that of locally born females, and (3) add genomic analyses that will quantify levels of genetic variation in and gene flow among the study population and other populations in the Ross Sea. The project will continue the long-term monitoring of the population at Erebus Bay and characterize population dynamics and the role of immigration using a combination of mark-recapture analyses, stochastic population modeling, and genomic analyses. The study will continue to provide detailed data on individual seals to other science teams, educate and mentor individuals in the next generation of ecologists, introduce two early-career, female scientists to Antarctic research, and add genomics approaches to the long-term population study of Erebus Bay Weddell seals. The research will be complemented with a robust program of training and an informal science education program. 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": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(166 -76.67500000000001)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; McMurdo Sound", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -74.95, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rotella, Jay; Chen, Nancy", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.4, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Drivers and Role of Immigration in the Dynamics of the Largest Population of Weddell Seals in Antarctica under Changing Conditions", "uid": "p0010361", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "1951500 Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "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": "Data from: Individual life histories: Neither slow nor fast, just diverse; Evo-Demo Hyperstate Matrix Model Code Repository; Hyperstate matrix model reveals the influence of personality on demography; Individual life histories: neither slow nor fast, just diverse; Plastic Behaviour Buffers Climate Variability in the Wandering Albatross; Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses; Subtropical anticyclone impacts life-history traits of a marine top predator; The impact of boldness on demographic rates and lifehistory outcomes in the wandering albatross", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200456", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GITHUB", "science_program": null, "title": "Subtropical anticyclone impacts life-history traits of a marine top predator", "url": "https://github.com/fledge-whoi/Alba_Mascarene-High"}, {"dataset_uid": "200458", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9kpm", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "DRYAD", "science_program": null, "title": "Individual life histories: neither slow nor fast, just diverse", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6181063.v1"}, {"dataset_uid": "200454", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GITHUB", "science_program": null, "title": "Evo-Demo Hyperstate Matrix Model Code Repository", "url": "https://github.com/fledge-whoi/Eco-EvoHyperstateModel"}, {"dataset_uid": "200455", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GITHUB", "science_program": null, "title": "Hyperstate matrix model reveals the influence of personality on demography", "url": "https://github.com/fledge-whoi/HyperstateWApopulationmodel"}, {"dataset_uid": "200453", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9kpm", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from: Individual life histories: Neither slow nor fast, just diverse", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9kpm"}, {"dataset_uid": "200459", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.13881532", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZENODO", "science_program": null, "title": "Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses", "url": "https://zenodo.org/records/13881532"}, {"dataset_uid": "601770", "doi": "10.15784/601770", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Demography; Sub-Antarctic", "people": "Joanie, Van de Walle; Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The impact of boldness on demographic rates and lifehistory outcomes in the wandering albatross", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601770"}, {"dataset_uid": "200457", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.10887354", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZENODO", "science_program": null, "title": "Plastic Behaviour Buffers Climate Variability in the Wandering Albatross", "url": "https://zenodo.org/records/14290546"}], "date_created": "Wed, 08 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Nontechnical description: This award represents a collaborative geoscience research effort between US NSF and UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) researchers with efforts in each nation funded by their respective countries (Dear Colleague Letter NSF 16-132). The research will focus on understanding the links between behavior, ecology, and evolution in a Southern Ocean wandering albatross population in response to global changes in climate and in exploitation of natural resources. The most immediate response of animals to global change typically is behavioral, and this work will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how differences individual bird behavior affect evolution and adaptation for the population under changing environments. Characterization of albatross personality, life-history traits, and population dynamics collected over long time scales will be used to develop robust forecasting of species persistence in the face of future global changes. The results of this project will feed into conservation and management decisions for endangered Southern Ocean species. The work will also be used to provide specific research training at all levels, including a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and K-12 students. It will also support education for the public about impacts from human-induced activities on our polar ecosystems using animations, public lectures, printed and web media. Part II: Technical description Past research has shown that individual animal personalities range over a continuum of behavior, such that some individuals are consistently more aggressive, more explorative, and bolder than others. How the phenotypic distributions of personality and foraging behavior types within a population is created and maintained by ecological (demographic and phenotypic plasticity) and evolutionary (heritability) processes remain an open question. Differences in personality traits determine how individuals acquire resources and how they allocate these to reproduction and survival. Although some studies have found different foraging behaviors or breeding performances between personality types, none have established the link between personality differences in foraging behaviors and life histories (both reproduction and survival, and their covariations) in the context of global change. Furthermore, plasticity in foraging behaviors is not considered in the pace-of-life syndrome, which has potentially hampered our ability to find covariation between personality and life history trade-off. This project will fill these knowledge gaps and develop an eco-evolutionary model of the complex interactions among individual personality and foraging plasticity, heritability of personality and foraging behaviors, life history strategies, population dynamics in a changing environment (fisheries and climate) using a long-term database consisting of ~1,800 tagged wandering albatross seabirds (Diomedea exulans) with defined individual personalities and life history traits breeding in the Southern Ocean. Climate projections from IPCC atmospheric-oceanic global circulation models will be used to provide projections of population structure under future global change conditions. Specifically, the team will (1) characterize the differences in life history strategies along the shy-bold continuum of personalities and across environmental conditions; (2) develop the link between phenotypic plasticity in foraging effort and personality; (3) characterize the heritability of personality and foraging behaviors; (4) develop a stochastic eco-evolutionary model to predict population growth rates in a changing environment. 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": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AMD; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; USA/NSF; Antarctica; FIELD INVESTIGATION; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; PENGUINS; Amd/Us", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Patrick, Samantha", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "GITHUB", "repositories": "Dryad; DRYAD; GITHUB; USAP-DC; ZENODO", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "NSFGEO-NERC: Integrating Individual Personality Differences in the Evolutionary Ecology of a Seabird in the Rapidly Changing Polar Environment", "uid": "p0010283", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2037561 Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "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": "Code for \u015een et al. 2023; Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601491", "doi": "10.15784/601491", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601491"}, {"dataset_uid": "200373", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7803266", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Code for \u015een et al. 2023", "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/7803266"}], "date_created": "Wed, 08 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Many biogeochemical and biophysical processes are changing in the present and coming century. The mechanisms and the predictability of these processes are still poorly understood. Limits in understanding of these progress limits climate forecasting. Similarly, ecological forecasting remains a nascent discipline. Comparative assessments of predictability, both within and among species, are critically needed to understand the factors that allow (or prevent) useful ecological forecasts. This study will reveal the influence of climate system dynamics on ecological predictability across a range of scales, and will examine how this role differs among ecological processes, species and regions of Antarctic. The project research will examine the predictability of Antarctic climate and its influence on seabird demographic response, predictability at various temporal and spatial scales, using the longest datasets available for several polar species. Specifically, the PI will 1) identify the physical mechanisms giving rise to climate predictability in Antarctica, 2) identify the relationships between climate and ecological processes at a range of scales, and 3) reveal the factors controlling ecological predictability across a range of scales (e.g., those relevant for short-term adaptive management versus those relevant at end-of-century timescales). These objectives will be achieved using the analysis of existing climate data and century length time-scales, Atmosphere-Ocean Global Circulation Models (AOGCMs), with coupled analysis of existing long-term demographic data for multiple seabird species that span a range of ecological niches, life histories, and study sites across the continent. 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": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; PENGUINS; Amd/Us; Antarctica; USA/NSF; SEA ICE; NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Holland, Marika", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC; Zenodo", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Integrating Antarctic Environmental and Biological Predictability to Obtain Optimal Forecasts", "uid": "p0010282", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2046437 Zitterbart, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60 -55,-53 -55,-46 -55,-39 -55,-32 -55,-25 -55,-18 -55,-11 -55,-4 -55,3 -55,10 -55,10 -57.5,10 -60,10 -62.5,10 -65,10 -67.5,10 -70,10 -72.5,10 -75,10 -77.5,10 -80,3 -80,-4 -80,-11 -80,-18 -80,-25 -80,-32 -80,-39 -80,-46 -80,-53 -80,-60 -80,-60 -77.5,-60 -75,-60 -72.5,-60 -70,-60 -67.5,-60 -65,-60 -62.5,-60 -60,-60 -57.5,-60 -55))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: Understanding human-induced changes on biodiversity is one of the most important scientific challenges we face today. This is especially true for marine environments that are home to much of the world\u2019s biomass and biodiversity. A particularly effective approach to investigate the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems is to monitor top-predator populations such as seabirds or marine mammals. The food web in the Southern Ocean in relatively small and involves few species, therefore climate-induced variations at the prey species level directly affect the predator species level. For example, seabirds, like penguins, are ideal to detect and study these ecosystem changes. This study combines traditional methods to study emperor penguin population dynamics with the use of an autonomous vehicle to conduct the population dynamic measurements with less impact and higher accuracy. This project leverages an existing long-term emperor penguin observatory at the Atka Bay colony which hosts penguins living in the Weddell sea and the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The study will kickstart the collection of a multi-decadal data set in an area of the Southern Ocean that has been understudied. It will fill important gaps in ecological knowledge on the state of the Emperor penguin and its adaptive capabilities within a changing world. Finally, the project supports NSF goals of training new generations of scientists through collaborative training of undergraduate students and the creation of a new class on robotics for ecosystem study. Emperor penguins are an iconic species that few people will ever see in the wild. Through the technology developed in this proposal, the public can be immersed in real-time into the life of an emperor penguin colony. Public outreach will be achieved by showcasing real-time video and audio footage of emperor penguins from the field as social media science and engineering-themed educational materials. Part II: Technical description: Polar ecosystems currently experience significant impacts due to global changes. Measurable negative effects on polar wildlife have already occurred, such as population decreases of numerous seabird species, including the complete loss of colonies of one of the most emblematic species of the Antarctic, the emperor penguin. These existing impacts on polar species are alarming, especially because many polar species still remain poorly studied due to technical and logistical challenges imposed by the harsh environment and extreme remoteness. Developing technologies and tools for monitoring such wildlife populations is, therefore, a matter of urgency. This project aims to help close major knowledge gaps about the emperor penguin, in particular about their adaptive capability to a changing environment, by the development of next-generation tools to remotely study entire colonies. Specifically, the main goal of this project is to implement and test an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle equipped with Radio-frequency identification (RFID) antennas and wireless mesh communication data-loggers to: 1) identify RFID-tagged emperor penguins during breeding to studying population dynamics without human presence; and 2) receive Global Positioning System-Time Domain Reflectometry (GPS-TDR) datasets from Very High Frequency VHF-GPS-TDR data-loggers without human presence to study animal behavior and distribution at sea. The autonomous vehicles navigation through the colony will be aided by an existing remote penguin observatory (SPOT). Properly implemented, this technology can be used to study of the life history of individual penguins, and therefore gather data for behavioral and population dynamic studies. The new data will contribute to intelligent establishment of marine protected areas in Antarctica. The education objectives of this CAREER project are designed to increase the interest in a STEM education for the next generation of scientists by combining the charisma of the emperor penguin with robotics research. Within this project, a new class on ecosystem robotics will be developed and taught, Robotics boot-camps will allow undergraduate students to remotely participate in Antarctic field trips, and an annual curriculum will be developed that allows K-12 students to follow the life of the emperor penguin during the breeding cycle, powered by real-time data obtained using the unmanned ground vehicle as well as the existing emperor penguin observatory. 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": 10.0, "geometry": "POINT(-25 -67.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; Antarctica; Dronning Maud Land; FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; Atka Bay; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; USA/NSF", "locations": "Atka Bay; Antarctica; Dronning Maud Land", "north": -55.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Zitterbart, Daniel", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "\r\nCAREER: Development of Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Assessing the Health of Secluded Ecosystems (ECHO)", "uid": "p0010245", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "1341649 Johnson, Leah; 1740239 Johnson, Leah", "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": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 13 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Albatrosses (family Diomedeidae) are among the most threatened of bird species. Of the 22 species that are currently recognized, all are considered at least Threatened or Near-Threatened, and 9 are listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered. Because of the decline in albatross populations and the birds\u0027 role as a top predator in the pelagic ecosystem, it is vitally important to understand the factors affecting the population dynamics of these birds to better inform strategies for conservation and mitigating environmental change. The goal of this project is to answer the question: What are the population consequences of albatross bioenergetics and foraging strategies? The investigators will take a two pronged approach: 1) constructing, parameterizing, and validating an Individual Based Model (IBM) that rests on Dynamic Energy Budget theory and state dependent foraging theory; and 2) undertaking an in-depth meta-analysis of existing individual tracking and life history data from multiple albatross species across successive life stages. This theoretical work will be grounded with a unique and extensive data set on albatrosses provided by collaborator Richard Phillips from the British Antarctic Survey. The IBM approach will incorporate details such as adult energetic state, chick needs and energetics, reproductive stage, and spatial and temporal variation in prey availability within a single framework. This facilitates exploration of emergent patterns, allowing the investigators to explicitly link behavior, energetic, and population dynamics. Bioenergetics constrain a variety of behaviors. A more complete understanding of how individuals use energy can give insight into how behaviors from foraging to breeding and survival, and resulting population attributes, might change with environmental factors, due to anthropogenic and other drivers. This work will further a general understanding of how bioenergetics shapes behavior and drives population level processes, while providing an approach that can be used to guide conservation strategies for endangered populations. The research findings and activities will be made accessible to public audiences through websites and on a blog maintained for the project by a postdoctoral researcher. The project will involve undergraduate and high school researchers in the project, within formal laboratory groups and also through in-classroom presentations and activities. This project also involves outreach to local elementary schools, as the albatross-Antarctic bioenergetics system provides a charismatic and tangible teaching tool, for exploring a complex conservation issue, and demonstrating the utility of quantitative biological research approaches. All project publications will be open access, the resulting open source software will be released to the public, and metadata and analyses will be fully documented and made available through the Knowledge Network for Biodiversity, to promote further collaborative exploration of this system.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIRDS; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; AMD; USA/NSF; MODELS; United States Of America", "locations": "United States Of America", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Johnson, Leah; Ryan, Sadie", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Quantifying how Bioenergetics and Foraging Determine Population Dynamics in Threatened Antarctic Albatrosses", "uid": "p0010242", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1744989 LaRue, Michelle; 1744794 Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "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": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin; Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018); Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601513", "doi": "10.15784/601513", "keywords": "Antarctica; Breeding Success; Emperor Penguin; Fast Sea Ice", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Labrousse, Sara", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601513"}, {"dataset_uid": "601491", "doi": "10.15784/601491", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601491"}, {"dataset_uid": "200388", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Github", "science_program": null, "title": "Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018)", "url": "https://github.com/davidiles/EMPE_Global"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The emperor penguin is an iconic seabird that is found in colonies distributed around the entirety of the Antarctic coastline. Emperor penguins are an important indicator species for the health of the Southern Ocean because their reliance on sea ice for major parts of their life cycle means that their population can be influenced by changes in the extent and duration of sea ice around Antarctica. Although baseline data exists on emperor penguin distributions and overall population size, data on how population size varies at individual colonies is limited to only a few locations. Thus, knowledge about how changes in local or regional environmental conditions impacts local or global population status is poorly understood. By combining established methods in satellite remote sensing with ground and aerial surveys of several colonies across the continent, this project will generate population estimates for the 54 known emperor penguin colonies. Decadal scale population trend data will be combined with environmental variables (e.g., sea ice extent and duration among others) to reveal which conditions influence population fluctuations at regional and continental scales. The project will engage with international collaborators, train post-doctoral associates and future scientists, and develop citizen science and K-12 outreach programs. This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public. 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": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; Ross Sea; USAP-DC; AMD; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; Amd/Us", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Github; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins", "uid": "p0010229", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1640481 Rotella, Jay", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -75,162.8 -75,163.6 -75,164.4 -75,165.2 -75,166 -75,166.8 -75,167.6 -75,168.4 -75,169.2 -75,170 -75,170 -75.38,170 -75.76,170 -76.14,170 -76.52,170 -76.9,170 -77.28,170 -77.66,170 -78.03999999999999,170 -78.42,170 -78.8,169.2 -78.8,168.4 -78.8,167.6 -78.8,166.8 -78.8,166 -78.8,165.2 -78.8,164.4 -78.8,163.6 -78.8,162.8 -78.8,162 -78.8,162 -78.42,162 -78.03999999999999,162 -77.66,162 -77.28,162 -76.9,162 -76.52,162 -76.14,162 -75.76,162 -75.38,162 -75))", "dataset_titles": "Demographic data for Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay through the 2017 Antarctic field season; Demographic data for Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay through the 2023 Antarctic field season", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200300", "doi": " https://doi.org/10.15784/601125 ", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Demographic data for Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay through the 2017 Antarctic field season", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601125"}, {"dataset_uid": "601837", "doi": "10.15784/601837", "keywords": "AMD; Amd/Us; Antarctica; Cryosphere; McMurdo Sound; Population Dynamics; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; Weddell Seal", "people": "Rotella, Jay", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Demographic data for Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay through the 2023 Antarctic field season", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601837"}], "date_created": "Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The consequences of variation in maternal effects on the ability of offspring to survive, reproduce, and contribute to future generations has rarely been evaluated in polar marine mammals. This is due to the challenges of having adequate data on the survival and reproductive outcomes for numerous offspring born in diverse environmental conditions to mothers with known and diverse sets of traits. This research project will evaluate the survival and reproductive consequences of early-life environmental conditions and variation in offspring traits that are related to maternal attributes (e.g. birth date, birth mass, weaning mass, and swimming behavior) in a population of individually marked Weddell seals in the Ross Sea. Results will allow an evaluation of the importance of different types of individuals to the Weddell Seal\u0027s population sustenance and better assessments of factors contributing to the population dynamics in the past and into the future. The project allows for documentation of specific individual seal\u0027s unique histories and provisioning of such information to the broader science community that seeks to study these seals, educating graduate and undergraduate ecology students, producing science-outreach videos, and developing a multi-media iBook regarding the project\u0027s science activities, goals and outcomes. The research has the broad objective of evaluating the importance of diverse sources of variation in pup characteristics to survival and reproduction. The study will (1) record birth dates, body mass metrics, and time spent in the water for multiple cohorts of pups (born to known-age mothers) in years with different environmental conditions; (2) mark all pups born in the greater Erebus Bay study area and conduct repeated surveys to monitor fates of these pups through the age of first reproduction; and (3) use analyses specifically designed for data on animals that are individually marked and resighted each year to evaluate hypotheses about how variation in birth dates, pup mass, time spent in the water by pups, and environmental conditions relate to variation in early-life survival and recruitment for those pups. The research will also allow the documentation of the population status that will contribute to the unique long-term database for the local population that dates back to 1978.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(166 -76.9)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; ANIMAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR; Amd/Us; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Ross Sea; USA/NSF; USAP-DC", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -75.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rotella, Jay; Garrott, Robert", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.8, "title": "The consequences of maternal effects and environmental conditions on offspring success in an Antarctic predator", "uid": "p0010198", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "1935870 Ballard, Grant; 1935901 Dugger, Katie", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-177 -60,-174 -60,-171 -60,-168 -60,-165 -60,-162 -60,-159 -60,-156 -60,-153 -60,-150 -60,-150 -61.8,-150 -63.6,-150 -65.4,-150 -67.2,-150 -69,-150 -70.8,-150 -72.6,-150 -74.4,-150 -76.2,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178.5 -78,177 -78,175.5 -78,174 -78,172.5 -78,171 -78,169.5 -78,168 -78,166.5 -78,165 -78,165 -76.2,165 -74.4,165 -72.6,165 -70.8,165 -69,165 -67.2,165 -65.4,165 -63.6,165 -61.8,165 -60,166.5 -60,168 -60,169.5 -60,171 -60,172.5 -60,174 -60,175.5 -60,177 -60,178.5 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science; P2P 2022-2023 Adelie Penguin Biologging Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601444", "doi": "10.15784/601444", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biota; Demography; Mark-Recapture; Monitoring; Penguin; Ross Island", "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601444"}, {"dataset_uid": "601928", "doi": "10.15784/601928", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biologging; Cape Crozier; Cryosphere; Ross Sea", "people": "Schmidt, Annie; Ballard, Grant; Ainley, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "P2P 2022-2023 Adelie Penguin Biologging Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601928"}], "date_created": "Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Non-technical description Polar regions are experiencing some of the most dramatic effects of climate change resulting in large-scale changes in sea ice cover. Despite this, there are relatively few long-term studies on polar species that evaluate the full scope of these effects. Over the last two decades, this team has conducted globally unique demographic studies of Ad\u00e9lie penguins in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to explore several potential mechanisms for population change. This five-year project will use penguin-borne sensors to evaluate foraging conditions and behavior and environmental conditions on early life stages of Ad\u00e9lie penguins. Results will help to better understand population dynamics and how populations might respond to future environmental change. To promote STEM literacy, education and public outreach efforts will include multiple activities. The PenguinCam and PenguinScience.com website (impacts of \u003e1 million hits per month and use by \u003e300 classrooms/~10,000 students) will be continued. Each field season will also have \u2018Live From the Penguins\u2019 Skype calls to classes (~120/season). Classroom-ready activities that are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards will be developed with media products and science journal papers translated to grade 5-8 literacy level. The project will also train early career scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and post-graduate interns. Finally, in partnership with an Environmental Leadership Program, the team will host 2-year Roger Arliner Young Conservation Fellow, which is a program designed to increase opportunities for recent college graduates of color to learn about, engage with, and enter the environmental conservation sector. Part II: Technical description: Leveraging 25 years of data on marked individuals from two Ad\u00e9lie penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, combined with new biologging tags that track detailed penguin foraging efforts and environmental conditions, researchers will accomplish three major goals: 1) assess the quality of natal conditions by determining how environmental conditions, relative prey availability, and diet composition influence parental foraging behavior, chick provisioning, and fledging mass; 2) determine the spatial distribution and foraging behavior of juvenile Ad\u00e9lie penguins and the relative influence of natal versus post-fledging environmental conditions on their survival; and 3) determine the role of natal and post-fledging conditions in shaping individual life history traits and colony growth. Data from several types of penguin-borne biologging devices will be used to provide multiple lines of evidence for how early-life conditions and penguin behavior relate to penguin energetics and population size. This study is the first to integrate salinity, temperature, light level, depth, accelerometry, video loggers, and GPS data with longitudinal demographic information, providing an unprecedented ability to understand how penguins use the environment and enabling new insights from previously collected data. Changes in salinity due to increased glacial melt have important implications for sea ice formation, ocean circulation and productivity of the Southern Ocean, and potentially global temperature change. The penguin-borne sensors deployed in this study will support the NSF Office of Polar Programs priority: How does society more efficiently observe and measure the polar regions? It represents only the second study to track juvenile Ad\u00e9lie penguins at sea, the first in the Ross Sea region, the first with substantial sample sizes, and the first to assess juvenile survival rates directly, integrating early life factors and environmental conditions to better understand colony growth trajectories. 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": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-172.5 -69)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ross Island; AMD; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; Amd/Us; Adelie Penguin; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": "Ross Island", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Varsani, Arvind; Dugger, Katie; Orben, Rachael; Lescroel, Amelie", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Population Growth at the Southern Extreme: Effects of Early Life Conditions on Adelie penguin Individuals and Colonies", "uid": "p0010179", "west": 165.0}, {"awards": "1840058 Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "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": "Causes and consequences of pair-bond disruption in a sex-skewed population of a long-lived monogamous seabird: the wandering Albatross; Demographic outputs and their variances for three life history complexes for the Southern Fulmar across contrasted sea ice conditions.; Impact of Climate Change on Pair-Bond Dynamics of Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea); Supplementary material from \"Boldness predicts divorce rates in wandering albatrosses", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601832", "doi": "10.15784/601832", "keywords": "Antarctica; Climate Change; Cryosphere; Ile des Petrels, Pointe Geologie Archipelago (66\u25e640\u2032 S, 140\u25e601\u2032 106 E), Terre Adelie, Antarctica.", "people": "jenouvrier, stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Impact of Climate Change on Pair-Bond Dynamics of Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601832"}, {"dataset_uid": "200372", "doi": "https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Boldness_predicts_divorce_rates_in_wandering_albatrosses_i_Diomedea_exulans_i_/6181063", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "https://rs.figshare.com/", "science_program": null, "title": "Supplementary material from \"Boldness predicts divorce rates in wandering albatrosses", "url": "https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Boldness_predicts_divorce_rates_in_wandering_albatrosses_i_Diomedea_exulans_i_/6181063"}, {"dataset_uid": "601518", "doi": "10.15784/601518", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Wandering Albatross", "people": "Barbraud, Christophe; Delord, Karine; Sun, Ruijiao; Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Causes and consequences of pair-bond disruption in a sex-skewed population of a long-lived monogamous seabird: the wandering Albatross", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601518"}, {"dataset_uid": "601585", "doi": "10.15784/601585", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Birds; East Antarctica; Southern Fulmar", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Demographic outputs and their variances for three life history complexes for the Southern Fulmar across contrasted sea ice conditions.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601585"}], "date_created": "Wed, 01 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Many animals, from crustaceans to humans, engage in long-term relationships. The demographic consequences of divorce or widowhood for monogamous species are poorly understood. This research seeks to advance understanding of the drivers of partner loss and quantify its resulting effects on individual fitness and population dynamics in polar species that form life-long relationships. The project will focus on pair disruption in two seabirds that form long-last pair bonds: the wandering albatross and the snow petrel. Unique long-term individual mark-recapture data sets exist for these iconic polar species, allowing for a comprehensive study of the rates, causes and consequences of pair disruption and how they may differ among Antarctic species. Insights might be gained regarding the effects of changing environmental regimes as well as by direct and indirect effects of fisheries as a by-product of this research. The aim of the project is to better understand the implications of different drivers of pair disruption and quantify its resulting effects on individual fitness components and population growth rate and structure for two procellariiformes breeding in the Southern Ocean. The project will focus on the wandering albatross and the snow petrel, which both form long-lasting pair bonds. The unique long-term individual mark-recapture data sets allow for a study of the rates, causes and consequences of pair disruption and how they differ among species with different life histories as well as expected differences in mechanisms and rates of pair disruptions. The study will result in a detailed analysis of the impact of social monogamy and long-term pair bonds on individual fitness components (vital rates: survival, recruitment and fecundity; life-history outcomes: life expectancy, age at 1st breeding and lifetime reproductive success; and occupancy times: duration of pair bond or widowhood) and population growth and structure (e.g, sex ratio of individuals available for mating). Specifically, the project will assess: 1. Variations in pair disruption rates, and if they are related to global change (by-catch in the case of albatross widowing, and climate in the case of petrel divorce) by developing a statistical multievent mark-recapture model. 2. Impacts of pair disruption on vital rates, specifically whether i) greater familiarity and better coordination within pairs improves breeding performance and survival, ii) mating costs reduce the probability of breeding and iii) divorce is more likely to occur after a breeding failure. 3. Impacts of pair disruption on life-history outcomes and occupancy times using Markov chain stochastic life cycle models. 4. Impacts of pair disruption on population dynamics by developing a novel non-linear two-sex matrix population model. The research will include sensitivity and Life Table Response Experiment analyses to examine the respective effects of fisheries, climate, vital rates, and pair-disruption rates on life-history outcomes, occupancy times, and population growth and structure, and their variations among year and species 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": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e VISUAL OBSERVATIONS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; East Antarctica; USAP-DC", "locations": "East Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "https://rs.figshare.com/; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Polar Seabirds with Long-term Pair Bonds: Effects of Mating on Individual Fitness and Population Dynamics", "uid": "p0010090", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1443424 McMahon, Kelton; 1443386 Emslie, Steven; 1443585 Polito, Michael; 1826712 McMahon, Kelton", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-166 -60,-152 -60,-138 -60,-124 -60,-110 -60,-96 -60,-82 -60,-68 -60,-54 -60,-40 -60,-40 -61.8,-40 -63.6,-40 -65.4,-40 -67.2,-40 -69,-40 -70.8,-40 -72.6,-40 -74.4,-40 -76.2,-40 -78,-54 -78,-68 -78,-82 -78,-96 -78,-110 -78,-124 -78,-138 -78,-152 -78,-166 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -76.2,160 -74.4,160 -72.6,160 -70.8,160 -69,160 -67.2,160 -65.4,160 -63.6,160 -61.8,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of modern and ancient Ad\u00e9lie penguin eggshells from the Ross Sea and Antarctic Peninsula regions; Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula region 1930s to 2010s; Amino acid nitrogen stable isotope values of feathers from adult and fledgling Ad\u00e9lie and chinstrap penguins from the South Shetlands Islands in 2012; Ancient Adelie penguin colony revealed by snowmelt at Cape Irizar, Ross Sea, Antarctica; Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values of Antarctic Krill from the South Shetland Islands and the northern Antarctic Peninsula 2007 and 2009; Radiocarbon dates from pygoscelid penguin tissues excavated at Stranger Point, King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula; Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope values of penguin and seal tissues recovered from ornithogenic soils on Platter Island, Danger Islands Archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula in December 2015.; Radioisotope dates and carbon (\u03b413C) and nitrogen (\u03b415N) stable isotope values from modern and mummified Ad\u00e9lie Penguin chick carcasses and tissue from the Ross Sea, Antarctica; Radiometric dating, geochemical proxies, and predator biological remains obtained from aquatic sediment cores on South Georgia Island.; Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguin; SNP data from \"Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguins\".; Stable isotope analysis of multiple tissues from chick carcasses of three pygoscelid penguins in Antarctica; Stable isotopes of Adelie Penguin chick bone collagen; The rise and fall of an ancient Adelie penguin \u0027supercolony\u0027 at Cape Adare, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200180", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI BioProject", "science_program": null, "title": "Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguin", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA589336"}, {"dataset_uid": "601760", "doi": "10.15784/601760", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Amino Acids; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Ross Sea; Stable Isotope Analysis; Trophic Position", "people": "Polito, Michael; McMahon, Kelton; Patterson, William; Emslie, Steven D.; Michelson, Chantel; McCarthy, Matthew; Wonder, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of modern and ancient Ad\u00e9lie penguin eggshells from the Ross Sea and Antarctic Peninsula regions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601760"}, {"dataset_uid": "601913", "doi": "10.15784/601913", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Foraging; Polynya; Pygoscelis Adeliae; Ross Sea; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.; Reaves, Megan; Powers, Shannon", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotopes of Adelie Penguin chick bone collagen", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601913"}, {"dataset_uid": "601382", "doi": "10.15784/601382", "keywords": "25 De Mayo/King George Island; Antarctica; Biota; Delta 13C; Delta 15N; Dietary Shifts; Opportunistic Sampling; Penguin; Pygoscelis Penguins; Stranger Point", "people": "Ciriani, Yanina; Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotope analysis of multiple tissues from chick carcasses of three pygoscelid penguins in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601382"}, {"dataset_uid": "602061", "doi": "10.15784/602061", "keywords": "25 De Mayo/King George Island; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Livingston Island", "people": "Polito, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amino acid nitrogen stable isotope values of feathers from adult and fledgling Ad\u00e9lie and chinstrap penguins from the South Shetlands Islands in 2012", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/602061"}, {"dataset_uid": "601374", "doi": "10.15784/601374", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Cape Irizar; Drygalski Ice Tongue; Ross Sea; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ancient Adelie penguin colony revealed by snowmelt at Cape Irizar, Ross Sea, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601374"}, {"dataset_uid": "601364", "doi": "10.15784/601364", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Arctocephalus Gazella; Carbon; Holocene; Nitrogen; Paleoecology; Penguin; Pygoscelis Spp.; Stable Isotope Analysis; Weddell Sea", "people": "Polito, Michael; Herman, Rachael; Clucas, Gemma; Kalvakaalva, Rohit", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope values of penguin and seal tissues recovered from ornithogenic soils on Platter Island, Danger Islands Archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula in December 2015.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601364"}, {"dataset_uid": "601327", "doi": "10.15784/601327", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biota; Cape Adare; East Antarctica; Population Movement; Pygoscelis Adeliae; Radiocarbon; Ross Sea; Sea Level Rise; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Patterson, William; McKenzie, Ashley; Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The rise and fall of an ancient Adelie penguin \u0027supercolony\u0027 at Cape Adare, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601327"}, {"dataset_uid": "601263", "doi": "10.15784/601263", "keywords": "Abandoned Colonies; Antarctica; Holocene; Penguin; Ross Sea; Stable Isotope Analysis", "people": "Kristan, Allyson; Emslie, Steven D.; Patterson, William", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radioisotope dates and carbon (\u03b413C) and nitrogen (\u03b415N) stable isotope values from modern and mummified Ad\u00e9lie Penguin chick carcasses and tissue from the Ross Sea, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601263"}, {"dataset_uid": "601232", "doi": "10.15784/601232", "keywords": "Amino Acids; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Isotope Data; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans; Penguin; Southern Ocean; Stable Isotope Analysis", "people": "McMahon, Kelton; Polito, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula region 1930s to 2010s", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601232"}, {"dataset_uid": "601212", "doi": "10.15784/601212", "keywords": "Abandoned Colonies; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Beach Deposit; Geochronology; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Holocene; Penguin; Radiocarbon; Radiocarbon Dates; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Stranger Point", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiocarbon dates from pygoscelid penguin tissues excavated at Stranger Point, King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601212"}, {"dataset_uid": "601210", "doi": "10.15784/601210", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Krill; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Carbon Isotopes; Isotope Data; Krill; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans; Southern Ocean; Stable Isotope Analysis", "people": "Polito, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values of Antarctic Krill from the South Shetland Islands and the northern Antarctic Peninsula 2007 and 2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601210"}, {"dataset_uid": "601509", "doi": "10.15784/601509", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Fur Seal; Elemental Concentrations; King Penguin; Population Dynamics; South Atlantic Ocean; South Georgia Island; Stable Isotope Analysis; Sub-Antarctic", "people": "McMahon, Kelton; Polito, Michael; Kristan, Allyson; Maiti, Kanchan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiometric dating, geochemical proxies, and predator biological remains obtained from aquatic sediment cores on South Georgia Island.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601509"}, {"dataset_uid": "200181", "doi": "10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4475300.v1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Figshare", "science_program": null, "title": "SNP data from \"Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguins\".", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4475300.v1"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic marine ecosystem is highly productive and supports a diverse range of ecologically and commercially important species. A key species in this ecosystem is Antarctic krill, which in addition to being commercially harvested, is the principle prey of a wide range of marine organisms including penguins, seals and whales. The aim of this study is to use penguins and other krill predators as sensitive indicators of past changes in the Antarctic marine food web resulting from climate variability and the historic harvesting of seals and whales by humans. Specifically this study will recover and analyze modern (\u003c20 year old), historic (20-200 year old) and ancient (200-10,000 year old) penguin and other krill predator tissues to track their past diets and population movements relative to shifts in climate and the availability of Antarctic krill. Understanding how krill predators were affected by these factors in the past will allow us to better understand how these predators, the krill they depend on, and the Antarctic marine ecosystem as a whole will respond to current challenges such as global climate change and an expanding commercial fishery for Antarctic krill. The project will further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This project will support the cross-institutional training of undergraduate and graduate students in advanced analytical techniques in the fields of ecology and biogeochemistry. In addition, this project includes educational outreach aimed encouraging participation in science careers by engaging K-12 students in scientific issues related to Antarctica, penguins, marine ecology, biogeochemistry, and global climate change. This research will help place recent ecological changes in the Southern Ocean into a larger historical context by examining decadal and millennial-scale shifts in the diets and population movements of Antarctic krill predators (penguins, seals, and squid) in concert with climate variability and commercial harvesting. This will be achieved by coupling advanced stable and radio isotope techniques, particularly compound-specific stable isotope analysis, with unprecedented access to modern, historical, and well-preserved paleo-archives of Antarctic predator tissues dating throughout the Holocene. This approach will allow the project to empirically test if observed shifts in Antarctic predator bulk tissue stable isotope values over the past millennia were caused by climate-driven shifts at the base of the food web in addition to, or rather than, shifts in predator diets due to a competitive release following the historic harvesting of krill eating whale and seals. In addition, this project will track the large-scale abandonment and reoccupation of penguin colonies around Antarctica in response to changes in climate and sea ice conditions over the past several millennia. These integrated field studies and laboratory analyses will provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms that influenced past shifts in the diets and population movements of charismatic krill predators such as penguins. This will allow for improved projections of the ecosystem consequences of future climate change and anthropogenic harvesting scenarios in the Antarctica that are likely to affect the availability of Antarctic krill.", "east": -40.0, "geometry": "POINT(-120 -69)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ANIMAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR; South Shetland Islands; Penguin; Stable Isotopes; Polar; Ross Sea; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea; AMD; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; Antarctica; PENGUINS; Southern Hemisphere; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Amd/Us; Krill; MACROFOSSILS", "locations": "Southern Hemisphere; Ross Sea; South Shetland Islands; Weddell Sea; Polar; Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Polito, Michael; Kelton, McMahon; Patterson, William; McCarthy, Matthew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "NCBI BioProject", "repositories": "Figshare; NCBI BioProject; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Investigating Holocene Shifts in the Diets and Paleohistory of Antarctic Krill Predators", "uid": "p0010047", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1246407 Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(70.2433 -49.6875)", "dataset_titles": "Demographic outputs and their variances for three life history complexes for the Southern Fulmar across contrasted sea ice conditions.; Desprez, M., Jenouvrier, S., Barbraud, C., Delord, K. and Weimerskirch, H., 2018. Linking oceanographic conditions, migratory schedules and foraging behaviour during the non\u2010breeding season to reproductive performance in a long\u2010lived seabird. Functional ecology, 32(8), pp.2040-2053.; Jenouvrier, S., Desprez, M., Fay, R., Barbraud, C., Weimerskirch, H., Delord, K. and Caswell, H., 2018. Climate change and functional traits affect population dynamics of a long\u2010lived seabird. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87(4), pp.906-920.; Linking oceanographic conditions, migratory schedules and foraging behaviour during the non-breeding season to reproductive performance in a long-lived seabird", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200007", "doi": "10.1111/1365-2656.12827.", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Jenouvrier, S., Desprez, M., Fay, R., Barbraud, C., Weimerskirch, H., Delord, K. and Caswell, H., 2018. Climate change and functional traits affect population dynamics of a long\u2010lived seabird. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87(4), pp.906-920.", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h5vk5"}, {"dataset_uid": "200008", "doi": "10.1111/1365-2435.13117", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Desprez, M., Jenouvrier, S., Barbraud, C., Delord, K. and Weimerskirch, H., 2018. Linking oceanographic conditions, migratory schedules and foraging behaviour during the non\u2010breeding season to reproductive performance in a long\u2010lived seabird. Functional ecology, 32(8), pp.2040-2053.", "url": "https://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.pb209db"}, {"dataset_uid": "601585", "doi": "10.15784/601585", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Birds; East Antarctica; Southern Fulmar", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Demographic outputs and their variances for three life history complexes for the Southern Fulmar across contrasted sea ice conditions.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601585"}, {"dataset_uid": "601140", "doi": "10.15784/601140", "keywords": "Albatross; Animal Behavior Observation; Antarctica; Biota; Birds; Black-Browed Albatross (thalassarche Melanophris); Field Investigations; Foraging; Kerguelen Island; Ocean Island/plateau; Ocean Island/Plateau; Southern Ocean", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking oceanographic conditions, migratory schedules and foraging behaviour during the non-breeding season to reproductive performance in a long-lived seabird", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601140"}], "date_created": "Thu, 31 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Understanding the ecological consequences - present and future-of climate change is a central question in conservation biology. The goal of this project is to identify the effects of climate change on the Black-Browed Albatross, a seabird breeding in the Southern Ocean. The Black-Browed Albatross exhibits remarkable flight adaptations, using winds as an energy source to glide for long distances. This is the basis of their foraging strategy, by which they obtain food for themselves and their offspring. Climate change, however, is expected to modify wind patterns over the Southern Ocean. This project will analyze the effect of winds on life history traits (foraging behaviors, body conditions and demographic traits), and the effects of these traits on populations. New demographic models will provide the link between foraging behavior and the physical environment, and evaluate the persistence of this population in the face of climate change. Understanding and predicting population responses to climate change is important because the world?s climate will continue to change throughout the 21st century and beyond. To help guide conservation strategies and policy decisions in the face of climate change, reliable assessments of population extinction risks are urgently needed. The Black-Browed Albatross is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to recent drastic reductions in its population size. This project will improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which climate affects the life history and populations of Black-Browed Albatross to improve prediction of extinction risks under future climate change.", "east": 70.2433, "geometry": "POINT(70.2433 -49.6875)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Southern Ocean; NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC; BIRDS", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -49.6875, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Dryad", "repositories": "Dryad; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -49.6875, "title": "Linking Foraging Behaviors to Demography to understand Albatrosses Population Responses to Climate Change", "uid": "p0010002", "west": 70.2433}, {"awards": "1341612 Bowser, Samuel", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Aerial survey of Explorers Cove shoreline, late January 2005; Astrammina rara genome sequencing and assembly; Astrammina triangularis genome sequencing and assembly; Crithionina delacai mitochondrial genome sequence and assembly; Scanning electron micrographs: Influence of heavy metal (Pb, Cd) exposure on shell morphogenesis in Astrammina rara, a giant agglutinated Antarctic foraminiferan protist", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200089", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Astrammina triangularis genome sequencing and assembly", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA521279?reviewer=g418tpq02sif2g6do94dpmmjdv"}, {"dataset_uid": "601229", "doi": "10.15784/601229", "keywords": "Aerial Imagery; Antarctica; Camera; Delta; Freshwater; Helicopter; Moat; Shoreline Survey; Small Ponds; Snow Melt; Tide Pools", "people": "Alexander, Steve; Bowser, Samuel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Aerial survey of Explorers Cove shoreline, late January 2005", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601229"}, {"dataset_uid": "601138", "doi": "10.15784/601138", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Foraminifera; Heavy Metal Toxicity; Scanning Electron Microscop; Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Images; Scanning Electron Microscopy; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Andreas, Amanda; Bowser, Samuel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Scanning electron micrographs: Influence of heavy metal (Pb, Cd) exposure on shell morphogenesis in Astrammina rara, a giant agglutinated Antarctic foraminiferan protist", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601138"}, {"dataset_uid": "200090", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Astrammina rara genome sequencing and assembly", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA521081?reviewer=25e190ih1svottjkrrpfa7huoe"}, {"dataset_uid": "200091", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Crithionina delacai mitochondrial genome sequence and assembly", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA592714?reviewer=ivse8455h3gfaiilg4nqle0vm1"}], "date_created": "Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Agglutinated foraminifera (forams for short) are early-evolving, single-celled organisms. These \"living fossils\" construct protective shells using sediment grains held together by adhesive substances that they secrete. During shell construction, agglutinated forams display amazing properties of selection - for example, some species build their shells of clear quartz grains, while other species use only grains of a specific size. Understanding how these single cells assemble complex structures may contribute to nanotechnology by enabling people to use forams as \"cellular machines\" to aid in the construction of nano-devices. This project will analyze the genomes of at least six key foram species, and then \"mine\" these genomes for technologically useful products and processes. The project will focus initially on the adhesive materials forams secrete, which may have wide application in biomedicine and biotechnology. Furthermore, the work will further develop a molecular toolkit which could open up new avenues of research on the physiology, ecology, and population dynamics of this important group of Antarctic organisms. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. Educational experiences related to the \"thrill of scientific exploration and discovery\" for students and the general public will be provided through freely-available short films and a traveling art/science exhibition. The project will also provide hands-on research opportunities for undergraduate students. Explorers Cove, situated on the western shore of McMurdo Sound, harbors a unique population of foraminiferan taxa at depths accessible by scuba diving that otherwise are primarily found in the deep sea. The project will use next-generation DNA sequencing and microdissection methods to obtain and analyze nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from crown members of two species each from three distinct, early-evolving foraminiferal groups. It will also use next generation sequencing methods to characterize the in-situ prokaryotic assemblages (microbiomes) of one of these groups and compare them to reference sediment microbiomes. The phyogenomic studies of the targeted Antarctic genera will help fill significant gaps in our current understanding of early foram evolution. Furthermore, comparative genomic analyses of these six species are expected to yield a better understanding of the physiology of single-chambered agglutinated forams, especially the bioadhesive proteins and regulatory factors involved in shell composition and morphogenesis. Additionally, the molecular basis of cold adaptation in forams will be examined, particularly with respect to key proteins.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bowser, Samuel", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Assembling and Mining the Genomes of Giant Antarctic Foraminifera", "uid": "p0000004", "west": null}, {"awards": "1341547 Stroeve, Julienne; 1341558 Ji, Rubao; 1341440 Jin, Meibing", "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": "Antarctic MIZ, Pack Ice and Polynya Maps from Passive Microwave Satellite Data; Ice-ocean-ecosystem model output; Sea ice chlorophyll concentrations in Antarctic coastal polynyas and seasonal ice zones", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601115", "doi": "10.15784/601115", "keywords": "Antarctica; Pack Ice; Polynya; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Stroeve, Julienne", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic MIZ, Pack Ice and Polynya Maps from Passive Microwave Satellite Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601115"}, {"dataset_uid": "601136", "doi": "10.15784/601136", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Model Data; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Jin, Meibing", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice-ocean-ecosystem model output", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601136"}, {"dataset_uid": "601219", "doi": "10.15784/601219", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll Concentration; Oceans; Polynya; Sea Ice Concentration; Seasonal Ice Zone; Southern Ocean", "people": "Ji, Rubao", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sea ice chlorophyll concentrations in Antarctic coastal polynyas and seasonal ice zones", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601219"}], "date_created": "Tue, 20 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The aim of study is to understand how climate-related changes in snow and ice affect predator populations in the Antarctic, using the Ad\u00e9lie penguin as a focal species due to its long history as a Southern Ocean \u0027sentinel\u0027 species and the number of long-term research programs monitoring its abundance, distribution, and breeding biology. Understanding the environmental factors that control predator population dynamics is critically important for projecting the state of populations under future climate change scenarios, and for designing better conservation strategies for the Antarctic ecosystem. For the first time, datasets from a network of observational sites for the Ad\u00e9lie penguin across the entire Antarctic will be combined and analyzed, with a focus on linkages among the ice environment, primary production, and the population responses of Ad\u00e9lie penguins. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. The results of this project can be used to illustrate intuitively to the general public the complex interactions between ice, ocean, pelagic food web and top predators. This project also offers an excellent platform to demonstrate the process of climate-change science - how scientists simulate climate change scenarios and interpret model results. This project supports the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of polar oceanography, plankton and seabird ecology, coupled physical-biological modeling and mathematical ecology. The results will be broadly disseminated to the general oceanographic research community through scientific workshops, conferences and peer-reviewed journal articles, and to undergraduate and graduate education communities, K-12 schools and organizations, and the interested public through web-based servers using existing infrastructure at the investigators\u0027 institutions. The key question to be addressed in this project is how climate impacts the timing of periodic biological events (phenology) and how interannual variation in this periodic forcing influences the abundance of penguins in the Antarctic. The focus will be on the timing of ice algae and phytoplankton blooms because the high seasonality of sea ice and associated pulsed primary productivity are major drivers of the Antarctic food web. This study will also examine the responses of Ad\u00e9lie penguins to changes in sea ice dynamics and ice algae-phytoplankton phenology. Ad\u00e9lie penguins, like many other Antarctic seabirds, are long-lived, upper trophic-level predators that integrate the effects of sea ice on the food web at regional scales, and thus serve as a reliable biological indicator of environmental changes. The proposed approach is designed to accommodate the limits of measuring and modeling the intermediate trophic levels between phytoplankton and penguins (e.g., zooplankton and fish) at the pan-Antarctic scale, which are important but latent variables in the Southern Ocean food web. Through the use of remotely sensed and in situ data, along with state of the art statistical approaches (e.g. wavelet analysis) and numerical modeling, this highly interdisciplinary study will advance our understanding of polar ecosystems and improve the projection of future climate change scenarios.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jin, Meibing; Stroeve, Julienne; Ji, Rubao", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Phytoplankton Phenology in the Antarctic: Drivers, Patterns, and Implications for the Adelie Penguin", "uid": "p0000001", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1246292 Cary, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.36062 -77.20215,161.610171 -77.20215,161.859722 -77.20215,162.109273 -77.20215,162.358824 -77.20215,162.608375 -77.20215,162.857926 -77.20215,163.107477 -77.20215,163.357028 -77.20215,163.606579 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.291278,163.85613 -77.380406,163.85613 -77.469534,163.85613 -77.558662,163.85613 -77.64779,163.85613 -77.736918,163.85613 -77.826046,163.85613 -77.915174,163.85613 -78.004302,163.85613 -78.09343,163.606579 -78.09343,163.357028 -78.09343,163.107477 -78.09343,162.857926 -78.09343,162.608375 -78.09343,162.358824 -78.09343,162.109273 -78.09343,161.859722 -78.09343,161.610171 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.004302,161.36062 -77.915174,161.36062 -77.826046,161.36062 -77.736918,161.36062 -77.64779,161.36062 -77.558662,161.36062 -77.469534,161.36062 -77.380406,161.36062 -77.291278,161.36062 -77.20215))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities; Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils; Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ; Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002737", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "KNB", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils", "url": "https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/knb.756.1"}, {"dataset_uid": "200014", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB7939"}, {"dataset_uid": "002738", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/?term=craig%20cary"}, {"dataset_uid": "002736", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB27415"}, {"dataset_uid": "200015", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/?term=KP836071%20to%20KP836108"}, {"dataset_uid": "200013", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA505820"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment. The Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications.", "east": 163.85613, "geometry": "POINT(162.608375 -77.64779)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; USAP-DC; RIVERS/STREAM", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.20215, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cary, Stephen", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "KNB", "repositories": "EMBL; KNB; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.09343, "title": "Collaborative Research: Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys on Local, Regional and Landscape Scales", "uid": "p0000235", "west": 161.36062}, {"awards": "0944411 Ainley, David; 0944358 Dugger, Katie; 0944141 Ballard, Grant", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((165.9 -76.9,166.25 -76.9,166.6 -76.9,166.95 -76.9,167.3 -76.9,167.65 -76.9,168 -76.9,168.35 -76.9,168.7 -76.9,169.05 -76.9,169.4 -76.9,169.4 -76.97,169.4 -77.04,169.4 -77.11,169.4 -77.18,169.4 -77.25,169.4 -77.32,169.4 -77.39,169.4 -77.46,169.4 -77.53,169.4 -77.6,169.05 -77.6,168.7 -77.6,168.35 -77.6,168 -77.6,167.65 -77.6,167.3 -77.6,166.95 -77.6,166.6 -77.6,166.25 -77.6,165.9 -77.6,165.9 -77.53,165.9 -77.46,165.9 -77.39,165.9 -77.32,165.9 -77.25,165.9 -77.18,165.9 -77.11,165.9 -77.04,165.9 -76.97,165.9 -76.9))", "dataset_titles": "Adelie penguin banding data 1994-2009; Adelie penguin chick counts 1997-2009; Adelie penguin chick measurements 1996 - 2009; Adelie penguin diet data 1996 - 2009; Adelie penguin dive data 1999-2009; Adelie penguin Geolocation Sensor data 2003-2007; Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2009; Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science; Adelie penguin satellite position data 2000-2009; Adelie penguin weighbridge data 1994-2009; Daily weather observations 1996-2009; Leopard Seal counts 1997-2009; PRBO/California Avian Data Center (CADC)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600010", "doi": "", "keywords": "Biota; Oceans", "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Leopard Seal counts 1997-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600010"}, {"dataset_uid": "600015", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Daily weather observations 1996-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600015"}, {"dataset_uid": "600014", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin weighbridge data 1994-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600014"}, {"dataset_uid": "600013", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin dive data 1999-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600013"}, {"dataset_uid": "600011", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600011"}, {"dataset_uid": "601444", "doi": "10.15784/601444", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biota; Demography; Mark-Recapture; Monitoring; Penguin; Ross Island", "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601444"}, {"dataset_uid": "600012", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin satellite position data 2000-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600012"}, {"dataset_uid": "000154", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "CADC", "science_program": null, "title": "PRBO/California Avian Data Center (CADC)", "url": "http://data.prbo.org/apps/penguinscience/"}, {"dataset_uid": "600007", "doi": "", "keywords": "Biota", "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin chick counts 1997-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600007"}, {"dataset_uid": "600006", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin chick measurements 1996 - 2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600006"}, {"dataset_uid": "600008", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin diet data 1996 - 2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600008"}, {"dataset_uid": "600009", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin Geolocation Sensor data 2003-2007", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600009"}, {"dataset_uid": "600005", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin banding data 1994-2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600005"}], "date_created": "Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "While changes in populations typically are tracked to gauge the impact of climate or habitat change, the process involves the response of individuals as each copes with an altered environment. In a study of Adelie penguins that spans 13 breeding seasons, results indicate that only 20% of individuals within a colony successfully raise offspring, and that they do so because of their exemplary foraging proficiency. Moreover, foraging appears to require more effort at the largest colony, where intraspecific competition is higher than at small colonies, and also requires more proficiency during periods of environmental stress. When conditions are particularly daunting, emigration dramatically increases, countering the long-standing assumption that Ad\u00e9lie penguins are highly philopatric. The research project will 1) determine the effect of age, experience and physiology on individual foraging efficiency; 2) determine the effect of age, experience, and individual quality on breeding success and survival in varying environmental and competitive conditions at the colony level; and 3) develop a comprehensive model for the Ross-Beaufort Island metapopulation dynamics. Broader impacts include training of interns, continuation of public outreach through the highly successful project website penguinscience.com, development of classroom materials and other standards-based instructional resources.", "east": 169.4, "geometry": "POINT(167.65 -77.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.9, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ainley, David; Dugger, Katie; Ballard, Grant", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "CADC; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.6, "title": "COLLABORATIVE: Adelie Penguin Response to Climate Change at the Individual, Colony and Metapopulation Levels", "uid": "p0000318", "west": 165.9}, {"awards": "1044982 Bucklin, Ann", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69.3804 -52.760597,-67.79698 -52.760597,-66.21356 -52.760597,-64.63014 -52.760597,-63.04672 -52.760597,-61.4633 -52.760597,-59.87988 -52.760597,-58.29646 -52.760597,-56.71304 -52.760597,-55.12962 -52.760597,-53.5462 -52.760597,-53.5462 -53.9928073,-53.5462 -55.2250176,-53.5462 -56.4572279,-53.5462 -57.6894382,-53.5462 -58.9216485,-53.5462 -60.1538588,-53.5462 -61.3860691,-53.5462 -62.6182794,-53.5462 -63.8504897,-53.5462 -65.0827,-55.12962 -65.0827,-56.71304 -65.0827,-58.29646 -65.0827,-59.87988 -65.0827,-61.4633 -65.0827,-63.04672 -65.0827,-64.63014 -65.0827,-66.21356 -65.0827,-67.79698 -65.0827,-69.3804 -65.0827,-69.3804 -63.8504897,-69.3804 -62.6182794,-69.3804 -61.3860691,-69.3804 -60.1538588,-69.3804 -58.9216485,-69.3804 -57.6894382,-69.3804 -56.4572279,-69.3804 -55.2250176,-69.3804 -53.9928073,-69.3804 -52.760597))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001445", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1110"}], "date_created": "Wed, 17 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The proposed research targets the molecular genetics of salps, an increasingly important member of the zooplankton in Antarctic waters who\u0027s dominance appears to be related to climate warming and sea ice loss. Specifically the research will examine genome-wide patterns of gene expression, target gene expression levels, and patterns of population genetic diversity and structure underlying the complex life history and population dynamics of S. thompsoni. The P.I.s hypothesize that (1) deep analysis of the Salpa thompsoni transcriptome will reveal significant associations among selected set of differentially expressed genes and critical life history stages and events (e.g., ontogenetic maturation, sexual reproduction, senescence) of the salp; and 2) the species will show variable levels of clonal diversity and significant genetic differentiation among populations in different regions of the Southern Ocean. Broader impacts include training of two graduate students; inclusion of undergraduates in research, and in a formal training workshop; development of a summer workshop for high school teachers in collaboration with Connecticut Sea Grant; and public outreach via postings on the Census of Marine Zooplankton homepage.", "east": -53.5462, "geometry": "POINT(-61.4633 -58.9216485)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "PLANKTON; Antarctic Peninsula; R/V LMG", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -52.760597, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bucklin, Ann", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0827, "title": "Population ecology of Salpa thompsoni based on molecular indicators", "uid": "p0000508", "west": -69.3804}, {"awards": "0944557 Marsh, Adam", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166 78)", "dataset_titles": "Environmental Genomics of an Antarctic Polychaete #SRP040946", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000223", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Environmental Genomics of an Antarctic Polychaete #SRP040946", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/?term=SRP040946"}], "date_created": "Tue, 13 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Genome-enabled biology provides a foundation for understanding the genetic basis of organism-environment interactions. . The research project links gene expression, genome methylation, and metabolic rates to assess the mechanisms of environmental adaptation (temperature) across multiple generations in a polar, and closely related temperate, polychaete. By comparing these two species, the research will assess how a polar environment shapes responses to environmental stress. This work will produce: 1) a database of full transcriptome (gene specific) profiling data for the polar polychaete cultured at two temperatures; 2) the contribution of genome methylation to the suppression of gene transcription activities; 3) the linkage between shifts in mRNA pools and total cellular activities (as ATP consumption via respiration); 4) an assessment of the inheritance of patterns of gene expression and metabolic activities across three generations; and 5) a simple demographic model of the polar polychaete population dynamics under normal and \u0027global-warming\u0027 temperature scenarios. Broader impacts include two outreach activities. The first is a mentoring program, where African-American undergraduate students spend 1.5 years working on a research project with a UD faculty member (2 summers plus their senior academic year). The second is a children\u0027s display activity at UD?s School of Marine Science \"Coast Day\".", "east": 166.0, "geometry": "POINT(166 -78)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -78.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Marsh, Adam G.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Environmental Genomics in an Antarctic polychaete", "uid": "p0000355", "west": 166.0}, {"awards": "0739515 Fagan, William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.383 -60.65,-66.10137 -60.65,-63.81974 -60.65,-61.53811 -60.65,-59.25648 -60.65,-56.97485 -60.65,-54.69322 -60.65,-52.41159 -60.65,-50.12996 -60.65,-47.84833 -60.65,-45.5667 -60.65,-45.5667 -61.4145,-45.5667 -62.179,-45.5667 -62.9435,-45.5667 -63.708,-45.5667 -64.4725,-45.5667 -65.237,-45.5667 -66.0015,-45.5667 -66.766,-45.5667 -67.5305,-45.5667 -68.295,-47.84833 -68.295,-50.12996 -68.295,-52.41159 -68.295,-54.69322 -68.295,-56.97485 -68.295,-59.25648 -68.295,-61.53811 -68.295,-63.81974 -68.295,-66.10137 -68.295,-68.383 -68.295,-68.383 -67.5305,-68.383 -66.766,-68.383 -66.0015,-68.383 -65.237,-68.383 -64.4725,-68.383 -63.708,-68.383 -62.9435,-68.383 -62.179,-68.383 -61.4145,-68.383 -60.65))", "dataset_titles": "Data Paper, ESA Ecology", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000141", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Data Paper, ESA Ecology", "url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-1108.1"}], "date_created": "Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This five-year project seeks to characterize decadal scale changes in penguin and seabird populations on the Antarctic Peninsula, and to identify the factors driving these long-term changes. Two interconnected research activities are proposed: 1. Continued, long-term monitoring and censusing of penguin and seabird populations at \u003e117 sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula via opportunistic ship-based data collection. 2. Synthesis and quantitative analyses of datasets detailing long-term changes in five penguin and seabird species from diverse sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula. When complete, the penguin/seabird database will incorporate data from the Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI), the CCAMLR database, the US AMLR database, the LTER database from Palmer Station, data from British and Argentine researchers, historic census data compiled by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and, when possible, additional privately held datasets. Additional data for temperature change, sea ice coverage, the seasonal timing and intensity of human visitation, and other factors have been gathered and will be analyzed together with population trajectories within a spatially explicit framework. The research will include hierarchical statistical analyses to characterize the long-term population dynamics of several key polar species across multiple spatial scales (sites, regions, and the Peninsula). Analyses also will focus on specific subsets of the overall database to contrast visitor impacts on paired colonies, sites, and regions that share similar environmental conditions but differ in the intensity of tourism. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Broader Impacts include (1) research training and first-time Antarctic experiences for a postdoctoral researcher and several graduate students, all of whom will then be better positioned to bring their expertise in spatial and/or quantitative/theoretical ecology to bear on questions in polar research; (2) assembly and analysis of a large, multi-season database of penguin and seabird time series from the Antarctic Peninsula that will be publicly available, (3) assistance in distinguishing the impacts of tourism versus climate change on seabird populations. Under the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, Treaty Parties are charged with regular and effective monitoring to assess the impacts of human activities. This project will uniquely assist Parties in fulfilling this mandate.", "east": -45.5667, "geometry": "POINT(-56.97485 -64.4725)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.65, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fagan, William; Lynch, Heather", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "Publication", "repositories": "Publication", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.295, "title": "Collaborative Research: Multispecies, Multiscale Investigations of Longterm Changes in Penguin and Seabird Populations on the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000465", "west": -68.383}, {"awards": "0439906 Koch, Paul", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -72,162.6 -72,163.2 -72,163.8 -72,164.4 -72,165 -72,165.6 -72,166.2 -72,166.8 -72,167.4 -72,168 -72,168 -72.6,168 -73.2,168 -73.8,168 -74.4,168 -75,168 -75.6,168 -76.2,168 -76.8,168 -77.4,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.4,162 -76.8,162 -76.2,162 -75.6,162 -75,162 -74.4,162 -73.8,162 -73.2,162 -72.6,162 -72))", "dataset_titles": "Abandoned Elephant Seal Colonies in Antarctica: Integration of Genetic, Isotopic, and Geologic Approaches toward Understanding Holocene Environmental Change", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600041", "doi": "10.15784/600041", "keywords": "Biota; Isotope; Penguin; Ross Sea; Seals; Southern Ocean", "people": "Koch, Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Abandoned Elephant Seal Colonies in Antarctica: Integration of Genetic, Isotopic, and Geologic Approaches toward Understanding Holocene Environmental Change", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600041"}], "date_created": "Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "During previous NSF-sponsored research, the PI\u0027s discovered that southern elephant seal colonies once existed along the Victoria Land coast (VLC) of Antarctica, a region where they are no longer observed. Molted seal skin and hair occur along 300 km of coastline, more than 1000 km from any extant colony. The last record of a seal at a former colony site is at ~A.D. 1600. Because abandonment occurred prior to subantarctic sealing, disappearance of the VLC colony probably was due to environmental factors, possibly cooling and encroachment of land-fast, perennial sea ice that made access to haul-out sites difficult. The record of seal inhabitation along the VLC, therefore, has potential as a proxy for climate change. Elephant seals are a predominantly subantarctic species with circumpolar distribution. Genetic studies have revealed significant differentiation among populations, particularly with regard to that at Macquarie I., which is the extant population nearest to the abandoned VLC colony. Not only is the Macquarie population unique genetically, but it is has undergone unexplained decline of 2%/yr over the last 50 years3. In a pilot study, genetic analyses showed a close relationship between the VLC seals and those at Macquarie I. An understanding of the relationship between the two populations, as well as of the environmental pressures that led to the demise of the VLC colonies, will provide a better understanding of present-day population genetic structure, the effect of environmental change on seal populations, and possibly the reasons underlying the modern decline at Macquarie Island.\u003cbr/\u003eThis project addresses several key research problems: (1) Why did elephant seals colonize and then abandon the VLC? (2) What does the elephant seal record reveal about Holocene climate change and sea-ice conditions? (3) What were the foraging strategies of the seals and did these strategies change over time as climate varied? (4) How does the genetic structure of the VLC seals relate to extant populations? (5) How did genetic diversity change over time and with colony decline? (6) Using ancient samples to estimate mtDNA mutation rates, what can be learned about VLC population dynamics over time? (7) What was the ecological relationship between elephant seals and Adelie penguins that occupied the same sites, but apparently at different times? The proposed work includes the professional training of young researchers and incorporation of data into graduate and undergraduate courses.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -72.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Koch, Paul", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Abandoned Elephant Seal Colonies in Antarctica: Integration of Genetic, Isotopic, and Geologic Approaches toward Understanding Holocene Environmental Change", "uid": "p0000533", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "9981683 Costa, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0106; Expedition data of LMG0203; Expedition data of LMG0205", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002700", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0203", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0203"}, {"dataset_uid": "002698", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0106", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0106"}, {"dataset_uid": "002701", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0205", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0205"}, {"dataset_uid": "002695", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0106", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0106"}, {"dataset_uid": "001757", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0205"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and foraging behavior of adult female crabeater seals, using a combination of satellite-linked tracking, specialized diver recorders, and stable isotopic tracers. This research will be coordinated with components focused on prey (krill) distribution and the physical environment. The results will be analyzed using an optimality model. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Costa, Daniel", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Foraging Ecology of Crabeater Seals (Lobodon Carcinophagus)", "uid": "p0000866", "west": null}, {"awards": "9910098 Fritsen, Christian", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0106; Expedition data of LMG0205; Expedition data of NBP0104; Expedition data of NBP0204", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001757", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0205"}, {"dataset_uid": "002702", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0205", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0205"}, {"dataset_uid": "002657", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0104"}, {"dataset_uid": "002643", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0204", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0204"}, {"dataset_uid": "002695", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0106", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0106"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and activities of sea ice microbial communities. This will be accomplished using an integrated combination of sampling (vertical profiles, horizontal surveys, and under-ice surveys) and observational protocols. Experiments will be designed to estimate microbial activity within the sea ice and at the ice-seawater interface. The research will be coordinated with components studying the water column productivity and the sea ice habitat. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fritsen, Christian; Costa, Daniel", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "GLOBEC: Sea Ice Microbial Communities", "uid": "p0000834", "west": null}, {"awards": "0338090 Madin, Laurence; 0338290 Kremer, Patricia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69.9083 -52.7624,-68.96368 -52.7624,-68.01906 -52.7624,-67.07444 -52.7624,-66.12982 -52.7624,-65.1852 -52.7624,-64.24058 -52.7624,-63.29596 -52.7624,-62.35134 -52.7624,-61.40672 -52.7624,-60.4621 -52.7624,-60.4621 -54.01423,-60.4621 -55.26606,-60.4621 -56.51789,-60.4621 -57.76972,-60.4621 -59.02155,-60.4621 -60.27338,-60.4621 -61.52521,-60.4621 -62.77704,-60.4621 -64.02887,-60.4621 -65.2807,-61.40672 -65.2807,-62.35134 -65.2807,-63.29596 -65.2807,-64.24058 -65.2807,-65.1852 -65.2807,-66.12982 -65.2807,-67.07444 -65.2807,-68.01906 -65.2807,-68.96368 -65.2807,-69.9083 -65.2807,-69.9083 -64.02887,-69.9083 -62.77704,-69.9083 -61.52521,-69.9083 -60.27338,-69.9083 -59.02155,-69.9083 -57.76972,-69.9083 -56.51789,-69.9083 -55.26606,-69.9083 -54.01423,-69.9083 -52.7624))", "dataset_titles": "Data at U.S. JGOFS Data System; Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001573", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0602"}, {"dataset_uid": "000118", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "JGOF", "science_program": null, "title": "Data at U.S. JGOFS Data System", "url": "http://usjgofs.whoi.edu/jg/dir/jgofs/"}, {"dataset_uid": "001565", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0414"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Salps are planktonic grazers that have a life history, feeding biology and population dynamic strikingly different from krill, copepods or other crustacean zooplankton. Salps can occur in very dense population blooms that cover large areas and have been shown to have major impacts due to the their grazing and the production of fast-sinking fecal pellets. Although commonly acknowledged as a major component of the Southern Ocean zooplankton community, often comparable in biomass and distribution to krill, salps have received relatively little attention. Although extensive sampling has documented the seasonal abundance of salps in the Southern Ocean, there is a paucity of data on important rates that determine population growth and the role of this species in grazing and vertical flux of particulates. This proposed study will include: measurements of respiration and excretion rates for solitary and aggregate salps of all sizes; measurements of ingestion rates, including experiments to determine the size or concentration of particulates that can reduce ingestion; and determination of growth rates of solitaries and aggregates. In addition to the various rate measurements, this study will include quantitative surveys of salp horizontal and vertical distribution to determine their biomass and spatial distribution, and to allow a regional assessment of their effects. Measurements of the physical characteristics of the water column and the quantity and quality of particulate food available for the salps at each location will also be made. Satellite imagery and information on sea-ice cover will be used to test hypotheses about conditions that result in high densities of salps. Results will be used to construct a model of salp population dynamics, and both experimental and modeling results will be interpreted within the context of the physical and nutritional conditions to which the salps are exposed. This integrated approach will provide a good basis for understanding the growth dynamics of salp blooms in the Southern Ocean. Two graduate students will be trained on this project, and cruise and research experience will be provided for two undergraduate students. A portion of a website allowing students to be a virtual participant in the research will be created to strengthen students\u0027 quantitative skills. Both PI\u0027s will participate in teacher-researcher workshops, and collaboration with a regional aquarium will be developed in support of public education.", "east": -60.4621, "geometry": "POINT(-65.1852 -59.02155)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; 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 ADCP", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.7624, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kremer, Patricia; Madin, Larry; Halanych, Kenneth", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "JGOF; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.2807, "title": "Collaborative Research: Salpa Thompsoni in the Southern Ocean: Bioenergetics, Population Dynamics and Biogeochemical Impact", "uid": "p0000227", "west": -69.9083}, {"awards": "9910100 Torres, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG0104; Expedition data of LMG0203; Expedition data of NBP0204", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002643", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0204", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0204"}, {"dataset_uid": "002593", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0204", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0204"}, {"dataset_uid": "002696", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0104"}, {"dataset_uid": "002700", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0203", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0203"}, {"dataset_uid": "002717", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0203", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0203"}, {"dataset_uid": "002694", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0104"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on krill physiology, using measures of respiration, excretion, and proximate analysis. Additionally, the distribution and abundance of fishes and squid, which are krill predators, will be investigated using acoustic and net tow methods. This research will be coordinated with components studying krill in both the water column and under the ice. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Torres, Joseph; Fraser, William", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "GLOBEC: Winter Distribution and Success of Southern Ocean Krill", "uid": "p0000812", "west": null}, {"awards": "0130525 Fraser, William", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0105", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002605", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0105", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0105"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The potential consequence of human impact on wildlife in Antarctica has been debated for many decades. Scientists, support staff and visitors in Antarctica may have an effect on the behavior and population dynamics of marine mammals and seabirds. Since the early 1970\u0027s, shipboard tourism has expanded to the point where it is timely to address the question, using a scientific research approach. The focus of this study is to examine the potential effect of tourist activities on the Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) in the Antarctic Peninsula. The topic has gathered the interest and opinions of those in private industry, the scientific community, government organizations and environmental groups. A key concern is that increases in these activities may eventually overcome the ability of research to address critical issues in a timely and biologically meaningful manner. The approach to understanding how tourism might affect Adelie Penguins must involve both a study of human activity and a study of natural variability in the physical environment. The ongoing Palmer Long Term Ecological Research program focuses on the ecosystem and its components and thus addresses the issues of natural variability. This project focuses on the human dimension and continues a tourist-monitoring program begun as a pilot project near Palmer Station. This site is in a geographic location that mirrors current patterns in tourism and tourist-wildlife interactions in the western Antarctic Peninsula. It also offers a setting that provides unique opportunities for human impacts research. This includes the presence of long-term databases that document environmental variability over multiple time and space scales in both marine and terrestrial habitats, and the ability to examine potential tourist impacts as part of controlled experiments. The results of the study will have important implications to understanding interactions between climate change and ecosystem response, and for detecting, mitigating and managing the consequences of human activities such as tourism.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fraser, William; Smith, Raymond", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Monitoring the Human Impact and Environmental Variability on Adelie Penguins at Palmer Station, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000819", "west": null}, {"awards": "0132032 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.84315 -42.87167,-61.576321 -42.87167,-54.309492 -42.87167,-47.042663 -42.87167,-39.775834 -42.87167,-32.509005 -42.87167,-25.242176 -42.87167,-17.975347 -42.87167,-10.708518 -42.87167,-3.441689 -42.87167,3.82514 -42.87167,3.82514 -44.482708,3.82514 -46.093746,3.82514 -47.704784,3.82514 -49.315822,3.82514 -50.92686,3.82514 -52.537898,3.82514 -54.148936,3.82514 -55.759974,3.82514 -57.371012,3.82514 -58.98205,-3.441689 -58.98205,-10.708518 -58.98205,-17.975347 -58.98205,-25.242176 -58.98205,-32.509005 -58.98205,-39.775834 -58.98205,-47.042663 -58.98205,-54.309492 -58.98205,-61.576321 -58.98205,-68.84315 -58.98205,-68.84315 -57.371012,-68.84315 -55.759974,-68.84315 -54.148936,-68.84315 -52.537898,-68.84315 -50.92686,-68.84315 -49.315822,-68.84315 -47.704784,-68.84315 -46.093746,-68.84315 -44.482708,-68.84315 -42.87167))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001655", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0404"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Notothenioid fish are a major group of fish in the Southern Ocean. The ancestral notothenioid fish stock of Antarctica probably arose as a sluggish, bottom-dwelling perciform species that evolved some 40-60 million years ago in the then temperate shelf waters of the Antarctic continent. The grounding of the ice sheet on the continental shelf and changing trophic conditions may have eliminated the taxonomically diverse late Eocene fauna and initiated the original diversification of notothenioids. On the High Antarctic shelf, notothenioids today dominate the ichthyofauna in terms of species diversity, abundance and biomass, the latter two at levels of 90-95%. Since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, fish biologists from the Antarctic Treaty nations have made impressive progress in understanding the notothenioid ichthyofauna of the cold Antarctic marine ecosystem. However, integration of this work into the broader marine context has been limited, largely due to lack of access to, and analysis of, specimens of Sub-Antarctic notothenioid fishes. Sub-Antarctic fishes of the notothenioid suborder are critical for a complete understanding of the evolution, population dynamics, eco-physiology, and eco-biochemistry of their Antarctic relatives. This project will support an international, collaborative research cruise to collect and study fish indigenous to sub-antarctic habitats. The topics included in the research plans of the international team of researchers includes Systematics and Evolutionary Studies; Life History Strategies and Population Dynamics; Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Biological Investigations of Major Organ and Tissue Systems; Genomic Resources for the Sub-Antarctic Notothenioids; and Ecological Studies of Transitional Benthic Invertebrates. In a world that is experiencing changes in global climate, the loss of biological diversity, and the depletion of marine fisheries, the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic, and their biota offer compelling natural laboratories for understanding the evolutionary impacts of these processes. The proposed work will contribute to development of a baseline understanding of these sensitive ecosystems, one against which future changes in species distribution and survival may be evaluated judiciously.", "east": 3.82514, "geometry": "POINT(-32.509005 -50.92686)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; 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 ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -42.87167, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Detrich, H. 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Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and foraging behavior of adult female crabeater seals, using a combination of satellite-linked tracking, specialized diver recorders, and stable isotopic tracers. This research will be coordinated with components focused on prey (krill) distribution and the physical environment. The results will be analyzed using an optimality model. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.", "east": -60.7264, "geometry": "POINT(-68.61915 -60.55575)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.3523, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Costa, Daniel", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.7592, "title": "Foraging Ecology of Crabeater Seals (Lobodon Carcinophagus)", "uid": "p0000599", "west": -76.5119}, {"awards": "9910263 Zhou, Meng", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0104; Expedition data of NBP0204", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002585", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0104"}, {"dataset_uid": "002587", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0204", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0204"}, {"dataset_uid": "002643", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0204", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0204"}, {"dataset_uid": "002657", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0104"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. 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Studies will be conducted and krill shrinkage and mortality rates as well as krill aggregation behavior. The results will be analyzed in coordination with components involved in physical and biological models. 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This will be accomplished using strip-transect surveys and spatial analysis software and models to examine the large-scale data. This research will be coordinated with seabird studies which focus on seabird diet composition and small scale foraging behavior. 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This component will focus on water-column primary production using direct experimental estimates, modeling restuls from a fast repetition rate fluorometer and modeling of primary production from both optical as well as biophysical models. This research will be coordinated with components focused on sea ice production and sea ice habitat. 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This will be accomplished using passive acoustic recorders deployed on the seafloor for a period of one to two years. The deployment of a large aperture autonomous hydrophone array in the Antarctic will incorporate the use of passive acoustics as a tool for mysticete whale detection and census. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.", "east": -58.706, "geometry": "POINT(-66.4455 -60.34315)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; 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 ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.3516, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hildebrand, John; Costa, Daniel; Beardsley, Robert", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.3347, "title": "GLOBEC: Mysticete Whale Acoustic Census", "uid": "p0000581", "west": -74.185}, {"awards": "9910043 Harvey, H. Rodger", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG0104", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002694", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0104"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will apply new biochemical approaches to determine the population age structure of krill in field populations over seasonal and interannual time scales. Lipids specific to different food resources will be used in parallel with the intent of establishing markers for dietary history. This research will be coordinated with components studying krill feeding and growth. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fraser, William", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "GLOBEC: Biochemical Determination of Age and Dietary History in the Krill Euphasia superba", "uid": "p0000864", "west": null}, {"awards": "0634682 Kanatous, Shane", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -77,160.7 -77,161.4 -77,162.1 -77,162.8 -77,163.5 -77,164.2 -77,164.9 -77,165.6 -77,166.3 -77,167 -77,167 -77.1,167 -77.2,167 -77.3,167 -77.4,167 -77.5,167 -77.6,167 -77.7,167 -77.8,167 -77.9,167 -78,166.3 -78,165.6 -78,164.9 -78,164.2 -78,163.5 -78,162.8 -78,162.1 -78,161.4 -78,160.7 -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": "The Molecular Signals that Regulate the Ontogeny of Aerobic Capacity, Lipid Metabolism and Elevated Myoglobin Concentrations in the Skeletal Muscles of Weddell Seals", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600063", "doi": "10.15784/600063", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Seals; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Kanatous, Shane; Lyons, W. Berry", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Molecular Signals that Regulate the Ontogeny of Aerobic Capacity, Lipid Metabolism and Elevated Myoglobin Concentrations in the Skeletal Muscles of Weddell Seals", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600063"}], "date_created": "Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "During the past three decades, intensive field studies have revealed much about the\u003cbr/\u003ebehavior, physiology, life history, and population dynamics of the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddelli) population of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. These animals are marine predators that are highly adapted for an aquatic life in shore-fast and pack ice habitats. They must locate and capture sparsely distributed under the ice. Most of what is known about their diving behavior is based on studies of adult animals with little known about the development or the genetic controls of diving behavior of young animals. The goal of this project is to examine the temporal development of aerobic capacity, lipid metabolism and oxygen stores in the skeletal muscles of young Weddell seals and to determine which aspects of the cellular environment are important in the regulation of these adaptations during maturation. This project builds on past results to investigate the molecular controls that underlie the development of these adaptations. The first objective is to further characterize the ontogenetic changes in muscle aerobic capacity, lipid metabolism and myoglobin concentration and distribution using enzymatic, immuno-histochemical and myoglobin assays in newly weaned, subadult, and adult seals. The second objective is to determine the molecular controls that regulate these changes in aerobic capacity, fiber type distribution and myoglobin in skeletal muscles during maturation. Through subtractive hybridization and subsequent analysis, differences in mRNA populations in the swimming muscles of the different age classes of Weddell seals will be determined. These techniques will allow for the identification of the proteins and transcription factors that influence the ontogenetic changes in myoglobin concentration, fiber type distribution and aerobic capacity. These results will increase our\u003cbr/\u003eunderstanding of both the ontogeny and molecular mechanisms by which young seals acquire the physiological capabilities to make deep (up to 700 m) and long aerobic dives (ca 20 min). This study will advance knowledge of the molecular regulation for the\u003cbr/\u003eadaptations that enable active skeletal muscle to function under hypoxic conditions; this has a broader application for human medicine especially in regards to cardiac and pulmonary disease. Additional broader impacts include the participation of underrepresented scientists and a continuation of a website in collaboration\u003cbr/\u003ewith the Science Teachers Access to Resources at Southwestern University (STARS Program) which involves weekly updates about research efforts during the field season, weekly questions/answer session involving students and teachers, and updates on research results throughout the year.", "east": 167.0, "geometry": "POINT(163.5 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kanatous, Shane; Lyons, W. Berry", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "The Molecular Signals that Regulate the Ontogeny of Aerobic Capacity, Lipid Metabolism and Elevated Myoglobin Concentrations in the Skeletal Muscles of Weddell Seals", "uid": "p0000536", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "0440478 Tang, Kam", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166.66267 -77.85067)", "dataset_titles": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial Forms of Phaeocystis Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600043", "doi": "10.15784/600043", "keywords": "Biota; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; Zooplankton", "people": "Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial Forms of Phaeocystis Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600043"}], "date_created": "Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Phaeocystis Antarctica is a widely distributed phytoplankton that forms dense blooms and aggregates in the Southern Ocean. This phytoplankton and plays important roles in polar ecology and biogeochemistry, in part because it is a dominant primary producer, a main component of organic matter vertical fluxes, and the principal producer of volatile organic sulfur in the region. Yet P. Antarctica is also one of the lesser known species in terms of its physiology, life history and trophic relationships with other organisms; furthermore, information collected on other Phaeocystis species and from different locations may not be applicable to P. Antarctica in the Ross Sea. P. Antarctica occurs mainly as two morphotypes: solitary cells and mucilaginous colonies, which differ significantly in size, architecture and chemical composition. Relative dominance between solitary cells and colonies determines not only the size spectrum of the population, but also its carbon dynamics, nutrient uptake and utilization. Conventional thinking of the planktonic trophic processes is also challenged by the fact that colony formation could effectively alter the predator-prey interactions and interspecific competition. However, the factors that regulate the differences between solitary and colonial forms of P. Antarctica are not well-understood. The research objective of this proposal is therefore to address these over-arching questions:\u003cbr/\u003eo Do P. Antarctica solitary cells and colonies differ in growth, composition and\u003cbr/\u003ephotosynthetic rates?\u003cbr/\u003eo How do nutrients and grazers affect colony development and size distribution of P. \u003cbr/\u003eAntarctica?\u003cbr/\u003eo How do nutrients and grazers act synergistically to affect the long-term population\u003cbr/\u003edynamics of P. Antarctica? Experiments will be conducted in the McMurdo station with natural P. Antarctica assemblages and co-occurring grazers. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to study size-specific growth and photosynthetic rates of P. Antarctica, size-specific grazing mortality due to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, the effects of macronutrients on the (nitrogen compounds) relative dominance of solitary cells and colonies, and the effects of micronutrient (Fe) and grazing related chemical signals on P. Antarctica colony development. Because this species is of critical importance in the Southern Ocean, and because this research will provide critical information on factors that regulate the role of P.Antarctica in food webs and biogeochemical cycles, a major gap in knowledge will be addressed. This project will train two marine science PhD students. The investigators will also collaborate with the School of Education and a marine science museum to communicate polar science to a broader audience.", "east": 166.66267, "geometry": "POINT(166.66267 -77.85067)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.85067, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.85067, "title": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial forms of Phaeocystis antarctica", "uid": "p0000214", "west": 166.66267}, {"awards": "0225110 Garrott, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.1 -70.3,163.59 -70.3,164.08 -70.3,164.57 -70.3,165.06 -70.3,165.55 -70.3,166.04 -70.3,166.53 -70.3,167.02 -70.3,167.51 -70.3,168 -70.3,168 -70.98,168 -71.66,168 -72.34,168 -73.02,168 -73.7,168 -74.38,168 -75.06,168 -75.74,168 -76.42,168 -77.1,167.51 -77.1,167.02 -77.1,166.53 -77.1,166.04 -77.1,165.55 -77.1,165.06 -77.1,164.57 -77.1,164.08 -77.1,163.59 -77.1,163.1 -77.1,163.1 -76.42,163.1 -75.74,163.1 -75.06,163.1 -74.38,163.1 -73.7,163.1 -73.02,163.1 -72.34,163.1 -71.66,163.1 -70.98,163.1 -70.3))", "dataset_titles": "Weddell Seal data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000120", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell Seal data", "url": "http://www.montana.edu/weddellseals/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Erebus Bay Weddell seal population study in eastern McMurdo Sound, Antarctica was initiated in 1968 and represents one of the longest intensive field investigations of a long-lived mammal in existence. Over the thirty-four year period of this study a total of 15,636 animals have been tagged with 144,927 re-sighting records logged in the current database. As such, this study is an extremely valuable resource for understanding population dynamics of not only Weddell seals, but also other species of both terrestrial and marine mammals with similar life-history characteristics. With the retirement of the original investigator, Dr. Donald Siniff, this proposal represents an effort to transition the long-term studies to a new team of investigators. Dr. Robert Garrott and Dr. Jay Rotella propose building upon the foundation with two lines of investigation that combine use of the long-term database with new field initiatives. The continuity of the demographic data will be maintained by annually marking all pups born, replace lost or broken tags, and perform multiple mark-recapture censuses of the Erebus Bay seal colonies. The new data will be combined with the existing database and a progressively complex series of analyses will be performed using recently developed mark-recapture methods to decompose, evaluate, and integrate the demographic characteristics of the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population. These analyses will allow the testing of specific hypotheses about population regulation as well as temporal and spatial patterns of variation in vital rates among colonies within the population that have been posed by previous investigators, but have not been adequately evaluated due to data and analytical limitations. The primary new field initiative will involve an intensive study of mass dynamics of both pups and adult females as a surrogate measure for assessing annual variation in marine resources and their potential role in limiting and/or regulating the population. In conjunction with the collection of data on body mass dynamics the investigators will use satellite imagery to develop an extended time series of sea ice extent in McMurdo Sound. Regional extent of sea ice affects both regional primary productivity and availability of haul out areas for Weddell seals. Increased primary productivity may increase marine resources which would be expected to have a positive affect on Weddell seal foraging efficiency, leading to increased body mass. These data combined with the large proportion of known-aged seals in the current study population (\u003e60%) will allow the investigators to develop a powerful database to test specific hypotheses about ecological processes affecting Weddell seals. Knowledge of the mechanisms that limit and/or regulate Weddell seal populations and the specific bio-physical linkages between climate, oceans, ice, and Antarctic food webs can provide important contributions to understanding of pinniped population dynamics, as well as contribute more generally to theoretical understanding of population, community, and ecosystem patterns and processes. Such knowledge can be readily applied elsewhere to enhance the ability of natural resource managers to effectively maintain assemblages of other large-mammal species and the ecological processes that they facilitate. Continuation of this long-term study may also contribute to understanding the potential impacts of human activities such as global climate warming and the commercial exploitation of Antarctic marine resources. And finally, the study can contribute significantly to the development and testing of new research and analytical methodologies that will almost certainly have many other applications.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165.55 -73.7)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -70.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Garrott, Robert; Siniff, Donald; Rotella, Jay", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.1, "title": "Patterns and Processes: Dynamics of the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population", "uid": "p0000109", "west": 163.1}, {"awards": "0232000 Cailliet, Gregor", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Recent years have seen the re-establishment of large-scale marine resource utilization by humans in the Antarctic. In contrast to early sealing and whaling activity, the modern impact is directed on krill and finfish populations, most notably of the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), but also its congenor the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the Ross Sea. Toothfish are a valuable resource and are likely to continue to command a high price in world markets. However, extensive illegal fishing has lead to considerable concern that Patagonian toothfish populations are being over-harvested. In other parts of the world, over-harvesting of larger, commercially valuable species has led to fishing down of marine food webs, leaving impoverished, less valuable ecosystems. The goal of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, part of the Antarctic Treaty System, is to allow harvest while avoiding disruptions to the Antarctic ecosystem. To achieve this, the sustainable management of the fishery depends on reliable age data. Age data allow population age structure to be modeled, so that growth, mortality and recruitment rates can be estimated and used to understand population dynamics. Age data provides the basis to determine the life history pattern of a species, to model population dynamics, and to determine which age classes are vulnerable to over-exploitation under a particular set of environmental conditions. Current age and growth information for toothfish is based on age determination methodologies which are not validated and depend on the specific laboratory and principal investigator. Recently, the Commission of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has endorsed three preparation methodologies using otoliths and a common set of criteria for estimating age from otolith micro-structure. The CCAMLR Otolith Network has also been initiated as a medium for exchanging samples to ensure that age estimates are comparable between readers and laboratories. However, considerable work is needed to ensure that age estimates generated by the three methodologies are accurate. One technique that has been successful is radiometric age determination, which uses the disequilibria of lead-210 and radium-226 in otoliths as a natural chronometer. This proposal brings together an international collaboration to examine population age structure for both toothfish species, in an experimental design built around radiometric validation tests of age data generated by all three preparation methodologies. To integrate the validation component within an Antarctic-wide effort to examine toothfish population age structure, sub-samples for validation work will be drawn from sample sets taken for population age studies by research teams working in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France, as well as the United States. Scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories will use radiometric age determination to independently age otoliths from Patagonian and Antarctic toothfishes. Scientists at Old Dominion University will use a system already established for aging to generate validated age data, allowing growth, mortality, and longevity to be estimated by geographic areas. The project will provide validated otolith sample sets that can be used as a foundation for a unified and validated age estimation system for the toothfishes. This study will provide information which will be disseminated to the public, policy-makers and the international community. The project will provide opportunities for under-represented students at both universities.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ALPHA-SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Andrews, Alan G.; ANDREWS, ALLEN", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Radiometric Age Validation of the Patagonian and Antarctic Toothfishes (Dissostichus Eleginoides and D. Mawsoni)", "uid": "p0000738", "west": null}]
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| Project Title/Abstract/Map | NSF Award(s) | Date Created | PIs / Scientists | Dataset Links and Repositories | Abstract | Bounds Geometry | Geometry | Selected | Visible | |||||||||||||||
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Collaborative Research: Beyond the Black-and-White: Uncovering Hidden Keys to Success in Adelie Penguins
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2535120 2535122 2535124 2535121 |
2026-09-09 | Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Lescroel, Amelie; Cimino, Megan; Varsani, Arvind | No dataset link provided | Non-technical abstract Adélie penguins are an early indicator of change in Antarctica. One study population in the Ross Sea is stable or growing, while another near the Antarctic Peninsula is declining quickly, even though both face a warming climate. This project asks a question that matters for conservation and for our broader understanding of how species adapt to environmental change: what allows some penguin populations to cope while others do not? Researchers will follow penguins from the two regions through the parts of their lives that are hardest to observe. Small tracking tags placed on young penguins just before they leave their colonies will reveal where they travel on their first trips to sea and how many survive. Recording devices retrieved from adult penguins will show where and when they molt their feathers and how deep and how often they dive for food through the winter. Blood samples will map how penguins from the two regions are related ancestrally and whether the populations mix regularly. Together these measurements show how each population feeds, travels, and survives, and whether differences in behavior help explain why the two are heading in opposite directions, informing how Antarctic wildlife is understood and protected as the region changes. The tracking and recording devices collect temperature and other ocean data from a remote region during the season when it is most difficult to study, adding to the information available for understanding and managing the Southern Ocean. The project also trains the next generation of polar scientists, supporting a doctoral student and a field apprentice, and it continues long-term monitoring that reaches back decades. Education and public outreach will include "Live From the Penguins" video calls and updates on penguin colony and breeding behavior through the PenguinScience.com website and social media. Technical abstract Adélie penguins are a key Antarctic mesopredator and a useful model for studying the limits of biological adaptation under rapid environmental change. This two-year project unites two of the longest-running United States Adélie penguin research programs (a stable-to-increasing population in the Ross Sea and a declining population near Palmer Station on the western Antarctic Peninsula) as a natural experiment in adaptive capacity. The work centers on three traits measurable from one intensive field season combined with existing biologging and multi-decadal monitoring data. Satellite-linked transmitters deployed on fledglings before colony departure in both regions will quantify juvenile dispersal routes, habitat use, and at-sea survival. Archival geolocating dive recorders recovered from adults will characterize molt timing and location (sea ice versus land). The same instruments yield year-long dive, light, and temperature profiles, allowing foraging performance and environmental thresholds to be compared across contrasting breeding and wintering regions. A genetic component addresses population structure: whether mitochondrial lineages sort by colony, how genetically contained the Ross Sea population is, and how prevalent the Ross Sea lineage is in the under-sampled Palmer region. Together these provide a framework against which trait differences can be interpreted. A second field season supports instrument retrieval and continued long-term monitoring. The project trains one doctoral student and one field apprentice and extends datasets that reach back decades in both regions. 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. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-163 -60,-146 -60,-129 -60,-112 -60,-95 -60,-78 -60,-61 -60,-44 -60,-27 -60,-10 -60,-10 -61.8,-10 -63.6,-10 -65.4,-10 -67.2,-10 -69,-10 -70.8,-10 -72.6,-10 -74.4,-10 -76.2,-10 -78,-27 -78,-44 -78,-61 -78,-78 -78,-95 -78,-112 -78,-129 -78,-146 -78,-163 -78,180 -78,175.5 -78,171 -78,166.5 -78,162 -78,157.5 -78,153 -78,148.5 -78,144 -78,139.5 -78,135 -78,135 -76.2,135 -74.4,135 -72.6,135 -70.8,135 -69,135 -67.2,135 -65.4,135 -63.6,135 -61.8,135 -60,139.5 -60,144 -60,148.5 -60,153 -60,157.5 -60,162 -60,166.5 -60,171 -60,175.5 -60,-180 -60)) | POINT(-117.5 -69) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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NSFGEO-NERC Collaborative Research: Effects of a Changing Climate on the Habitat Utilization, Foraging Ecology and Distribution of Crabeater Seals
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2042032 |
2024-11-27 | Huckstadt, Luis |
|
Part I: Non-technical description: The crabeater seal is the most important predator of Antarctic krill in the western Antarctic Peninsula oceanic waters after the disappearance of large whales due to human hunting 100 years ago. The crabeater seals are expected to consume large quantities of krill due to their high abundance (about 7 million individuals), large body size (about 700 pounds in body weight), high metabolism and a diet specializing in krill. This species depends on sea ice presence all year long, living, reproducing, and diving to feed from that environment, making this marine mammal species a good indicator, or sentinel, of how the Antarctic ecosystem responds to a changing climate. As sea ice has been decreasing in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, this project aims to understand if the species food availability has changed in the last decades in response to environmental changes. In particular, the proposed work will concentrate on known populations of crabeater seals in northern (i.e., warmer, sub-polar) and southern (i.e., colder, polar) Antarctic Peninsula, 450 miles apart, making measurements on the abundance, physiology, metabolic needs and movement of the crabeater populations in both locations. The data will be combined to build models that will quantify the existing differences between northern and southern populations, as well as predict their future change, and compare present-day measurements with those collected by the British Antarctic Survey in the mid-1900s. The project is a collaboration between an international and interdisciplinary team from the United States and United Kingdom, benefitting NSF goals to facilitate collaborative geoscience research projects involving these two countries as well as aligning directly with U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) to better understand the forces shaping the global environment, both human and natural, and their impacts on society. To further increase polar literacy and education, Principal Investigators will train at least 2 graduate students and several undergraduates across two US institutions, as well as one UK-based post-doctoral researcher. Part II: Technical description: Crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) are considered an excellent sentinel species through which to examine the effects of a changing climate on the extended Antarctic krill-dependent predator community and the structure of the entire ecosystem of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Over the last forty years, there have been significant changes in the temporal and spatial patterns of primary productivity, and shifts in the population dynamics of Antarctic krill, the dominant mid-trophic level species. The impact of such changes on year-round resident species of crabeater seals (the most important predator of Antarctic krill) is more difficult to understand as they are not associated with breeding colonies where their population fluctuations could be more readily observed. The proposed research is conceived under the premise that environmental change has accentuated the differences between the northern and southern western Antarctic Peninsula crabeater seal populations due to differential reductions in sea-ice and its possible effect on prey availability. To address this question, this research will combine measurements on animal movement, stable isotope analyses, whole-animal physiology, and novel survey technologies (small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, satellite imagery) to build models. The project is a collaboration between an international and interdisciplinary team from the United States and United Kingdom. These studies will be essential to detect past, and project future, changes in the ecology of this species in response to changes in sea ice when comparing present-day measurements with those collected by the British Antarctic Survey in the mid-1900s. To further increase polar literacy and education, Principal Investigators will train at least 2 graduate students and several undergraduates across two US institutions, as well as one UK-based post-doctoral researcher. Students involved with this project will gain invaluable research experience in the lab and will have a unique opportunity to participate in Antarctic fieldwork. 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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins
|
1744989 |
2024-02-08 | LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie | This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys - these results have been uploaded to MAPPPD (penguinmap.com) and are freely available for use. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
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Collaborative Research: Role of Nutrient Limitation and Viral Interactions on Antarctic Microbial Community Assembly: A Cryoconite Microcosm Study
|
2137377 2137375 2137378 2137376 |
2023-05-10 | Schmidt, Steven; Varsani, Arvind; Porazinska, Dorota; Bergstrom, Anna |
|
Cryoconite holes are sediment-filled melt holes in the surface of glaciers that can be important sites of active microbial life in an otherwise mostly frozen and barren landscape. Previous studies in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica suggest that viral infections of microbes, and a general lack of fertilizers (i.e., nutrients), may be important factors shaping the development and functioning of microbial communities in cryoconite holes. The researchers propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects diversity (number of species) and overall abundance of microbes, and how the diversity and abundance of microbes in turn affects the diversity, abundance, and infection type of viruses that parasitize the microbes in cryoconite sediments. The researchers will use sediments previously collected from Antarctic glaciers that have varying concentrations of viruses and nutrients, to set up a nutrient-addition experiment to determine how nutrients affect microbial and viral population dynamics. The results will deepen our understanding of how microbial communities in general are shaped by nutrients and viruses and give new insights into the functioning of viruses in extremely cold environments. The researchers will publish their findings in scientific journals and will share their discoveries with K-12 students from rural schools in collaboration with the Pinhead Institute and will connect undergraduate students from under-represented minorities to polar research through participation in the university’s Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Routes Uplift Research Program. Outreach will be achieved through videos produced and distributed by a professional science communicator. The research advances a National Science Foundation goal of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes by utilizing the unique characteristics of the Antarctic region as a science observing platform. The Principal Investigators propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects microbial diversity and abundances and their cascading effects on virus diversity, abundance, and mode of infection (lysis vs. lysogeny) in Antarctic cryoconite holes. Cryoconite holes are ideal natural microcosms for manipulative studies, not available in other cryospheric ecosystems. The PIs will use previously collected cryoconite from across a gradient of both viral diversity and nutrient levels to address questions about key limiting nutrients and microbial-viral community dynamics in cryoconite sediments. Nutrient manipulation experiments will be conducted in a growth chamber that closely approximates the light and temperature regime of in situ cryoconite holes to test three core hypotheses: (1) phosphorus availability limits microbial productivity and abundance in cryoconite holes; (2) relaxing nutrient limitation in cryoconite from low-diversity glaciers will increase species diversity, leading microbial communities to resemble those found on more nutrient-rich glaciers; (3) relaxing nutrient limitation will increase the diversity and abundance of viruses by increasing the availability of suitable hosts, and decrease the prevalence of lysogenic infections. By manipulating nutrient limitation within a realistic range, this project will help verify hypothesized phosphorus limitation of Antarctic cryoconite holes and will extend understanding of the connections between nutrients, diversity, and viral infection dynamics in the cryosphere more generally. A better understanding of these dynamics in cryoconite sediments improves the ability of scientists to forecast future impacts of environmental changes in the cryosphere. 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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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Collaborative Research: The Drivers and Role of Immigration in the Dynamics of the Largest Population of Weddell Seals in Antarctica under Changing Conditions
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2147553 1640481 2147554 |
2022-08-07 | Rotella, Jay; Chen, Nancy |
|
Part 1: Non-technical description This is a continuation of a long-term population dynamics study (1978-present) using an intensive mark-recapture tagging of Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica. Past work has become a global model for population studies of large animals. Results have documented strong annual variation in reproduction, abundance, and population composition. This program will add components to evaluate the demographic role of immigrant mothers, evaluate possible drivers of annual variation in overall population dynamics, assess genetic differences between immigrant and locally born mothers, and document patterns of gene flow among seal colonies in the Ross Sea region. These new aspects will focus on understanding of population structure, function, and genetics and provide key information for predicting how the seal population will respond to environmental change. The addition of genetic approaches will advance available data for multiple groups in multiple countries working on Weddell Seals. This work includes an early career scientists training program for faculty university graduate and undergraduate students and well as a defined program for data sharing. The research is paired with active education and outreach programs, social media, websites, educational resources, videos and high-profile public lecture activities. The informal science education program will expand on the project’s successful efforts at producing and delivering short-form videos that have been viewed over 1.6 million times to date. In addition, the education program will add new topics such as learning about seals using genomics and how seals respond to a changing world to a multimedia-enhanced electronic book about the project’s long-term research on Weddell seals, which will be freely available to the public early in the project. Part 2: Technical description Reliable predictions are needed for how populations of wild species, especially those at high latitudes, will respond to future environmental conditions. This study will use a strategic extension of the long-term demographic research program that has been conducted annually on the Erebus Bay population of Weddell seals since 1978 to help meet that need. Recent analyses of the study population indicate strong annual variation in reproduction, abundance, and population composition. The number of new immigrant mothers that join the population each year has recently grown such that most new mothers are now immigrants. Despite the growing number of immigrants, the demographic importance and geographic origins of immigrants are unknown. The research will (1) add new information on drivers of annual variation in immigrant numbers, (2) compare and combine information on the vital rates and demographic role of immigrant females and their offspring with that of locally born females, and (3) add genomic analyses that will quantify levels of genetic variation in and gene flow among the study population and other populations in the Ross Sea. The project will continue the long-term monitoring of the population at Erebus Bay and characterize population dynamics and the role of immigration using a combination of mark-recapture analyses, stochastic population modeling, and genomic analyses. The study will continue to provide detailed data on individual seals to other science teams, educate and mentor individuals in the next generation of ecologists, introduce two early-career, female scientists to Antarctic research, and add genomics approaches to the long-term population study of Erebus Bay Weddell seals. The research will be complemented with a robust program of training and an informal science education program. 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. | POLYGON((162 -74.95,162.8 -74.95,163.6 -74.95,164.4 -74.95,165.2 -74.95,166 -74.95,166.8 -74.95,167.6 -74.95,168.4 -74.95,169.2 -74.95,170 -74.95,170 -75.295,170 -75.64,170 -75.985,170 -76.33,170 -76.67500000000001,170 -77.02000000000001,170 -77.36500000000001,170 -77.71000000000001,170 -78.055,170 -78.4,169.2 -78.4,168.4 -78.4,167.6 -78.4,166.8 -78.4,166 -78.4,165.2 -78.4,164.4 -78.4,163.6 -78.4,162.8 -78.4,162 -78.4,162 -78.055,162 -77.71000000000001,162 -77.36500000000001,162 -77.02000000000001,162 -76.67500000000001,162 -76.33,162 -75.985,162 -75.64,162 -75.295,162 -74.95)) | POINT(166 -76.67500000000001) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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NSFGEO-NERC: Integrating Individual Personality Differences in the Evolutionary Ecology of a Seabird in the Rapidly Changing Polar Environment
|
1951500 |
2021-12-08 | Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Patrick, Samantha | Part I: Nontechnical description: This award represents a collaborative geoscience research effort between US NSF and UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) researchers with efforts in each nation funded by their respective countries (Dear Colleague Letter NSF 16-132). The research will focus on understanding the links between behavior, ecology, and evolution in a Southern Ocean wandering albatross population in response to global changes in climate and in exploitation of natural resources. The most immediate response of animals to global change typically is behavioral, and this work will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how differences individual bird behavior affect evolution and adaptation for the population under changing environments. Characterization of albatross personality, life-history traits, and population dynamics collected over long time scales will be used to develop robust forecasting of species persistence in the face of future global changes. The results of this project will feed into conservation and management decisions for endangered Southern Ocean species. The work will also be used to provide specific research training at all levels, including a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and K-12 students. It will also support education for the public about impacts from human-induced activities on our polar ecosystems using animations, public lectures, printed and web media. Part II: Technical description Past research has shown that individual animal personalities range over a continuum of behavior, such that some individuals are consistently more aggressive, more explorative, and bolder than others. How the phenotypic distributions of personality and foraging behavior types within a population is created and maintained by ecological (demographic and phenotypic plasticity) and evolutionary (heritability) processes remain an open question. Differences in personality traits determine how individuals acquire resources and how they allocate these to reproduction and survival. Although some studies have found different foraging behaviors or breeding performances between personality types, none have established the link between personality differences in foraging behaviors and life histories (both reproduction and survival, and their covariations) in the context of global change. Furthermore, plasticity in foraging behaviors is not considered in the pace-of-life syndrome, which has potentially hampered our ability to find covariation between personality and life history trade-off. This project will fill these knowledge gaps and develop an eco-evolutionary model of the complex interactions among individual personality and foraging plasticity, heritability of personality and foraging behaviors, life history strategies, population dynamics in a changing environment (fisheries and climate) using a long-term database consisting of ~1,800 tagged wandering albatross seabirds (Diomedea exulans) with defined individual personalities and life history traits breeding in the Southern Ocean. Climate projections from IPCC atmospheric-oceanic global circulation models will be used to provide projections of population structure under future global change conditions. Specifically, the team will (1) characterize the differences in life history strategies along the shy-bold continuum of personalities and across environmental conditions; (2) develop the link between phenotypic plasticity in foraging effort and personality; (3) characterize the heritability of personality and foraging behaviors; (4) develop a stochastic eco-evolutionary model to predict population growth rates in a changing environment. 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. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
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Integrating Antarctic Environmental and Biological Predictability to Obtain Optimal Forecasts
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2037561 |
2021-12-08 | Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Holland, Marika |
|
This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Many biogeochemical and biophysical processes are changing in the present and coming century. The mechanisms and the predictability of these processes are still poorly understood. Limits in understanding of these progress limits climate forecasting. Similarly, ecological forecasting remains a nascent discipline. Comparative assessments of predictability, both within and among species, are critically needed to understand the factors that allow (or prevent) useful ecological forecasts. This study will reveal the influence of climate system dynamics on ecological predictability across a range of scales, and will examine how this role differs among ecological processes, species and regions of Antarctic. The project research will examine the predictability of Antarctic climate and its influence on seabird demographic response, predictability at various temporal and spatial scales, using the longest datasets available for several polar species. Specifically, the PI will 1) identify the physical mechanisms giving rise to climate predictability in Antarctica, 2) identify the relationships between climate and ecological processes at a range of scales, and 3) reveal the factors controlling ecological predictability across a range of scales (e.g., those relevant for short-term adaptive management versus those relevant at end-of-century timescales). These objectives will be achieved using the analysis of existing climate data and century length time-scales, Atmosphere-Ocean Global Circulation Models (AOGCMs), with coupled analysis of existing long-term demographic data for multiple seabird species that span a range of ecological niches, life histories, and study sites across the continent. 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. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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CAREER: Development of Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Assessing the Health of Secluded Ecosystems (ECHO)
|
2046437 |
2021-08-16 | Zitterbart, Daniel | No dataset link provided | Part I: Non-technical description: Understanding human-induced changes on biodiversity is one of the most important scientific challenges we face today. This is especially true for marine environments that are home to much of the world’s biomass and biodiversity. A particularly effective approach to investigate the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems is to monitor top-predator populations such as seabirds or marine mammals. The food web in the Southern Ocean in relatively small and involves few species, therefore climate-induced variations at the prey species level directly affect the predator species level. For example, seabirds, like penguins, are ideal to detect and study these ecosystem changes. This study combines traditional methods to study emperor penguin population dynamics with the use of an autonomous vehicle to conduct the population dynamic measurements with less impact and higher accuracy. This project leverages an existing long-term emperor penguin observatory at the Atka Bay colony which hosts penguins living in the Weddell sea and the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The study will kickstart the collection of a multi-decadal data set in an area of the Southern Ocean that has been understudied. It will fill important gaps in ecological knowledge on the state of the Emperor penguin and its adaptive capabilities within a changing world. Finally, the project supports NSF goals of training new generations of scientists through collaborative training of undergraduate students and the creation of a new class on robotics for ecosystem study. Emperor penguins are an iconic species that few people will ever see in the wild. Through the technology developed in this proposal, the public can be immersed in real-time into the life of an emperor penguin colony. Public outreach will be achieved by showcasing real-time video and audio footage of emperor penguins from the field as social media science and engineering-themed educational materials. Part II: Technical description: Polar ecosystems currently experience significant impacts due to global changes. Measurable negative effects on polar wildlife have already occurred, such as population decreases of numerous seabird species, including the complete loss of colonies of one of the most emblematic species of the Antarctic, the emperor penguin. These existing impacts on polar species are alarming, especially because many polar species still remain poorly studied due to technical and logistical challenges imposed by the harsh environment and extreme remoteness. Developing technologies and tools for monitoring such wildlife populations is, therefore, a matter of urgency. This project aims to help close major knowledge gaps about the emperor penguin, in particular about their adaptive capability to a changing environment, by the development of next-generation tools to remotely study entire colonies. Specifically, the main goal of this project is to implement and test an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle equipped with Radio-frequency identification (RFID) antennas and wireless mesh communication data-loggers to: 1) identify RFID-tagged emperor penguins during breeding to studying population dynamics without human presence; and 2) receive Global Positioning System-Time Domain Reflectometry (GPS-TDR) datasets from Very High Frequency VHF-GPS-TDR data-loggers without human presence to study animal behavior and distribution at sea. The autonomous vehicles navigation through the colony will be aided by an existing remote penguin observatory (SPOT). Properly implemented, this technology can be used to study of the life history of individual penguins, and therefore gather data for behavioral and population dynamic studies. The new data will contribute to intelligent establishment of marine protected areas in Antarctica. The education objectives of this CAREER project are designed to increase the interest in a STEM education for the next generation of scientists by combining the charisma of the emperor penguin with robotics research. Within this project, a new class on ecosystem robotics will be developed and taught, Robotics boot-camps will allow undergraduate students to remotely participate in Antarctic field trips, and an annual curriculum will be developed that allows K-12 students to follow the life of the emperor penguin during the breeding cycle, powered by real-time data obtained using the unmanned ground vehicle as well as the existing emperor penguin observatory. 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. | POLYGON((-60 -55,-53 -55,-46 -55,-39 -55,-32 -55,-25 -55,-18 -55,-11 -55,-4 -55,3 -55,10 -55,10 -57.5,10 -60,10 -62.5,10 -65,10 -67.5,10 -70,10 -72.5,10 -75,10 -77.5,10 -80,3 -80,-4 -80,-11 -80,-18 -80,-25 -80,-32 -80,-39 -80,-46 -80,-53 -80,-60 -80,-60 -77.5,-60 -75,-60 -72.5,-60 -70,-60 -67.5,-60 -65,-60 -62.5,-60 -60,-60 -57.5,-60 -55)) | POINT(-25 -67.5) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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Quantifying how Bioenergetics and Foraging Determine Population Dynamics in Threatened Antarctic Albatrosses
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1341649 1740239 |
2021-08-13 | Johnson, Leah; Ryan, Sadie | No dataset link provided | Albatrosses (family Diomedeidae) are among the most threatened of bird species. Of the 22 species that are currently recognized, all are considered at least Threatened or Near-Threatened, and 9 are listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered. Because of the decline in albatross populations and the birds' role as a top predator in the pelagic ecosystem, it is vitally important to understand the factors affecting the population dynamics of these birds to better inform strategies for conservation and mitigating environmental change. The goal of this project is to answer the question: What are the population consequences of albatross bioenergetics and foraging strategies? The investigators will take a two pronged approach: 1) constructing, parameterizing, and validating an Individual Based Model (IBM) that rests on Dynamic Energy Budget theory and state dependent foraging theory; and 2) undertaking an in-depth meta-analysis of existing individual tracking and life history data from multiple albatross species across successive life stages. This theoretical work will be grounded with a unique and extensive data set on albatrosses provided by collaborator Richard Phillips from the British Antarctic Survey. The IBM approach will incorporate details such as adult energetic state, chick needs and energetics, reproductive stage, and spatial and temporal variation in prey availability within a single framework. This facilitates exploration of emergent patterns, allowing the investigators to explicitly link behavior, energetic, and population dynamics. Bioenergetics constrain a variety of behaviors. A more complete understanding of how individuals use energy can give insight into how behaviors from foraging to breeding and survival, and resulting population attributes, might change with environmental factors, due to anthropogenic and other drivers. This work will further a general understanding of how bioenergetics shapes behavior and drives population level processes, while providing an approach that can be used to guide conservation strategies for endangered populations. The research findings and activities will be made accessible to public audiences through websites and on a blog maintained for the project by a postdoctoral researcher. The project will involve undergraduate and high school researchers in the project, within formal laboratory groups and also through in-classroom presentations and activities. This project also involves outreach to local elementary schools, as the albatross-Antarctic bioenergetics system provides a charismatic and tangible teaching tool, for exploring a complex conservation issue, and demonstrating the utility of quantitative biological research approaches. All project publications will be open access, the resulting open source software will be released to the public, and metadata and analyses will be fully documented and made available through the Knowledge Network for Biodiversity, to promote further collaborative exploration of this system. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins
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1744989 1744794 |
2021-07-14 | LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie | The emperor penguin is an iconic seabird that is found in colonies distributed around the entirety of the Antarctic coastline. Emperor penguins are an important indicator species for the health of the Southern Ocean because their reliance on sea ice for major parts of their life cycle means that their population can be influenced by changes in the extent and duration of sea ice around Antarctica. Although baseline data exists on emperor penguin distributions and overall population size, data on how population size varies at individual colonies is limited to only a few locations. Thus, knowledge about how changes in local or regional environmental conditions impacts local or global population status is poorly understood. By combining established methods in satellite remote sensing with ground and aerial surveys of several colonies across the continent, this project will generate population estimates for the 54 known emperor penguin colonies. Decadal scale population trend data will be combined with environmental variables (e.g., sea ice extent and duration among others) to reveal which conditions influence population fluctuations at regional and continental scales. The project will engage with international collaborators, train post-doctoral associates and future scientists, and develop citizen science and K-12 outreach programs. This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public. 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. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
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The consequences of maternal effects and environmental conditions on offspring success in an Antarctic predator
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1640481 |
2021-06-24 | Rotella, Jay; Garrott, Robert | The consequences of variation in maternal effects on the ability of offspring to survive, reproduce, and contribute to future generations has rarely been evaluated in polar marine mammals. This is due to the challenges of having adequate data on the survival and reproductive outcomes for numerous offspring born in diverse environmental conditions to mothers with known and diverse sets of traits. This research project will evaluate the survival and reproductive consequences of early-life environmental conditions and variation in offspring traits that are related to maternal attributes (e.g. birth date, birth mass, weaning mass, and swimming behavior) in a population of individually marked Weddell seals in the Ross Sea. Results will allow an evaluation of the importance of different types of individuals to the Weddell Seal's population sustenance and better assessments of factors contributing to the population dynamics in the past and into the future. The project allows for documentation of specific individual seal's unique histories and provisioning of such information to the broader science community that seeks to study these seals, educating graduate and undergraduate ecology students, producing science-outreach videos, and developing a multi-media iBook regarding the project's science activities, goals and outcomes. The research has the broad objective of evaluating the importance of diverse sources of variation in pup characteristics to survival and reproduction. The study will (1) record birth dates, body mass metrics, and time spent in the water for multiple cohorts of pups (born to known-age mothers) in years with different environmental conditions; (2) mark all pups born in the greater Erebus Bay study area and conduct repeated surveys to monitor fates of these pups through the age of first reproduction; and (3) use analyses specifically designed for data on animals that are individually marked and resighted each year to evaluate hypotheses about how variation in birth dates, pup mass, time spent in the water by pups, and environmental conditions relate to variation in early-life survival and recruitment for those pups. The research will also allow the documentation of the population status that will contribute to the unique long-term database for the local population that dates back to 1978. | POLYGON((162 -75,162.8 -75,163.6 -75,164.4 -75,165.2 -75,166 -75,166.8 -75,167.6 -75,168.4 -75,169.2 -75,170 -75,170 -75.38,170 -75.76,170 -76.14,170 -76.52,170 -76.9,170 -77.28,170 -77.66,170 -78.03999999999999,170 -78.42,170 -78.8,169.2 -78.8,168.4 -78.8,167.6 -78.8,166.8 -78.8,166 -78.8,165.2 -78.8,164.4 -78.8,163.6 -78.8,162.8 -78.8,162 -78.8,162 -78.42,162 -78.03999999999999,162 -77.66,162 -77.28,162 -76.9,162 -76.52,162 -76.14,162 -75.76,162 -75.38,162 -75)) | POINT(166 -76.9) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
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Population Growth at the Southern Extreme: Effects of Early Life Conditions on Adelie penguin Individuals and Colonies
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1935870 1935901 |
2021-05-12 | Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Varsani, Arvind; Dugger, Katie; Orben, Rachael; Lescroel, Amelie |
|
Part 1: Non-technical description Polar regions are experiencing some of the most dramatic effects of climate change resulting in large-scale changes in sea ice cover. Despite this, there are relatively few long-term studies on polar species that evaluate the full scope of these effects. Over the last two decades, this team has conducted globally unique demographic studies of Adélie penguins in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to explore several potential mechanisms for population change. This five-year project will use penguin-borne sensors to evaluate foraging conditions and behavior and environmental conditions on early life stages of Adélie penguins. Results will help to better understand population dynamics and how populations might respond to future environmental change. To promote STEM literacy, education and public outreach efforts will include multiple activities. The PenguinCam and PenguinScience.com website (impacts of >1 million hits per month and use by >300 classrooms/~10,000 students) will be continued. Each field season will also have ‘Live From the Penguins’ Skype calls to classes (~120/season). Classroom-ready activities that are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards will be developed with media products and science journal papers translated to grade 5-8 literacy level. The project will also train early career scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and post-graduate interns. Finally, in partnership with an Environmental Leadership Program, the team will host 2-year Roger Arliner Young Conservation Fellow, which is a program designed to increase opportunities for recent college graduates of color to learn about, engage with, and enter the environmental conservation sector. Part II: Technical description: Leveraging 25 years of data on marked individuals from two Adélie penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, combined with new biologging tags that track detailed penguin foraging efforts and environmental conditions, researchers will accomplish three major goals: 1) assess the quality of natal conditions by determining how environmental conditions, relative prey availability, and diet composition influence parental foraging behavior, chick provisioning, and fledging mass; 2) determine the spatial distribution and foraging behavior of juvenile Adélie penguins and the relative influence of natal versus post-fledging environmental conditions on their survival; and 3) determine the role of natal and post-fledging conditions in shaping individual life history traits and colony growth. Data from several types of penguin-borne biologging devices will be used to provide multiple lines of evidence for how early-life conditions and penguin behavior relate to penguin energetics and population size. This study is the first to integrate salinity, temperature, light level, depth, accelerometry, video loggers, and GPS data with longitudinal demographic information, providing an unprecedented ability to understand how penguins use the environment and enabling new insights from previously collected data. Changes in salinity due to increased glacial melt have important implications for sea ice formation, ocean circulation and productivity of the Southern Ocean, and potentially global temperature change. The penguin-borne sensors deployed in this study will support the NSF Office of Polar Programs priority: How does society more efficiently observe and measure the polar regions? It represents only the second study to track juvenile Adélie penguins at sea, the first in the Ross Sea region, the first with substantial sample sizes, and the first to assess juvenile survival rates directly, integrating early life factors and environmental conditions to better understand colony growth trajectories. 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. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-177 -60,-174 -60,-171 -60,-168 -60,-165 -60,-162 -60,-159 -60,-156 -60,-153 -60,-150 -60,-150 -61.8,-150 -63.6,-150 -65.4,-150 -67.2,-150 -69,-150 -70.8,-150 -72.6,-150 -74.4,-150 -76.2,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178.5 -78,177 -78,175.5 -78,174 -78,172.5 -78,171 -78,169.5 -78,168 -78,166.5 -78,165 -78,165 -76.2,165 -74.4,165 -72.6,165 -70.8,165 -69,165 -67.2,165 -65.4,165 -63.6,165 -61.8,165 -60,166.5 -60,168 -60,169.5 -60,171 -60,172.5 -60,174 -60,175.5 -60,177 -60,178.5 -60,-180 -60)) | POINT(-172.5 -69) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Polar Seabirds with Long-term Pair Bonds: Effects of Mating on Individual Fitness and Population Dynamics
|
1840058 |
2020-04-01 | Jenouvrier, Stephanie | Many animals, from crustaceans to humans, engage in long-term relationships. The demographic consequences of divorce or widowhood for monogamous species are poorly understood. This research seeks to advance understanding of the drivers of partner loss and quantify its resulting effects on individual fitness and population dynamics in polar species that form life-long relationships. The project will focus on pair disruption in two seabirds that form long-last pair bonds: the wandering albatross and the snow petrel. Unique long-term individual mark-recapture data sets exist for these iconic polar species, allowing for a comprehensive study of the rates, causes and consequences of pair disruption and how they may differ among Antarctic species. Insights might be gained regarding the effects of changing environmental regimes as well as by direct and indirect effects of fisheries as a by-product of this research. The aim of the project is to better understand the implications of different drivers of pair disruption and quantify its resulting effects on individual fitness components and population growth rate and structure for two procellariiformes breeding in the Southern Ocean. The project will focus on the wandering albatross and the snow petrel, which both form long-lasting pair bonds. The unique long-term individual mark-recapture data sets allow for a study of the rates, causes and consequences of pair disruption and how they differ among species with different life histories as well as expected differences in mechanisms and rates of pair disruptions. The study will result in a detailed analysis of the impact of social monogamy and long-term pair bonds on individual fitness components (vital rates: survival, recruitment and fecundity; life-history outcomes: life expectancy, age at 1st breeding and lifetime reproductive success; and occupancy times: duration of pair bond or widowhood) and population growth and structure (e.g, sex ratio of individuals available for mating). Specifically, the project will assess: 1. Variations in pair disruption rates, and if they are related to global change (by-catch in the case of albatross widowing, and climate in the case of petrel divorce) by developing a statistical multievent mark-recapture model. 2. Impacts of pair disruption on vital rates, specifically whether i) greater familiarity and better coordination within pairs improves breeding performance and survival, ii) mating costs reduce the probability of breeding and iii) divorce is more likely to occur after a breeding failure. 3. Impacts of pair disruption on life-history outcomes and occupancy times using Markov chain stochastic life cycle models. 4. Impacts of pair disruption on population dynamics by developing a novel non-linear two-sex matrix population model. The research will include sensitivity and Life Table Response Experiment analyses to examine the respective effects of fisheries, climate, vital rates, and pair-disruption rates on life-history outcomes, occupancy times, and population growth and structure, and their variations among year and species 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. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
Collaborative Research: Investigating Holocene Shifts in the Diets and Paleohistory of Antarctic Krill Predators
|
1443424 1443386 1443585 1826712 |
2019-08-08 | Polito, Michael; Kelton, McMahon; Patterson, William; McCarthy, Matthew | The Antarctic marine ecosystem is highly productive and supports a diverse range of ecologically and commercially important species. A key species in this ecosystem is Antarctic krill, which in addition to being commercially harvested, is the principle prey of a wide range of marine organisms including penguins, seals and whales. The aim of this study is to use penguins and other krill predators as sensitive indicators of past changes in the Antarctic marine food web resulting from climate variability and the historic harvesting of seals and whales by humans. Specifically this study will recover and analyze modern (<20 year old), historic (20-200 year old) and ancient (200-10,000 year old) penguin and other krill predator tissues to track their past diets and population movements relative to shifts in climate and the availability of Antarctic krill. Understanding how krill predators were affected by these factors in the past will allow us to better understand how these predators, the krill they depend on, and the Antarctic marine ecosystem as a whole will respond to current challenges such as global climate change and an expanding commercial fishery for Antarctic krill. The project will further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This project will support the cross-institutional training of undergraduate and graduate students in advanced analytical techniques in the fields of ecology and biogeochemistry. In addition, this project includes educational outreach aimed encouraging participation in science careers by engaging K-12 students in scientific issues related to Antarctica, penguins, marine ecology, biogeochemistry, and global climate change. This research will help place recent ecological changes in the Southern Ocean into a larger historical context by examining decadal and millennial-scale shifts in the diets and population movements of Antarctic krill predators (penguins, seals, and squid) in concert with climate variability and commercial harvesting. This will be achieved by coupling advanced stable and radio isotope techniques, particularly compound-specific stable isotope analysis, with unprecedented access to modern, historical, and well-preserved paleo-archives of Antarctic predator tissues dating throughout the Holocene. This approach will allow the project to empirically test if observed shifts in Antarctic predator bulk tissue stable isotope values over the past millennia were caused by climate-driven shifts at the base of the food web in addition to, or rather than, shifts in predator diets due to a competitive release following the historic harvesting of krill eating whale and seals. In addition, this project will track the large-scale abandonment and reoccupation of penguin colonies around Antarctica in response to changes in climate and sea ice conditions over the past several millennia. These integrated field studies and laboratory analyses will provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms that influenced past shifts in the diets and population movements of charismatic krill predators such as penguins. This will allow for improved projections of the ecosystem consequences of future climate change and anthropogenic harvesting scenarios in the Antarctica that are likely to affect the availability of Antarctic krill. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-166 -60,-152 -60,-138 -60,-124 -60,-110 -60,-96 -60,-82 -60,-68 -60,-54 -60,-40 -60,-40 -61.8,-40 -63.6,-40 -65.4,-40 -67.2,-40 -69,-40 -70.8,-40 -72.6,-40 -74.4,-40 -76.2,-40 -78,-54 -78,-68 -78,-82 -78,-96 -78,-110 -78,-124 -78,-138 -78,-152 -78,-166 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -76.2,160 -74.4,160 -72.6,160 -70.8,160 -69,160 -67.2,160 -65.4,160 -63.6,160 -61.8,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60)) | POINT(-120 -69) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
Linking Foraging Behaviors to Demography to understand Albatrosses Population Responses to Climate Change
|
1246407 |
2019-01-31 | Jenouvrier, Stephanie | Understanding the ecological consequences - present and future-of climate change is a central question in conservation biology. The goal of this project is to identify the effects of climate change on the Black-Browed Albatross, a seabird breeding in the Southern Ocean. The Black-Browed Albatross exhibits remarkable flight adaptations, using winds as an energy source to glide for long distances. This is the basis of their foraging strategy, by which they obtain food for themselves and their offspring. Climate change, however, is expected to modify wind patterns over the Southern Ocean. This project will analyze the effect of winds on life history traits (foraging behaviors, body conditions and demographic traits), and the effects of these traits on populations. New demographic models will provide the link between foraging behavior and the physical environment, and evaluate the persistence of this population in the face of climate change. Understanding and predicting population responses to climate change is important because the world?s climate will continue to change throughout the 21st century and beyond. To help guide conservation strategies and policy decisions in the face of climate change, reliable assessments of population extinction risks are urgently needed. The Black-Browed Albatross is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to recent drastic reductions in its population size. This project will improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which climate affects the life history and populations of Black-Browed Albatross to improve prediction of extinction risks under future climate change. | POINT(70.2433 -49.6875) | POINT(70.2433 -49.6875) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
Assembling and Mining the Genomes of Giant Antarctic Foraminifera
|
1341612 |
2018-11-29 | Bowser, Samuel | Agglutinated foraminifera (forams for short) are early-evolving, single-celled organisms. These "living fossils" construct protective shells using sediment grains held together by adhesive substances that they secrete. During shell construction, agglutinated forams display amazing properties of selection - for example, some species build their shells of clear quartz grains, while other species use only grains of a specific size. Understanding how these single cells assemble complex structures may contribute to nanotechnology by enabling people to use forams as "cellular machines" to aid in the construction of nano-devices. This project will analyze the genomes of at least six key foram species, and then "mine" these genomes for technologically useful products and processes. The project will focus initially on the adhesive materials forams secrete, which may have wide application in biomedicine and biotechnology. Furthermore, the work will further develop a molecular toolkit which could open up new avenues of research on the physiology, ecology, and population dynamics of this important group of Antarctic organisms. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. Educational experiences related to the "thrill of scientific exploration and discovery" for students and the general public will be provided through freely-available short films and a traveling art/science exhibition. The project will also provide hands-on research opportunities for undergraduate students. Explorers Cove, situated on the western shore of McMurdo Sound, harbors a unique population of foraminiferan taxa at depths accessible by scuba diving that otherwise are primarily found in the deep sea. The project will use next-generation DNA sequencing and microdissection methods to obtain and analyze nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from crown members of two species each from three distinct, early-evolving foraminiferal groups. It will also use next generation sequencing methods to characterize the in-situ prokaryotic assemblages (microbiomes) of one of these groups and compare them to reference sediment microbiomes. The phyogenomic studies of the targeted Antarctic genera will help fill significant gaps in our current understanding of early foram evolution. Furthermore, comparative genomic analyses of these six species are expected to yield a better understanding of the physiology of single-chambered agglutinated forams, especially the bioadhesive proteins and regulatory factors involved in shell composition and morphogenesis. Additionally, the molecular basis of cold adaptation in forams will be examined, particularly with respect to key proteins. | None | None | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
Collaborative Research: Phytoplankton Phenology in the Antarctic: Drivers, Patterns, and Implications for the Adelie Penguin
|
1341547 1341558 1341440 |
2018-11-20 | Jin, Meibing; Stroeve, Julienne; Ji, Rubao | The aim of study is to understand how climate-related changes in snow and ice affect predator populations in the Antarctic, using the Adélie penguin as a focal species due to its long history as a Southern Ocean 'sentinel' species and the number of long-term research programs monitoring its abundance, distribution, and breeding biology. Understanding the environmental factors that control predator population dynamics is critically important for projecting the state of populations under future climate change scenarios, and for designing better conservation strategies for the Antarctic ecosystem. For the first time, datasets from a network of observational sites for the Adélie penguin across the entire Antarctic will be combined and analyzed, with a focus on linkages among the ice environment, primary production, and the population responses of Adélie penguins. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. The results of this project can be used to illustrate intuitively to the general public the complex interactions between ice, ocean, pelagic food web and top predators. This project also offers an excellent platform to demonstrate the process of climate-change science - how scientists simulate climate change scenarios and interpret model results. This project supports the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of polar oceanography, plankton and seabird ecology, coupled physical-biological modeling and mathematical ecology. The results will be broadly disseminated to the general oceanographic research community through scientific workshops, conferences and peer-reviewed journal articles, and to undergraduate and graduate education communities, K-12 schools and organizations, and the interested public through web-based servers using existing infrastructure at the investigators' institutions. The key question to be addressed in this project is how climate impacts the timing of periodic biological events (phenology) and how interannual variation in this periodic forcing influences the abundance of penguins in the Antarctic. The focus will be on the timing of ice algae and phytoplankton blooms because the high seasonality of sea ice and associated pulsed primary productivity are major drivers of the Antarctic food web. This study will also examine the responses of Adélie penguins to changes in sea ice dynamics and ice algae-phytoplankton phenology. Adélie penguins, like many other Antarctic seabirds, are long-lived, upper trophic-level predators that integrate the effects of sea ice on the food web at regional scales, and thus serve as a reliable biological indicator of environmental changes. The proposed approach is designed to accommodate the limits of measuring and modeling the intermediate trophic levels between phytoplankton and penguins (e.g., zooplankton and fish) at the pan-Antarctic scale, which are important but latent variables in the Southern Ocean food web. Through the use of remotely sensed and in situ data, along with state of the art statistical approaches (e.g. wavelet analysis) and numerical modeling, this highly interdisciplinary study will advance our understanding of polar ecosystems and improve the projection of future climate change scenarios. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
Collaborative Research: Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys on Local, Regional and Landscape Scales
|
1246292 |
2018-03-14 | Cary, Stephen | The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment. The Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications. | POLYGON((161.36062 -77.20215,161.610171 -77.20215,161.859722 -77.20215,162.109273 -77.20215,162.358824 -77.20215,162.608375 -77.20215,162.857926 -77.20215,163.107477 -77.20215,163.357028 -77.20215,163.606579 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.291278,163.85613 -77.380406,163.85613 -77.469534,163.85613 -77.558662,163.85613 -77.64779,163.85613 -77.736918,163.85613 -77.826046,163.85613 -77.915174,163.85613 -78.004302,163.85613 -78.09343,163.606579 -78.09343,163.357028 -78.09343,163.107477 -78.09343,162.857926 -78.09343,162.608375 -78.09343,162.358824 -78.09343,162.109273 -78.09343,161.859722 -78.09343,161.610171 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.004302,161.36062 -77.915174,161.36062 -77.826046,161.36062 -77.736918,161.36062 -77.64779,161.36062 -77.558662,161.36062 -77.469534,161.36062 -77.380406,161.36062 -77.291278,161.36062 -77.20215)) | POINT(162.608375 -77.64779) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
COLLABORATIVE: Adelie Penguin Response to Climate Change at the Individual, Colony and Metapopulation Levels
|
0944411 0944358 0944141 |
2015-12-13 | Ainley, David; Dugger, Katie; Ballard, Grant | While changes in populations typically are tracked to gauge the impact of climate or habitat change, the process involves the response of individuals as each copes with an altered environment. In a study of Adelie penguins that spans 13 breeding seasons, results indicate that only 20% of individuals within a colony successfully raise offspring, and that they do so because of their exemplary foraging proficiency. Moreover, foraging appears to require more effort at the largest colony, where intraspecific competition is higher than at small colonies, and also requires more proficiency during periods of environmental stress. When conditions are particularly daunting, emigration dramatically increases, countering the long-standing assumption that Adélie penguins are highly philopatric. The research project will 1) determine the effect of age, experience and physiology on individual foraging efficiency; 2) determine the effect of age, experience, and individual quality on breeding success and survival in varying environmental and competitive conditions at the colony level; and 3) develop a comprehensive model for the Ross-Beaufort Island metapopulation dynamics. Broader impacts include training of interns, continuation of public outreach through the highly successful project website penguinscience.com, development of classroom materials and other standards-based instructional resources. | POLYGON((165.9 -76.9,166.25 -76.9,166.6 -76.9,166.95 -76.9,167.3 -76.9,167.65 -76.9,168 -76.9,168.35 -76.9,168.7 -76.9,169.05 -76.9,169.4 -76.9,169.4 -76.97,169.4 -77.04,169.4 -77.11,169.4 -77.18,169.4 -77.25,169.4 -77.32,169.4 -77.39,169.4 -77.46,169.4 -77.53,169.4 -77.6,169.05 -77.6,168.7 -77.6,168.35 -77.6,168 -77.6,167.65 -77.6,167.3 -77.6,166.95 -77.6,166.6 -77.6,166.25 -77.6,165.9 -77.6,165.9 -77.53,165.9 -77.46,165.9 -77.39,165.9 -77.32,165.9 -77.25,165.9 -77.18,165.9 -77.11,165.9 -77.04,165.9 -76.97,165.9 -76.9)) | POINT(167.65 -77.25) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
Population ecology of Salpa thompsoni based on molecular indicators
|
1044982 |
2015-06-17 | Bucklin, Ann |
|
The proposed research targets the molecular genetics of salps, an increasingly important member of the zooplankton in Antarctic waters who's dominance appears to be related to climate warming and sea ice loss. Specifically the research will examine genome-wide patterns of gene expression, target gene expression levels, and patterns of population genetic diversity and structure underlying the complex life history and population dynamics of S. thompsoni. The P.I.s hypothesize that (1) deep analysis of the Salpa thompsoni transcriptome will reveal significant associations among selected set of differentially expressed genes and critical life history stages and events (e.g., ontogenetic maturation, sexual reproduction, senescence) of the salp; and 2) the species will show variable levels of clonal diversity and significant genetic differentiation among populations in different regions of the Southern Ocean. Broader impacts include training of two graduate students; inclusion of undergraduates in research, and in a formal training workshop; development of a summer workshop for high school teachers in collaboration with Connecticut Sea Grant; and public outreach via postings on the Census of Marine Zooplankton homepage. | POLYGON((-69.3804 -52.760597,-67.79698 -52.760597,-66.21356 -52.760597,-64.63014 -52.760597,-63.04672 -52.760597,-61.4633 -52.760597,-59.87988 -52.760597,-58.29646 -52.760597,-56.71304 -52.760597,-55.12962 -52.760597,-53.5462 -52.760597,-53.5462 -53.9928073,-53.5462 -55.2250176,-53.5462 -56.4572279,-53.5462 -57.6894382,-53.5462 -58.9216485,-53.5462 -60.1538588,-53.5462 -61.3860691,-53.5462 -62.6182794,-53.5462 -63.8504897,-53.5462 -65.0827,-55.12962 -65.0827,-56.71304 -65.0827,-58.29646 -65.0827,-59.87988 -65.0827,-61.4633 -65.0827,-63.04672 -65.0827,-64.63014 -65.0827,-66.21356 -65.0827,-67.79698 -65.0827,-69.3804 -65.0827,-69.3804 -63.8504897,-69.3804 -62.6182794,-69.3804 -61.3860691,-69.3804 -60.1538588,-69.3804 -58.9216485,-69.3804 -57.6894382,-69.3804 -56.4572279,-69.3804 -55.2250176,-69.3804 -53.9928073,-69.3804 -52.760597)) | POINT(-61.4633 -58.9216485) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Environmental Genomics in an Antarctic polychaete
|
0944557 |
2015-01-13 | Marsh, Adam G. |
|
Genome-enabled biology provides a foundation for understanding the genetic basis of organism-environment interactions. . The research project links gene expression, genome methylation, and metabolic rates to assess the mechanisms of environmental adaptation (temperature) across multiple generations in a polar, and closely related temperate, polychaete. By comparing these two species, the research will assess how a polar environment shapes responses to environmental stress. This work will produce: 1) a database of full transcriptome (gene specific) profiling data for the polar polychaete cultured at two temperatures; 2) the contribution of genome methylation to the suppression of gene transcription activities; 3) the linkage between shifts in mRNA pools and total cellular activities (as ATP consumption via respiration); 4) an assessment of the inheritance of patterns of gene expression and metabolic activities across three generations; and 5) a simple demographic model of the polar polychaete population dynamics under normal and 'global-warming' temperature scenarios. Broader impacts include two outreach activities. The first is a mentoring program, where African-American undergraduate students spend 1.5 years working on a research project with a UD faculty member (2 summers plus their senior academic year). The second is a children's display activity at UD?s School of Marine Science "Coast Day". | POINT(166 78) | POINT(166 -78) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Collaborative Research: Multispecies, Multiscale Investigations of Longterm Changes in Penguin and Seabird Populations on the Antarctic Peninsula
|
0739515 |
2014-01-17 | Fagan, William; Lynch, Heather |
|
This five-year project seeks to characterize decadal scale changes in penguin and seabird populations on the Antarctic Peninsula, and to identify the factors driving these long-term changes. Two interconnected research activities are proposed: 1. Continued, long-term monitoring and censusing of penguin and seabird populations at >117 sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula via opportunistic ship-based data collection. 2. Synthesis and quantitative analyses of datasets detailing long-term changes in five penguin and seabird species from diverse sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula. When complete, the penguin/seabird database will incorporate data from the Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI), the CCAMLR database, the US AMLR database, the LTER database from Palmer Station, data from British and Argentine researchers, historic census data compiled by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and, when possible, additional privately held datasets. Additional data for temperature change, sea ice coverage, the seasonal timing and intensity of human visitation, and other factors have been gathered and will be analyzed together with population trajectories within a spatially explicit framework. The research will include hierarchical statistical analyses to characterize the long-term population dynamics of several key polar species across multiple spatial scales (sites, regions, and the Peninsula). Analyses also will focus on specific subsets of the overall database to contrast visitor impacts on paired colonies, sites, and regions that share similar environmental conditions but differ in the intensity of tourism. <br/><br/>The Broader Impacts include (1) research training and first-time Antarctic experiences for a postdoctoral researcher and several graduate students, all of whom will then be better positioned to bring their expertise in spatial and/or quantitative/theoretical ecology to bear on questions in polar research; (2) assembly and analysis of a large, multi-season database of penguin and seabird time series from the Antarctic Peninsula that will be publicly available, (3) assistance in distinguishing the impacts of tourism versus climate change on seabird populations. Under the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, Treaty Parties are charged with regular and effective monitoring to assess the impacts of human activities. This project will uniquely assist Parties in fulfilling this mandate. | POLYGON((-68.383 -60.65,-66.10137 -60.65,-63.81974 -60.65,-61.53811 -60.65,-59.25648 -60.65,-56.97485 -60.65,-54.69322 -60.65,-52.41159 -60.65,-50.12996 -60.65,-47.84833 -60.65,-45.5667 -60.65,-45.5667 -61.4145,-45.5667 -62.179,-45.5667 -62.9435,-45.5667 -63.708,-45.5667 -64.4725,-45.5667 -65.237,-45.5667 -66.0015,-45.5667 -66.766,-45.5667 -67.5305,-45.5667 -68.295,-47.84833 -68.295,-50.12996 -68.295,-52.41159 -68.295,-54.69322 -68.295,-56.97485 -68.295,-59.25648 -68.295,-61.53811 -68.295,-63.81974 -68.295,-66.10137 -68.295,-68.383 -68.295,-68.383 -67.5305,-68.383 -66.766,-68.383 -66.0015,-68.383 -65.237,-68.383 -64.4725,-68.383 -63.708,-68.383 -62.9435,-68.383 -62.179,-68.383 -61.4145,-68.383 -60.65)) | POINT(-56.97485 -64.4725) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Collaborative Research: Abandoned Elephant Seal Colonies in Antarctica: Integration of Genetic, Isotopic, and Geologic Approaches toward Understanding Holocene Environmental Change
|
0439906 |
2010-10-30 | Koch, Paul |
|
During previous NSF-sponsored research, the PI's discovered that southern elephant seal colonies once existed along the Victoria Land coast (VLC) of Antarctica, a region where they are no longer observed. Molted seal skin and hair occur along 300 km of coastline, more than 1000 km from any extant colony. The last record of a seal at a former colony site is at ~A.D. 1600. Because abandonment occurred prior to subantarctic sealing, disappearance of the VLC colony probably was due to environmental factors, possibly cooling and encroachment of land-fast, perennial sea ice that made access to haul-out sites difficult. The record of seal inhabitation along the VLC, therefore, has potential as a proxy for climate change. Elephant seals are a predominantly subantarctic species with circumpolar distribution. Genetic studies have revealed significant differentiation among populations, particularly with regard to that at Macquarie I., which is the extant population nearest to the abandoned VLC colony. Not only is the Macquarie population unique genetically, but it is has undergone unexplained decline of 2%/yr over the last 50 years3. In a pilot study, genetic analyses showed a close relationship between the VLC seals and those at Macquarie I. An understanding of the relationship between the two populations, as well as of the environmental pressures that led to the demise of the VLC colonies, will provide a better understanding of present-day population genetic structure, the effect of environmental change on seal populations, and possibly the reasons underlying the modern decline at Macquarie Island.<br/>This project addresses several key research problems: (1) Why did elephant seals colonize and then abandon the VLC? (2) What does the elephant seal record reveal about Holocene climate change and sea-ice conditions? (3) What were the foraging strategies of the seals and did these strategies change over time as climate varied? (4) How does the genetic structure of the VLC seals relate to extant populations? (5) How did genetic diversity change over time and with colony decline? (6) Using ancient samples to estimate mtDNA mutation rates, what can be learned about VLC population dynamics over time? (7) What was the ecological relationship between elephant seals and Adelie penguins that occupied the same sites, but apparently at different times? The proposed work includes the professional training of young researchers and incorporation of data into graduate and undergraduate courses. | POLYGON((162 -72,162.6 -72,163.2 -72,163.8 -72,164.4 -72,165 -72,165.6 -72,166.2 -72,166.8 -72,167.4 -72,168 -72,168 -72.6,168 -73.2,168 -73.8,168 -74.4,168 -75,168 -75.6,168 -76.2,168 -76.8,168 -77.4,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.4,162 -76.8,162 -76.2,162 -75.6,162 -75,162 -74.4,162 -73.8,162 -73.2,162 -72.6,162 -72)) | POINT(165 -75) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Foraging Ecology of Crabeater Seals (Lobodon Carcinophagus)
|
9981683 |
2010-05-04 | Costa, Daniel |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and foraging behavior of adult female crabeater seals, using a combination of satellite-linked tracking, specialized diver recorders, and stable isotopic tracers. This research will be coordinated with components focused on prey (krill) distribution and the physical environment. The results will be analyzed using an optimality model. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Sea Ice Microbial Communities
|
9910098 |
2010-05-04 | Fritsen, Christian; Costa, Daniel |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and activities of sea ice microbial communities. This will be accomplished using an integrated combination of sampling (vertical profiles, horizontal surveys, and under-ice surveys) and observational protocols. Experiments will be designed to estimate microbial activity within the sea ice and at the ice-seawater interface. The research will be coordinated with components studying the water column productivity and the sea ice habitat. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Collaborative Research: Salpa Thompsoni in the Southern Ocean: Bioenergetics, Population Dynamics and Biogeochemical Impact
|
0338090 0338290 |
2010-05-04 | Kremer, Patricia; Madin, Larry; Halanych, Kenneth |
|
Salps are planktonic grazers that have a life history, feeding biology and population dynamic strikingly different from krill, copepods or other crustacean zooplankton. Salps can occur in very dense population blooms that cover large areas and have been shown to have major impacts due to the their grazing and the production of fast-sinking fecal pellets. Although commonly acknowledged as a major component of the Southern Ocean zooplankton community, often comparable in biomass and distribution to krill, salps have received relatively little attention. Although extensive sampling has documented the seasonal abundance of salps in the Southern Ocean, there is a paucity of data on important rates that determine population growth and the role of this species in grazing and vertical flux of particulates. This proposed study will include: measurements of respiration and excretion rates for solitary and aggregate salps of all sizes; measurements of ingestion rates, including experiments to determine the size or concentration of particulates that can reduce ingestion; and determination of growth rates of solitaries and aggregates. In addition to the various rate measurements, this study will include quantitative surveys of salp horizontal and vertical distribution to determine their biomass and spatial distribution, and to allow a regional assessment of their effects. Measurements of the physical characteristics of the water column and the quantity and quality of particulate food available for the salps at each location will also be made. Satellite imagery and information on sea-ice cover will be used to test hypotheses about conditions that result in high densities of salps. Results will be used to construct a model of salp population dynamics, and both experimental and modeling results will be interpreted within the context of the physical and nutritional conditions to which the salps are exposed. This integrated approach will provide a good basis for understanding the growth dynamics of salp blooms in the Southern Ocean. Two graduate students will be trained on this project, and cruise and research experience will be provided for two undergraduate students. A portion of a website allowing students to be a virtual participant in the research will be created to strengthen students' quantitative skills. Both PI's will participate in teacher-researcher workshops, and collaboration with a regional aquarium will be developed in support of public education. | POLYGON((-69.9083 -52.7624,-68.96368 -52.7624,-68.01906 -52.7624,-67.07444 -52.7624,-66.12982 -52.7624,-65.1852 -52.7624,-64.24058 -52.7624,-63.29596 -52.7624,-62.35134 -52.7624,-61.40672 -52.7624,-60.4621 -52.7624,-60.4621 -54.01423,-60.4621 -55.26606,-60.4621 -56.51789,-60.4621 -57.76972,-60.4621 -59.02155,-60.4621 -60.27338,-60.4621 -61.52521,-60.4621 -62.77704,-60.4621 -64.02887,-60.4621 -65.2807,-61.40672 -65.2807,-62.35134 -65.2807,-63.29596 -65.2807,-64.24058 -65.2807,-65.1852 -65.2807,-66.12982 -65.2807,-67.07444 -65.2807,-68.01906 -65.2807,-68.96368 -65.2807,-69.9083 -65.2807,-69.9083 -64.02887,-69.9083 -62.77704,-69.9083 -61.52521,-69.9083 -60.27338,-69.9083 -59.02155,-69.9083 -57.76972,-69.9083 -56.51789,-69.9083 -55.26606,-69.9083 -54.01423,-69.9083 -52.7624)) | POINT(-65.1852 -59.02155) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Winter Distribution and Success of Southern Ocean Krill
|
9910100 |
2010-05-04 | Torres, Joseph; Fraser, William |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on krill physiology, using measures of respiration, excretion, and proximate analysis. Additionally, the distribution and abundance of fishes and squid, which are krill predators, will be investigated using acoustic and net tow methods. This research will be coordinated with components studying krill in both the water column and under the ice. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Monitoring the Human Impact and Environmental Variability on Adelie Penguins at Palmer Station, Antarctica
|
0130525 |
2010-05-04 | Fraser, William; Smith, Raymond |
|
The potential consequence of human impact on wildlife in Antarctica has been debated for many decades. Scientists, support staff and visitors in Antarctica may have an effect on the behavior and population dynamics of marine mammals and seabirds. Since the early 1970's, shipboard tourism has expanded to the point where it is timely to address the question, using a scientific research approach. The focus of this study is to examine the potential effect of tourist activities on the Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) in the Antarctic Peninsula. The topic has gathered the interest and opinions of those in private industry, the scientific community, government organizations and environmental groups. A key concern is that increases in these activities may eventually overcome the ability of research to address critical issues in a timely and biologically meaningful manner. The approach to understanding how tourism might affect Adelie Penguins must involve both a study of human activity and a study of natural variability in the physical environment. The ongoing Palmer Long Term Ecological Research program focuses on the ecosystem and its components and thus addresses the issues of natural variability. This project focuses on the human dimension and continues a tourist-monitoring program begun as a pilot project near Palmer Station. This site is in a geographic location that mirrors current patterns in tourism and tourist-wildlife interactions in the western Antarctic Peninsula. It also offers a setting that provides unique opportunities for human impacts research. This includes the presence of long-term databases that document environmental variability over multiple time and space scales in both marine and terrestrial habitats, and the ability to examine potential tourist impacts as part of controlled experiments. The results of the study will have important implications to understanding interactions between climate change and ecosystem response, and for detecting, mitigating and managing the consequences of human activities such as tourism. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
International Collaborative Expedition to Collect and Study Fish Indigenous to Sub-Antarctic Habitats
|
0132032 |
2010-05-04 | Detrich, H. William |
|
Notothenioid fish are a major group of fish in the Southern Ocean. The ancestral notothenioid fish stock of Antarctica probably arose as a sluggish, bottom-dwelling perciform species that evolved some 40-60 million years ago in the then temperate shelf waters of the Antarctic continent. The grounding of the ice sheet on the continental shelf and changing trophic conditions may have eliminated the taxonomically diverse late Eocene fauna and initiated the original diversification of notothenioids. On the High Antarctic shelf, notothenioids today dominate the ichthyofauna in terms of species diversity, abundance and biomass, the latter two at levels of 90-95%. Since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, fish biologists from the Antarctic Treaty nations have made impressive progress in understanding the notothenioid ichthyofauna of the cold Antarctic marine ecosystem. However, integration of this work into the broader marine context has been limited, largely due to lack of access to, and analysis of, specimens of Sub-Antarctic notothenioid fishes. Sub-Antarctic fishes of the notothenioid suborder are critical for a complete understanding of the evolution, population dynamics, eco-physiology, and eco-biochemistry of their Antarctic relatives. This project will support an international, collaborative research cruise to collect and study fish indigenous to sub-antarctic habitats. The topics included in the research plans of the international team of researchers includes Systematics and Evolutionary Studies; Life History Strategies and Population Dynamics; Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Biological Investigations of Major Organ and Tissue Systems; Genomic Resources for the Sub-Antarctic Notothenioids; and Ecological Studies of Transitional Benthic Invertebrates. In a world that is experiencing changes in global climate, the loss of biological diversity, and the depletion of marine fisheries, the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic, and their biota offer compelling natural laboratories for understanding the evolutionary impacts of these processes. The proposed work will contribute to development of a baseline understanding of these sensitive ecosystems, one against which future changes in species distribution and survival may be evaluated judiciously. | POLYGON((-68.84315 -42.87167,-61.576321 -42.87167,-54.309492 -42.87167,-47.042663 -42.87167,-39.775834 -42.87167,-32.509005 -42.87167,-25.242176 -42.87167,-17.975347 -42.87167,-10.708518 -42.87167,-3.441689 -42.87167,3.82514 -42.87167,3.82514 -44.482708,3.82514 -46.093746,3.82514 -47.704784,3.82514 -49.315822,3.82514 -50.92686,3.82514 -52.537898,3.82514 -54.148936,3.82514 -55.759974,3.82514 -57.371012,3.82514 -58.98205,-3.441689 -58.98205,-10.708518 -58.98205,-17.975347 -58.98205,-25.242176 -58.98205,-32.509005 -58.98205,-39.775834 -58.98205,-47.042663 -58.98205,-54.309492 -58.98205,-61.576321 -58.98205,-68.84315 -58.98205,-68.84315 -57.371012,-68.84315 -55.759974,-68.84315 -54.148936,-68.84315 -52.537898,-68.84315 -50.92686,-68.84315 -49.315822,-68.84315 -47.704784,-68.84315 -46.093746,-68.84315 -44.482708,-68.84315 -42.87167)) | POINT(-32.509005 -50.92686) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Foraging Ecology of Crabeater Seals (Lobodon Carcinophagus)
|
0003956 |
2010-05-04 | Costa, Daniel |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and foraging behavior of adult female crabeater seals, using a combination of satellite-linked tracking, specialized diver recorders, and stable isotopic tracers. This research will be coordinated with components focused on prey (krill) distribution and the physical environment. The results will be analyzed using an optimality model. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | POLYGON((-76.5119 -52.3523,-74.93335 -52.3523,-73.3548 -52.3523,-71.77625 -52.3523,-70.1977 -52.3523,-68.61915 -52.3523,-67.0406 -52.3523,-65.46205 -52.3523,-63.8835 -52.3523,-62.30495 -52.3523,-60.7264 -52.3523,-60.7264 -53.99299,-60.7264 -55.63368,-60.7264 -57.27437,-60.7264 -58.91506,-60.7264 -60.55575,-60.7264 -62.19644,-60.7264 -63.83713,-60.7264 -65.47782,-60.7264 -67.11851,-60.7264 -68.7592,-62.30495 -68.7592,-63.8835 -68.7592,-65.46205 -68.7592,-67.0406 -68.7592,-68.61915 -68.7592,-70.1977 -68.7592,-71.77625 -68.7592,-73.3548 -68.7592,-74.93335 -68.7592,-76.5119 -68.7592,-76.5119 -67.11851,-76.5119 -65.47782,-76.5119 -63.83713,-76.5119 -62.19644,-76.5119 -60.55575,-76.5119 -58.91506,-76.5119 -57.27437,-76.5119 -55.63368,-76.5119 -53.99299,-76.5119 -52.3523)) | POINT(-68.61915 -60.55575) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Krill Distribution and Abundance in Winter
|
9910263 |
2010-05-04 | Zhou, Meng |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on juvenile and adult krill and mesozooplankton prey distribution, using acoustic techniques. Studies will be conducted and krill shrinkage and mortality rates as well as krill aggregation behavior. The results will be analyzed in coordination with components involved in physical and biological models. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: WinDSSOck: Winter Distribution and Success of Southern Ocean Krill
|
9910096 |
2010-05-04 | Ribic, Christine |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the large-scale distribution, abundance and habitat of seabirds. This will be accomplished using strip-transect surveys and spatial analysis software and models to examine the large-scale data. This research will be coordinated with seabird studies which focus on seabird diet composition and small scale foraging behavior. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Winter Ecology of Larval Krill: Quantifying their Interaction with the Pack Ice Habitat
|
9910175 9909933 |
2010-05-04 | Vernet, Maria; Costa, Daniel; Ross, Robin Macurda; Smith, Raymond |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on water-column primary production using direct experimental estimates, modeling restuls from a fast repetition rate fluorometer and modeling of primary production from both optical as well as biophysical models. This research will be coordinated with components focused on sea ice production and sea ice habitat. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | POLYGON((-71.077 -57.9543,-70.015 -57.9543,-68.953 -57.9543,-67.891 -57.9543,-66.829 -57.9543,-65.767 -57.9543,-64.705 -57.9543,-63.643 -57.9543,-62.581 -57.9543,-61.519 -57.9543,-60.457 -57.9543,-60.457 -58.98629,-60.457 -60.01828,-60.457 -61.05027,-60.457 -62.08226,-60.457 -63.11425,-60.457 -64.14624,-60.457 -65.17823,-60.457 -66.21022,-60.457 -67.24221,-60.457 -68.2742,-61.519 -68.2742,-62.581 -68.2742,-63.643 -68.2742,-64.705 -68.2742,-65.767 -68.2742,-66.829 -68.2742,-67.891 -68.2742,-68.953 -68.2742,-70.015 -68.2742,-71.077 -68.2742,-71.077 -67.24221,-71.077 -66.21022,-71.077 -65.17823,-71.077 -64.14624,-71.077 -63.11425,-71.077 -62.08226,-71.077 -61.05027,-71.077 -60.01828,-71.077 -58.98629,-71.077 -57.9543)) | POINT(-65.767 -63.11425) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Winter Distribution and Success of Southern Ocean Krill
|
9910610 |
2010-05-04 | Daly, Kendra |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Mysticete Whale Acoustic Census
|
9910007 |
2010-05-04 | Hildebrand, John; Costa, Daniel; Beardsley, Robert | The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on determining minimum population estimates, distribution and seasonality for mysticete whales, especially blue whales. This will be accomplished using passive acoustic recorders deployed on the seafloor for a period of one to two years. The deployment of a large aperture autonomous hydrophone array in the Antarctic will incorporate the use of passive acoustics as a tool for mysticete whale detection and census. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | POLYGON((-74.185 -52.3516,-72.6371 -52.3516,-71.0892 -52.3516,-69.5413 -52.3516,-67.9934 -52.3516,-66.4455 -52.3516,-64.8976 -52.3516,-63.3497 -52.3516,-61.8018 -52.3516,-60.2539 -52.3516,-58.706 -52.3516,-58.706 -53.94991,-58.706 -55.54822,-58.706 -57.14653,-58.706 -58.74484,-58.706 -60.34315,-58.706 -61.94146,-58.706 -63.53977,-58.706 -65.13808,-58.706 -66.73639,-58.706 -68.3347,-60.2539 -68.3347,-61.8018 -68.3347,-63.3497 -68.3347,-64.8976 -68.3347,-66.4455 -68.3347,-67.9934 -68.3347,-69.5413 -68.3347,-71.0892 -68.3347,-72.6371 -68.3347,-74.185 -68.3347,-74.185 -66.73639,-74.185 -65.13808,-74.185 -63.53977,-74.185 -61.94146,-74.185 -60.34315,-74.185 -58.74484,-74.185 -57.14653,-74.185 -55.54822,-74.185 -53.94991,-74.185 -52.3516)) | POINT(-66.4455 -60.34315) | false | false | ||||||||||||||||
|
GLOBEC: Biochemical Determination of Age and Dietary History in the Krill Euphasia superba
|
9910043 |
2010-05-04 | Fraser, William |
|
The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will apply new biochemical approaches to determine the population age structure of krill in field populations over seasonal and interannual time scales. Lipids specific to different food resources will be used in parallel with the intent of establishing markers for dietary history. This research will be coordinated with components studying krill feeding and growth. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
The Molecular Signals that Regulate the Ontogeny of Aerobic Capacity, Lipid Metabolism and Elevated Myoglobin Concentrations in the Skeletal Muscles of Weddell Seals
|
0634682 |
2009-07-31 | Kanatous, Shane; Lyons, W. Berry |
|
During the past three decades, intensive field studies have revealed much about the<br/>behavior, physiology, life history, and population dynamics of the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddelli) population of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. These animals are marine predators that are highly adapted for an aquatic life in shore-fast and pack ice habitats. They must locate and capture sparsely distributed under the ice. Most of what is known about their diving behavior is based on studies of adult animals with little known about the development or the genetic controls of diving behavior of young animals. The goal of this project is to examine the temporal development of aerobic capacity, lipid metabolism and oxygen stores in the skeletal muscles of young Weddell seals and to determine which aspects of the cellular environment are important in the regulation of these adaptations during maturation. This project builds on past results to investigate the molecular controls that underlie the development of these adaptations. The first objective is to further characterize the ontogenetic changes in muscle aerobic capacity, lipid metabolism and myoglobin concentration and distribution using enzymatic, immuno-histochemical and myoglobin assays in newly weaned, subadult, and adult seals. The second objective is to determine the molecular controls that regulate these changes in aerobic capacity, fiber type distribution and myoglobin in skeletal muscles during maturation. Through subtractive hybridization and subsequent analysis, differences in mRNA populations in the swimming muscles of the different age classes of Weddell seals will be determined. These techniques will allow for the identification of the proteins and transcription factors that influence the ontogenetic changes in myoglobin concentration, fiber type distribution and aerobic capacity. These results will increase our<br/>understanding of both the ontogeny and molecular mechanisms by which young seals acquire the physiological capabilities to make deep (up to 700 m) and long aerobic dives (ca 20 min). This study will advance knowledge of the molecular regulation for the<br/>adaptations that enable active skeletal muscle to function under hypoxic conditions; this has a broader application for human medicine especially in regards to cardiac and pulmonary disease. Additional broader impacts include the participation of underrepresented scientists and a continuation of a website in collaboration<br/>with the Science Teachers Access to Resources at Southwestern University (STARS Program) which involves weekly updates about research efforts during the field season, weekly questions/answer session involving students and teachers, and updates on research results throughout the year. | POLYGON((160 -77,160.7 -77,161.4 -77,162.1 -77,162.8 -77,163.5 -77,164.2 -77,164.9 -77,165.6 -77,166.3 -77,167 -77,167 -77.1,167 -77.2,167 -77.3,167 -77.4,167 -77.5,167 -77.6,167 -77.7,167 -77.8,167 -77.9,167 -78,166.3 -78,165.6 -78,164.9 -78,164.2 -78,163.5 -78,162.8 -78,162.1 -78,161.4 -78,160.7 -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)) | POINT(163.5 -77.5) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial forms of Phaeocystis antarctica
|
0440478 |
2009-05-04 | Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker |
|
Phaeocystis Antarctica is a widely distributed phytoplankton that forms dense blooms and aggregates in the Southern Ocean. This phytoplankton and plays important roles in polar ecology and biogeochemistry, in part because it is a dominant primary producer, a main component of organic matter vertical fluxes, and the principal producer of volatile organic sulfur in the region. Yet P. Antarctica is also one of the lesser known species in terms of its physiology, life history and trophic relationships with other organisms; furthermore, information collected on other Phaeocystis species and from different locations may not be applicable to P. Antarctica in the Ross Sea. P. Antarctica occurs mainly as two morphotypes: solitary cells and mucilaginous colonies, which differ significantly in size, architecture and chemical composition. Relative dominance between solitary cells and colonies determines not only the size spectrum of the population, but also its carbon dynamics, nutrient uptake and utilization. Conventional thinking of the planktonic trophic processes is also challenged by the fact that colony formation could effectively alter the predator-prey interactions and interspecific competition. However, the factors that regulate the differences between solitary and colonial forms of P. Antarctica are not well-understood. The research objective of this proposal is therefore to address these over-arching questions:<br/>o Do P. Antarctica solitary cells and colonies differ in growth, composition and<br/>photosynthetic rates?<br/>o How do nutrients and grazers affect colony development and size distribution of P. <br/>Antarctica?<br/>o How do nutrients and grazers act synergistically to affect the long-term population<br/>dynamics of P. Antarctica? Experiments will be conducted in the McMurdo station with natural P. Antarctica assemblages and co-occurring grazers. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to study size-specific growth and photosynthetic rates of P. Antarctica, size-specific grazing mortality due to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, the effects of macronutrients on the (nitrogen compounds) relative dominance of solitary cells and colonies, and the effects of micronutrient (Fe) and grazing related chemical signals on P. Antarctica colony development. Because this species is of critical importance in the Southern Ocean, and because this research will provide critical information on factors that regulate the role of P.Antarctica in food webs and biogeochemical cycles, a major gap in knowledge will be addressed. This project will train two marine science PhD students. The investigators will also collaborate with the School of Education and a marine science museum to communicate polar science to a broader audience. | POINT(166.66267 -77.85067) | POINT(166.66267 -77.85067) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
|
Patterns and Processes: Dynamics of the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population
|
0225110 |
2009-01-28 | Garrott, Robert; Siniff, Donald; Rotella, Jay |
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The Erebus Bay Weddell seal population study in eastern McMurdo Sound, Antarctica was initiated in 1968 and represents one of the longest intensive field investigations of a long-lived mammal in existence. Over the thirty-four year period of this study a total of 15,636 animals have been tagged with 144,927 re-sighting records logged in the current database. As such, this study is an extremely valuable resource for understanding population dynamics of not only Weddell seals, but also other species of both terrestrial and marine mammals with similar life-history characteristics. With the retirement of the original investigator, Dr. Donald Siniff, this proposal represents an effort to transition the long-term studies to a new team of investigators. Dr. Robert Garrott and Dr. Jay Rotella propose building upon the foundation with two lines of investigation that combine use of the long-term database with new field initiatives. The continuity of the demographic data will be maintained by annually marking all pups born, replace lost or broken tags, and perform multiple mark-recapture censuses of the Erebus Bay seal colonies. The new data will be combined with the existing database and a progressively complex series of analyses will be performed using recently developed mark-recapture methods to decompose, evaluate, and integrate the demographic characteristics of the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population. These analyses will allow the testing of specific hypotheses about population regulation as well as temporal and spatial patterns of variation in vital rates among colonies within the population that have been posed by previous investigators, but have not been adequately evaluated due to data and analytical limitations. The primary new field initiative will involve an intensive study of mass dynamics of both pups and adult females as a surrogate measure for assessing annual variation in marine resources and their potential role in limiting and/or regulating the population. In conjunction with the collection of data on body mass dynamics the investigators will use satellite imagery to develop an extended time series of sea ice extent in McMurdo Sound. Regional extent of sea ice affects both regional primary productivity and availability of haul out areas for Weddell seals. Increased primary productivity may increase marine resources which would be expected to have a positive affect on Weddell seal foraging efficiency, leading to increased body mass. These data combined with the large proportion of known-aged seals in the current study population (>60%) will allow the investigators to develop a powerful database to test specific hypotheses about ecological processes affecting Weddell seals. Knowledge of the mechanisms that limit and/or regulate Weddell seal populations and the specific bio-physical linkages between climate, oceans, ice, and Antarctic food webs can provide important contributions to understanding of pinniped population dynamics, as well as contribute more generally to theoretical understanding of population, community, and ecosystem patterns and processes. Such knowledge can be readily applied elsewhere to enhance the ability of natural resource managers to effectively maintain assemblages of other large-mammal species and the ecological processes that they facilitate. Continuation of this long-term study may also contribute to understanding the potential impacts of human activities such as global climate warming and the commercial exploitation of Antarctic marine resources. And finally, the study can contribute significantly to the development and testing of new research and analytical methodologies that will almost certainly have many other applications. | POLYGON((163.1 -70.3,163.59 -70.3,164.08 -70.3,164.57 -70.3,165.06 -70.3,165.55 -70.3,166.04 -70.3,166.53 -70.3,167.02 -70.3,167.51 -70.3,168 -70.3,168 -70.98,168 -71.66,168 -72.34,168 -73.02,168 -73.7,168 -74.38,168 -75.06,168 -75.74,168 -76.42,168 -77.1,167.51 -77.1,167.02 -77.1,166.53 -77.1,166.04 -77.1,165.55 -77.1,165.06 -77.1,164.57 -77.1,164.08 -77.1,163.59 -77.1,163.1 -77.1,163.1 -76.42,163.1 -75.74,163.1 -75.06,163.1 -74.38,163.1 -73.7,163.1 -73.02,163.1 -72.34,163.1 -71.66,163.1 -70.98,163.1 -70.3)) | POINT(165.55 -73.7) | false | false | |||||||||||||||
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Collaborative Research: Radiometric Age Validation of the Patagonian and Antarctic Toothfishes (Dissostichus Eleginoides and D. Mawsoni)
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0232000 |
2008-03-10 | Andrews, Alan G.; ANDREWS, ALLEN | No dataset link provided | Recent years have seen the re-establishment of large-scale marine resource utilization by humans in the Antarctic. In contrast to early sealing and whaling activity, the modern impact is directed on krill and finfish populations, most notably of the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), but also its congenor the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the Ross Sea. Toothfish are a valuable resource and are likely to continue to command a high price in world markets. However, extensive illegal fishing has lead to considerable concern that Patagonian toothfish populations are being over-harvested. In other parts of the world, over-harvesting of larger, commercially valuable species has led to fishing down of marine food webs, leaving impoverished, less valuable ecosystems. The goal of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, part of the Antarctic Treaty System, is to allow harvest while avoiding disruptions to the Antarctic ecosystem. To achieve this, the sustainable management of the fishery depends on reliable age data. Age data allow population age structure to be modeled, so that growth, mortality and recruitment rates can be estimated and used to understand population dynamics. Age data provides the basis to determine the life history pattern of a species, to model population dynamics, and to determine which age classes are vulnerable to over-exploitation under a particular set of environmental conditions. Current age and growth information for toothfish is based on age determination methodologies which are not validated and depend on the specific laboratory and principal investigator. Recently, the Commission of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has endorsed three preparation methodologies using otoliths and a common set of criteria for estimating age from otolith micro-structure. The CCAMLR Otolith Network has also been initiated as a medium for exchanging samples to ensure that age estimates are comparable between readers and laboratories. However, considerable work is needed to ensure that age estimates generated by the three methodologies are accurate. One technique that has been successful is radiometric age determination, which uses the disequilibria of lead-210 and radium-226 in otoliths as a natural chronometer. This proposal brings together an international collaboration to examine population age structure for both toothfish species, in an experimental design built around radiometric validation tests of age data generated by all three preparation methodologies. To integrate the validation component within an Antarctic-wide effort to examine toothfish population age structure, sub-samples for validation work will be drawn from sample sets taken for population age studies by research teams working in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France, as well as the United States. Scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories will use radiometric age determination to independently age otoliths from Patagonian and Antarctic toothfishes. Scientists at Old Dominion University will use a system already established for aging to generate validated age data, allowing growth, mortality, and longevity to be estimated by geographic areas. The project will provide validated otolith sample sets that can be used as a foundation for a unified and validated age estimation system for the toothfishes. This study will provide information which will be disseminated to the public, policy-makers and the international community. The project will provide opportunities for under-represented students at both universities. | None | None | false | false |

