Investigation of the effect of elevation and topography on soil biota and soil properties was part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. The number of soil organisms (nematodes, rotifers and tardigrades), divided by species, sex and maturity was monitored at 3 elevations, initially in Taylor Valley (1993) then Garwood and Miers Valleys (2012) in order to accomplish this.
Dataset Results
Lake Bonney (McMurdo Dry Valleys, east Antarctica) represents a year-round refugia for life adapted to extreme conditions. Lake level has risen by more than 3 m since 2004, but impacts of rapid lake level rise on phytoplankton community structure is also poorly understood.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
The purpose of this experiment, performed as part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) program, was to investigate the impact of lake level rise and moat expansion on microbial community diversity and function in the East Lobe of Lake Bonney, located in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. The “tLICE” experiment tested the following MCM5 Hypotheses: H3-Disturbance increases connectivity and accelerates shifts towards homogeneity, and H4-Decreased heterogeneity reduces community resistance and resilience.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
In this data package, we present diatom community assemblages from hyporheic sediments collected in January 2019 from six transects across Von Guerard Stream, Taylor Valley, Antarctica. These samples were collected to address questions about the retention and processing of particulate organic matter in the hyporheic zone of McMurdo Dry Valley streams. The six transects were located at pools, riffles, and meanders (three of each geomorphology type) along Von Guerard Stream and extended across the stream channel to the edges of the wetted zone, ranging from 6.6 to 13.6 m in length.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
This data package includes the abundance of microbial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) for samples collected during the austral summer of 2012-2013 in the Lake Hoare and Goldman Glacier Basins of Taylor Valley, Antarctica. A total of twenty samples from on- and off-water track soils were collected and analyzed. Samples were collected from the Lake Hoare Basin on 27 December 2012 and from the Goldman Glacier Basin on 4 January 2013.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
Populations of Plectus murrayi, a mesophilic nematode, have been increasing in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica over the past three decades. In contrast, most other Antarctic nematode species, including Scottnema lindsayae, have experienced constant population declines over the same time period due to climate change related increases in summer temperatures and wetting occurrences. To determine why P.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
Elemental stoichiometry is a useful theoretical framework for understanding the sources and controls on nutrient availability that can structure the composition, diversity, and life history of biotic communities. One such relationship, as postulated by the growth rate hypothesis (GRH), is that organismal development rate is positively linked to cellular phosphorus (P).
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
A study was conducted to examine soil microbial communities and associated geochemical parameters at potential glacial refugia and glaciated control sites throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Soil samples were collected as part of ongoing long-term monitoring efforts by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program (MCM LTER). The oldest samples used in this study were collected during the 1993-1994 austral summer, and the newest from the 2018-2019 austral summer.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
As part of an ongoing long-term sampling effort conducted by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, the top 10 cm of soil was collected from sampling sites across the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. A subset of these samples representing each valley and a differing disturbance legacy from the last glacial maximum were analyzed for this data package. Samples were collected between 1995 and 2022.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
This data package includes ecological parameters of biocrust and soil from samples collected in-situ within the Lake Fryxell Basin of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica during December of 2019. Parameters include biological (ash-free dry mass, pigment concentration, and counts of soil invertebrates), physical (water content, electrical conductivity, and pH), and chemical properties (inorganic nitrogen, inorganic phosphorous, total nitrogen, and total organic carbon) of the surface soil, biocrust, and underlying soil.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
This data package consists of microplankton counts from discrete water column samples collected at various depths in Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Samples were collected and preserved during the austral summer-autumn transition in 2007-2008 and in addition to routine McMurdo Dry Valley Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) core limnological sampling in November and December of 2008, 2010, and 2011. Data were imaged using flow cytometry (FlowCam VS-IV) and classified with statistical image-based software (Visual Spreadsheet, v4.17.14).
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
This data package consists of particle diameter and biovolume data for haptorian ciliates classified from discrete water column samples collected at various depths in Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Samples were collected and preserved between November 2007 and January 2020 in Lake Fryxell and between November 2007 and March 2008 in Lake Hoare. Samples were collected and analyzed as part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) core limnological sampling.
Date Range:
Data sources:
DOI:
Dataset ID:
This data package includes biophysicochemical properties of biocrust and soil samples collected in-situ within the Lake Fryxell basin of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica during December 2022 at 64 different terrestrial locations. These parameters include biological (ash-free dry mass, pigment concentration, soil invertebrate counts), physical (gravimetric water content, electrical conductivity, pH), and chemical (inorganic nitrogen, inorganic phosphorous, total nitrogen, soil organic carbon) properties of the surface soil, biocrust, and underlying soil.