USAP-DC

{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "SOIL CHEMISTRY"}

[{"awards": "2224760 Gooseff, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(162.87 -77)", "dataset_titles": "EDI Data Portal: McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200379", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Environmental Data Initiative (EDI)", "science_program": null, "title": "EDI Data Portal: McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER", "url": "https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/browseServlet?searchValue=MCM"}], "date_created": "Tue, 14 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical Abstract The McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER seeks to understand how changes in the temporal variability of ecological connectivity interact with existing landscape legacies to alter the structure and functioning of this extreme polar desert ecosystem. This research has broad implications, as it will help us to understand how natural ecosystems respond to ongoing anthropogenic global change. At the same time, this project also serves an important educational and outreach function, providing immersive research and educational experiences to students and artists from diverse backgrounds, and helping to ensure a diverse and well-trained next generation of leaders in polar ecosystem science and stewardship. Ultimately, the results of this project will help us to better understand and prepare for the effects of climate change and develop scientific insights that are relevant far beyond Antarctic ecosystems. The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) make up an extreme polar desert ecosystem in the largest ice-free region of Antarctica. The organisms in this ecosystem are generally small. Bacteria, microinvertebrates, cyanobacterial mats, and phytoplankton can be found across the streams, soils, glaciers, and ice-covered lakes. These organisms have adapted to the cold and arid conditions that prevail outside of lakes for all but a brief period in the austral summer when the ecosystem is connected by liquid water. In the summer when air temperatures rise barely above freezing, soils warm and glacial meltwater flows through streams into the open moats of lakes. Most biological activity across the landscape occurs in summer. Through the winter, or polar night (6 months of darkness), glaciers, streams, and soil biota are inactive until sufficient light, heat, and liquid water return, while lake communities remain active all year. Over the past 30 years, the MDVs have been disturbed by cooling, heatwaves, floods, rising lake levels, as well as permafrost and lake ice thaw. Considering the clear ecological responses to this variation in physical drivers, and climate models predicting further warming and more precipitation, the MDV ecosystem sits at a threshold between the current extreme cold and dry conditions and an uncertain future. This project seeks to determine how important the legacy of past events and conditions versus current physical and biological interactions shape the current ecosystem. Four hypotheses will be tested, related to 1) whether the status of specific organisms are indicative ecosystem stability, 2) the relationship between legacies of past events to current ecosystem resilience (resistance to big changes), 3) carryover of materials between times of high ecosystem connectivity and activity help to maintain ecosystem stability, and 4) changes in disturbances affect how this ecosystem persists through the annual polar night (i.e., extended period of dark and cold). Technical Abstract In this iteration of the McMurdo LTER project (MCM6), the project team will test ecological connectivity and stability theory in a system subject to strong physical drivers (geological legacies, extreme seasonality, and contemporary climate change) and driven by microbial organisms. Since microorganisms regulate most of the world\u2019s critical biogeochemical functions, these insights will be relevant far beyond polar ecosystems and will inform understanding and expectations of how natural and managed ecosystems respond to ongoing anthropogenic global change. MCM6 builds on previous foundational research, both in Antarctica and within the LTER network, to consider the temporal aspects of connectivity and how it relates to ecosystem stability. The project will examine how changes in the temporal variability of ecological connectivity interact with the legacies of the existing landscape that have defined habitats and biogeochemical cycling for millennia. The project team hypothesizes that the structure and functioning of the MDV ecosystem is dependent upon legacies and the contemporary frequency, duration, and magnitude of ecological connectivity. This hypothesis will be tested with new and continuing monitoring, experiments, and analyses of long-term datasets to examine: 1) the stability of these ecosystems as reflected by sentinel taxa, 2) the relationship between ecological legacies and ecosystem resilience, 3) the importance of material carryover during periods of low connectivity to maintaining biological activity and community stability, and 4) how changes in disturbance dynamics disrupt ecological cycles through the polar night. Tests of these hypotheses will occur in field and modeling activities using new and long-term datasets already collected. New datasets resulting from field activities will be made freely available via widely-known online databases (MCM LTER and EDI). The project team has also developed six Antarctic Core Ideas that encompass themes from data literacy to polar food webs and form a consistent thread across the education and outreach activities. Building on past success, collaborations will be established with teachers and artists embedded within the science teams, who will work to develop educational modules with science content informed by direct experience and artistic expression. Undergraduate mentoring efforts will incorporate computational methods through a new data-intensive scientific training program for MCM REU students. The project will also establish an Antarctic Research Experience for Community College Students at CU Boulder, to provide an immersive educational and research experience for students from diverse backgrounds in community colleges. MCM LTER will continue its mission of training and mentoring students, postdocs, and early career scientists as the next generation of leaders in polar ecosystem science and stewardship. Historically underrepresented participation will be expanded at each level of the project. To aid in these efforts, the project has established Education \u0026 Outreach and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees to lead, coordinate, support, and integrate these activities through all aspects of MCM6. 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": 162.87, "geometry": "POINT(162.87 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; ABLATION ZONES/ACCUMULATION ZONES; SOIL TEMPERATURE; DIATOMS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; PERMANENT LAND SITES; BUOYS; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; SEDIMENTS; SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS; FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS; VIRUSES; PHYTOPLANKTON; ACTIVE LAYER; FIELD SURVEYS; RADIO TRANSMITTERS; DATA COLLECTIONS; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; LANDSCAPE; GROUND WATER; SNOW/ICE CHEMISTRY; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; HUMIDITY; GEOCHEMISTRY; SURFACE WINDS; RIVERS/STREAM; GLACIER MASS BALANCE/ICE SHEET MASS BALANCE; SNOW; LAND RECORDS; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; SURFACE TEMPERATURE; ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; AIR TEMPERATURE; GLACIERS; SNOW/ICE TEMPERATURE; SOIL CHEMISTRY; METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS; WATER QUALITY/WATER CHEMISTRY; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; MOORED; PROTISTS; STREAMFLOW STATION; Dry Valleys; LAKE/POND; LAKE ICE; SNOW DEPTH; AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS; SNOW DENSITY; FIELD SITES", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gooseff, Michael N.; Adams, Byron; Barrett, John; Diaz, Melisa A.; Doran, Peter; Dugan, Hilary A.; Mackey, Tyler; Morgan-Kiss, Rachael; Salvatore, Mark; Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; Zeglin, Lydia H.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e DATA COLLECTIONS; 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; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e STREAMFLOW STATION; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e BUOYS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e BUOYS \u003e MOORED; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e BUOYS \u003e MOORED \u003e BUOYS", "repo": "Environmental Data Initiative (EDI)", "repositories": "Environmental Data Initiative (EDI)", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -77.0, "title": "LTER: MCM6 - The Roles of Legacy and Ecological Connectivity in a Polar Desert Ecosystem", "uid": "p0010440", "west": 162.87}, {"awards": "1341429 Ball, Becky", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.205783 -60.706633,-65.9444531 -60.706633,-63.6831232 -60.706633,-61.4217933 -60.706633,-59.1604634 -60.706633,-56.8991335 -60.706633,-54.6378036 -60.706633,-52.3764737 -60.706633,-50.1151438 -60.706633,-47.8538139 -60.706633,-45.592484 -60.706633,-45.592484 -62.1204014,-45.592484 -63.5341698,-45.592484 -64.9479382,-45.592484 -66.3617066,-45.592484 -67.775475,-45.592484 -69.1892434,-45.592484 -70.6030118,-45.592484 -72.0167802,-45.592484 -73.4305486,-45.592484 -74.844317,-47.8538139 -74.844317,-50.1151438 -74.844317,-52.3764737 -74.844317,-54.6378036 -74.844317,-56.8991335 -74.844317,-59.1604634 -74.844317,-61.4217933 -74.844317,-63.6831232 -74.844317,-65.9444531 -74.844317,-68.205783 -74.844317,-68.205783 -73.4305486,-68.205783 -72.0167802,-68.205783 -70.6030118,-68.205783 -69.1892434,-68.205783 -67.775475,-68.205783 -66.3617066,-68.205783 -64.9479382,-68.205783 -63.5341698,-68.205783 -62.1204014,-68.205783 -60.706633))", "dataset_titles": "Climatic and environmental constraints on aboveground-belowground linkages and diversity across a latitudinal gradient in Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200289", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OSF - Center for Open Science", "science_program": null, "title": "Climatic and environmental constraints on aboveground-belowground linkages and diversity across a latitudinal gradient in Antarctica", "url": "https://osf.io/8xfrc/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing rapid environmental changes, which will influence the community of organisms that live there. However, we know very little about the microscopic organisms living in the soil in this region. Soil biology (including bacteria, fungi, and invertebrates) are responsible for many important processes that sustain ecosystems, such as nutrient recycling. Without understanding the environmental conditions that influence soil biodiversity along the Antarctic Peninsula, our ability to predict the consequences of global change is strongly limited. This project will identify the soil community at many sites along the Antarctic Peninsula to discover how the community changes with environmental conditions from north to south. The project will also identify how the soil community at each site differs under different types of plants. Understanding more about the ways in which plant cover and climate conditions influence soil biodiversity will allow predictions of how communities will respond to future changes such as climate warming and invasive plant species. 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 investigators will engage with outreach to K-12 students and the general public both directly and through a blog and will participate in workshops for K-12 teachers. Additionally, the project will provide the opportunity for many undergraduate and graduate students of diverse backgrounds to be trained in interdisciplinary research. The investigators will determine the nature and strength of plant-soil linkages in influencing soil community composition and diversity over a latitudinal gradient of environmental and climatic conditions. The goals are to (1) increase our understanding of current biogeography and diversity by providing in-depth knowledge of soil community composition and complexity as it relates to environmental and climatic characteristics; and (2) determine the nature of aboveground-belowground community linkages over varying spatial scales. The team will identify the composition and diversity of soil communities under key habitat types (grass, moss, algae, etc.). Microbial communities (bacteria, fungi, archaea) will be investigated using pyrosequencing for community composition analysis and metagenomic sequencing to identify functional capabilities. Invertebrates (nematodes, tardigrades, rotifers, microarthropods) will be extracted and identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Soil chemistry (pH, nutrient content, soil moisture, etc.) and climate conditions will be measured to determine the relationship between soil communities and physical and chemical properties. Structural equation modeling will be used to identify aboveground-belowground linkage pathways and quantify link strengths under varying environmental conditions.", "east": -45.592484, "geometry": "POINT(-56.8991335 -67.775475)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FUNGI; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; Amd/Us; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; USA/NSF; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; SOIL CHEMISTRY; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; Antarctic Peninsula; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -60.706633, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ball, Becky; Van Horn, David", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "OSF - Center for Open Science", "repositories": "OSF - Center for Open Science", "science_programs": null, "south": -74.844317, "title": "Collaborative Research: Climatic and Environmental Constraints on Aboveground-Belowground Linkages and Diversity across a Latitudinal Gradient in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010314", "west": -68.205783}, {"awards": "1932876 Ball, Becky", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-59.666116 -62.15,-59.5128377 -62.15,-59.3595594 -62.15,-59.2062811 -62.15,-59.0530028 -62.15,-58.8997245 -62.15,-58.7464462 -62.15,-58.5931679 -62.15,-58.4398896 -62.15,-58.2866113 -62.15,-58.133333 -62.15,-58.133333 -62.1731502,-58.133333 -62.1963004,-58.133333 -62.2194506,-58.133333 -62.2426008,-58.133333 -62.265751,-58.133333 -62.2889012,-58.133333 -62.3120514,-58.133333 -62.3352016,-58.133333 -62.3583518,-58.133333 -62.381502,-58.2866113 -62.381502,-58.4398896 -62.381502,-58.5931679 -62.381502,-58.7464462 -62.381502,-58.8997245 -62.381502,-59.0530028 -62.381502,-59.2062811 -62.381502,-59.3595594 -62.381502,-59.5128377 -62.381502,-59.666116 -62.381502,-59.666116 -62.3583518,-59.666116 -62.3352016,-59.666116 -62.3120514,-59.666116 -62.2889012,-59.666116 -62.265751,-59.666116 -62.2426008,-59.666116 -62.2194506,-59.666116 -62.1963004,-59.666116 -62.1731502,-59.666116 -62.15))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical summary The Antarctic Peninsula warmed very rapidly in the late part of the 20th century, much faster than the global average, and this warming is predicted to resume and continue over the rest of the 21st century. One consequence of this rapid warming is the melting and subsequent retreat of glaciers, leading to an increase in newly-exposed land on the Peninsula that was previously covered with ice. Once new terrain is exposed, the process of ecological succession begins, with the arrival of early-colonizing plants, such as moss and lichens, and soil organisms - a process commonly referred to as the \u201cgreening\u201d of Antarctica. Early stages of succession will be an increasingly common feature on the Antarctic Peninsula, but the mechanisms by which they occur on the Antarctic continent is not well understood. Once the plants have established on the newly-exposed soil, they can change many important properties, such as water dynamics, nutrient recycling, soil development, and habitat for microscopic organisms, which will ultimately determine the structure and functioning of the future ecosystem as it develops. These relationships between vegetation, soil, and the associated microorganisms, referred to as \u201cplant-soil\u201d interactions, are something we know virtually nothing about. This project will be the first to make a comprehensive study of how the type of colonizing plant, and the expansion of those plants from climate change, will influence terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica. Understanding these processes is critical to understanding how the greening Antarctica is occurring and how soil communities and processes are influenced by these expanding plant communities. Through this work the research team, will also be intensively training undergraduate and graduate students, including training of students from underrepresented groups and collaborative training of students from Chile and the US. Additionally, the research groups will continue their focus on scientific outreach with K-12 schools and the general public to expand awareness of the effects of climate change in Antarctica. Part II: Technical summary In this study, the researchers will use surveys across succession sites along the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc as well as a manipulative field experiment at glacier succession sites to test how species-specific plant functional traits impact soil properties and associated microbial and invertebrate communities in a greening Antarctica. In doing so, they will pursue three integrated aims to understand how Antarctic plant functional traits alter their soil environment and soil communities during succession after glacial retreat. AIM 1) Characterize six fundamental plant functional traits (thermal conductivity, water holding capacity, albedo, decomposability, tissue nutrient content, and secondary chemistry) among diverse Antarctica flora; AIM 2) Measure the relative effects of fundamental plant functional traits on soil physical properties and soil biogeochemistry across glacial succession gradients in Antarctica; and AIM 3) Measure the relative effects of fundamental plant functional traits on soil microbial and invertebrate communities across glacial succession gradients in Antarctica. They will explore how early-colonizing plants, especially mosses and lichens, alter soil physical, biogeochemical, and biological components, potentially impacting later patterns of succession. The researhcers will use intensive surveys of plant-soil interactions across succession sites and a manipulative transplant experiment in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica to address their aims. The investigators will collect data on plant functional traits and their effects on soil physical properties, biogeochemistry, biotic abundance, and microbial metagenomics. The data collected will be the first comprehensive measures of the relative importance of plant functional types during glacial retreat and vegetative expansion from climate change in Antarctica, aiding our understanding of how plant functional group diversity and abundance are changing in a greening Antarctica. 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": -58.133333, "geometry": "POINT(-58.8997245 -62.265751)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; FIELD SURVEYS; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; USA/NSF; SOIL CHEMISTRY; 25 De Mayo/King George Island; Antarctic Peninsula; PLANTS; Amd/Us; FUNGI; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; USAP-DC; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA", "locations": "25 De Mayo/King George Island; Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -62.15, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ball, Becky", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -62.381502, "title": "Collaborative Research: Exploring the Functional Role of Antarctic Plants during Terrestrial Succession", "uid": "p0010315", "west": -59.666116}, {"awards": "1643550 Sletten, Ronald", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160.5 -77.3,160.67 -77.3,160.84 -77.3,161.01 -77.3,161.18 -77.3,161.35 -77.3,161.52 -77.3,161.69 -77.3,161.86 -77.3,162.03 -77.3,162.2 -77.3,162.2 -77.35,162.2 -77.4,162.2 -77.45,162.2 -77.5,162.2 -77.55,162.2 -77.6,162.2 -77.65,162.2 -77.7,162.2 -77.75,162.2 -77.8,162.03 -77.8,161.86 -77.8,161.69 -77.8,161.52 -77.8,161.35 -77.8,161.18 -77.8,161.01 -77.8,160.84 -77.8,160.67 -77.8,160.5 -77.8,160.5 -77.75,160.5 -77.7,160.5 -77.65,160.5 -77.6,160.5 -77.55,160.5 -77.5,160.5 -77.45,160.5 -77.4,160.5 -77.35,160.5 -77.3))", "dataset_titles": "Timelapse photography of Don Juan Pond and surrounding basin", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601487", "doi": "10.15784/601487", "keywords": "Antarctica; Brine; CaCl2; Don Juan Pond; Dry Valleys; Salt", "people": "Toner, Jonathan; Sletten, Ronald S.; Mushkin, Amit", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Timelapse photography of Don Juan Pond and surrounding basin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601487"}], "date_created": "Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This study aims to better understand salt accumulation in cold deserts and develop a model of salt transport by groundwater. Cold deserts, like the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), are similar to hot deserts in that they accumulate high concentrations of salts because there is not enough water to flush the salts out of the soils into the ocean. The accumulation of salt allows for the creation of brine-rich groundwater that freezes at much lower temperatures. Field work will focus on several groundwater features in the MDV including Don Juan Pond, a shallow lake that accumulates extremely high levels of salts and does not freeze until the temperature reaches -51 degrees C (-60 degrees F). The setting offers the potential to better understand this unique water environment including life at its extremes. It also serves as an analog environment for Mars, a planet that is entirely underlain by permafrost, similar to the MDV. This project will support a doctoral student at the University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Sciences, who will be trained in chemical analysis, chemical and physical modeling, and remote field work in a polar desert environment. Past research suggests that the movement of soluble ions in sediment and soil is controlled by the water activity, permeability, and the thermal regime; however, processes controlling the ionic redistribution in Antarctic environments are poorly constrained. This project aims to better understand the formation, salt redistribution, and water activity of pervasive brine-rich groundwater that is enriched in calcium chloride. A primary goal is to develop a brine thermal;reactive;transport model for the MDV region using data collected from the field to constrain model inputs and ground-truth model outputs. The model will develop a Pitzer-type thermodynamic, reactive transport model and couple it to a ground temperature model. The model will test mechanisms of groundwater formation in the MDV and the properties (e.g. composition, temperature, and water activity) of widespread shallow brine-rich waters. Water is an essential ingredient for life and defining processes that control the availability of water is critical for understanding the habitability of extreme environments, including Mars.", "east": 162.2, "geometry": "POINT(161.35 -77.55)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERA", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; Antarctica; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; SOIL CHEMISTRY; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sletten, Ronald S.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Formation and Characteristics of Brine-rich Water in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010069", "west": 160.5}]

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