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).

During the 2017-2018 austral summer, a survey of soil invertebrate diversity and abundance was conducted throughout the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica to investigate whether habitat suitability, taxonomic diversity, and community composition follow predictable temporal patterns after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Soil samples were collected along elevation transects from twelve ice-free areas to capture maximum variation in soil properties, geochemistry, and surface exposure age.

Climate warming in polar regions is associated with thawing of permafrost, resulting in significant changes in soil hydrology, biogeochemical cycling, and in the activity and composition of soil communities. While ongoing directional climate warming presses can elicit such responses over decadal time scales, their manifestation typically occurs as discrete thawing pulses. Indeed, in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, abrupt changes in community structure and biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems following a summer warming event (Jan.

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, five Active Layer Monitoring Stations (ALMSs) were established throughout Taylor Valley, Antarctica to support new research foci around the thermal-moisture dynamics of soils that may control habitat conditions and faunal responses to seasonal and annual freezing cycles in this ecosystem. Two ALMSs were established adjacent to streams (Green Creek, Von Guerard Stream), with sensors installed through the active layer from the thalweg out to the shoreline and dry soil beyond.

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, five Active Layer Monitoring Stations (ALMSs) were established throughout Taylor Valley, Antarctica to support new research foci around the thermal-moisture dynamics of soils that may control habitat conditions and faunal responses to seasonal and annual freezing cycles in this ecosystem. Two ALMSs were established adjacent to streams (Green Creek, Von Guerard Stream), with sensors installed through the active layer from the thalweg out to the shoreline and dry soil beyond.

To examine temporal and spatial variability in snow chemistry during the 2000-2001 austral summer, snow samples were collected from the accumulation zones of Canada, Commonwealth, and Rhone Glaciers, located in Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Snowpits were excavated to a depth of 2 meters at each location and samples were collected using a depth interval of 3 cm utilizing clean sampling techniques. Snow density was measured in the field at the time of sample collection. Samples were analyzed for major ions in the Crary Lab at McMurdo Station. 

We conducted a field survey to quantify the biomass (chlorophyll-a and ash-free dry mass), nutrient ratios (molar C:N:P), and isotopic signatures (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of four microbial mat types (green, orange, black, and red) in the glacial meltwater streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. All samples were taken from late December to late January during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 austral summers, and included sites from Taylor, Miers, Garwood, and Wright valleys. Most collection sites were located at the lake outlet of streams, but for a subset (e.g.

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.

This data package includes shapefiles for selected glacier, stream watershed, and stream channel boundaries in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. A combination of satellite imagery and digital elevation models were used to delineate watershed and stream channel outlines, while glaciers were outlined by hand. Watershed boundaries provide an estimate of the overall topographic contributing area for each stream in Fryxell Basin, whereas stream channel boundaries provide a topographic area estimate for stream channel, beyond the wetted margin, for each stream.

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).

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.

This data package includes biophysicochemical properties, pigment concentrations, and nif gene counts from microbial mat and soil samples collected from the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica during the 2019-20 austral summer.