Published

Credit: Aslan Wright-Stow Hilke Giles, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K081C 08/09

Credit: Aslan Wright-Stow Hilke Giles, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K081C 08/09

Record melt and thaw events over the past decade have increased the physical connectivity of the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem. Researchers at MCM LTER have tested hypotheses that focus on responses, such as increased biogeochemical cycling and changes in biodiversity. These studies suggest that landscape morphology is changing as permafrost thaws, and that biological communities are indeed responding to altered climatic conditions (e.g., high and low flow controls on stream benthic mat abundance).

Learn more

  1. Stanish LF et al. 2012. Extreme streams: flow intermittency as a control on diatom communities in meltwater streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Canadian J. Fisheries Aquatic Sci. doi: 10.1139/ F2012-022
  2. Fountain, et al. 2014. The McMurdo Dry Valleys: A landscape on the threshold of change. Geomorph. doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.03.044
  3. Okie, et al. 2015. Niche and metabolic principles explain patterns of diversity and distribution: theory and a case study with soil bacterial communities. Proc. Royal Soc.-B. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2630

Contact

Michael Gooseff
michael.gooseff@colorado.edu

Posted:  July 10, 2020