Directory

Start date:
Mid October
End date:
Late January
Locations:
Dry Valleys, Taylor Valley, F6, Lake Hoare, Lake Bonney, Lake Fryxell, Lake Chad, Canada Glacier, Commonwealth Glacier, New Harbor, Wright Valley, Lake Miers
Principle Investigator:
Dr John Priscu
Organisation:
Montana State University Bozeman
State
Montana
Initially funded in 1980, the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network is a collaborative effort involving more than 1,800 scientists and students. The McMurdo LTER program is an inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary study of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the ice-free McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is one of 26 LTER sites where researchers are studying ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Streams component researchers will continue to operate a network of 16 stream-flow gauges, collect water quality samples from 30 streams, and make hydrologic measurements. This six-year award cycle comprises seven collaborative projects: C-504-M (Gooseff), C-505-M (Priscu), C-506-M (Gooseff), C-507-M (Wall), C-508-M (Barrett), C-509-M (Lyons), and C-511-M (Doran).
The primary activities will be long term stream monitoring and biological surveying conducted in the Dry Valleys from November to February. The team will be the primary occupants of the F6 field camp but will also work from other camps in the Dry Valleys. This project will collaborate with other McMurdo LTER groups, especially the soils (C-507-M, Wall) and biogeochemistry teams (C-509-M, McKnight). One participant conduct nutrient uptake experiments on six streams within the Taylor Valley.