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.
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Increases in soil temperature and moisture may change the bioavailability of essential elements by altering solubility and diffusion rates in soils, or by changing the amounts of organic compounds. Long-term experiments in the Bonney, Hoare and Fryxell basins have been established with 3 treatments: 1) increased moisture, 2) soil warming (ITEX chambers), and 3) soil warming + increased moisture. The identification and abundance of soil biota are reported.
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This package contains data collected from microbial mat surveys (i.e., percent cover, ash-free dry mass (AFDM), and pigment concentrations – chlorophyll-a, scytonemin, and carotenoids) associated with satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from the Lake Fryxell Basin of Taylor Valley, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica.
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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).
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Long-term ecological field surveys from the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program (MCM LTER) have documented the abundance and diversity of microbial mat types across ephemeral glacial meltwater streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. However, field surveys are limited and are incapable of being performed across the entirety of streams within a field season.
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An intensive field campaign was conducted during the 2018-2019 austral summer to assess spectral and biological characteristics of multiple microbial mat types, as well as mosses, across nine ephemeral glacial meltwater streams in the Fryxell Basin of Taylor Valley, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica.
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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.
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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.