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B247M: Protist diversity and function in the dry valley lakes

Start date:
Late October
End date:
Mid December
Locations:
Dry Valleys, Lake Bonney, Lake Fryxell, Lake Vanda
Principle Investigator:
Dr Rachael Morgan Kiss
Organisation:
Miami University
Field season overview:
Researchers will collect lake samples from Lakes Bonney (east and west lobes), Fryxell, and Vanda at various depths through the water column during November and December. They will be based out of camps at Lakes Bonney and Fryxell, using labs in the camp to process samples. The field rotation will begin at Lake Bonney in early November. While staying at Lake Bonney, the research team will make one day trip to Lake Vanda for the purposes of lake-water collection. In addition, the research team will also coordinate field work with the B-505-M (Priscu) project and the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) limnological group.
The overall objectives of this project are to understand the metabolic versatility of single-celled eukaryotic microbial protist species residing in McMurdo Dry Valley lakes and link protist trophic strategy with specific abiotic drivers, e.g., temperature, light, and nutrients. The research team's specific objectives for the 2011-2012 field season are: 1. Generate depth profiles of autotrophic and heterotrophic activity across select McMurdo Dry Valley lakes 2. Identify taxonomic affiliation of mixotrophic protists at depths of mixed trophic activity and 3. Cultivate new photoautotrophic and mixotrophic protists from McMurdo Dry Valley lakes.