We used sediment incubations to quantify and compare nutrient uptake rates from biota living in sediment across glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Hughes Glacier is located towards the polar plateau on the western edge of the valley and flows from the southern Kukri Hills north into the valley. Canada and Commonwealth glaciers flow south into the valley from the Asgard range. Commonwealth glacier is located closest to the ocean on the east end of the valley. Canada glacier is located mid-valley, between Hughes and Commonwealth glaciers.
Dataset Results
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.
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This data package contains chemical and sediment characteristics of ice cores collected from the ablation zones of five glaciers in Taylor Valley, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, during the 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 austral summers. Specifically, shallow ice cores were collected from the ablation zones of Hughes, Howard, Seuss, Commonwealth, and Canada Glaciers in order to characterize the spatial and temporal evolution of ice chemistry and sediment concentration across Taylor Valley.
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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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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.