This data package includes measurements pertaining to the spatial distribution and multi-annual persistence of cryoconite holes on Canada and Commonwealth Glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica during two consecutive austral summers (2013-14 and 2014-15). Four circular sampling zones were established on each glacier and multiple measurements of the surface shape and absolute location of all cryoconite holes within the sampling zones were recorded.
Dataset Results
We use metacommunity simulations to understand how local and regional community assembly dynamics influence the regional biodiversity patterns that we observe in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem. A metacommunity refers to a network of communities in an ecosystem that are connected to one another by the dispersal of biota among sites. For example, ponds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys share common diatom species that are likely dispersed among neighboring ponds by wind.
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This data set includes the deployment of an anchored pressure transducer and suspended thermistor string in Lake Joyce, Pearse Valley, as part of a NASA Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology project. Instruments were deployed prior to summer melt in December 2014 near a melt water stream and retrieved in December 2015. Thermistors were positioned in the fresh water lens under the ice cover, within the water column, and on the lake bottom.