This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) will fund research to constrain biomass mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning. The $159,765 award, effective September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2024, will support the University of New Mexico's efforts to 1) understand how changing regional climate and seasonal loss of lake ice cover will affect nutrient transport in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, and 2) model the dispersal of microbial mat material exported from the lake to the surrounding polar desert soils. The research will utilize microbial mat samples, lake data, and underwater drone footage to test hypotheses related to the impacts of thinner ice cover on biomass mobilization from the gas-supersaturated, perennially ice-covered lake to the organic-poor soils of the surrounding ecosystem.
Generated 5/14/24, 11:07 AM