Antarctica as a Model System for Responses of Terrestrial Carbon Balance to Warming

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to investigate carbon transformation processes and the microbial communities that are responsible for such transformations in soils of the Antarctic Peninsula. The study will examine net ecosystem carbon balance among soils with different exposer ages that have had been uncovered by retreating glaciers. The study will use a novel technique to identify individual members of the soil microbial community that are active versus those that are not active (perhaps cold-preserved) in order to better understand the fundamental processes of community succession in the Antarctic environment and whether continued warming could lead to community shifts in the active portion of the communities. Several graduate and undergraduate students are supported on this project. Findings of the research will be disseminated to the scientific community through publications in peer-reviewed journals and through seminars/lectures, and to the broader community through science presentations to the local community and through lectures in elementary schools (including Skype). The study will focus on a deglaciated sere on the western Antarctic Peninsula, which offers a strong gradient in primary productivity and a platform for investigating soil carbon dynamics specific to the Antarctic maritime setting. The experiment will use open-top chambers paired with control plots, arrayed along the productivity gradient. Carbon fluxes (incoming and outgoing) will be determined in all the plots using infrared gas analysis in experimental chambers. This study will also use heavy water (water enriched with 18O) to identify active versus inactive soil microbial members in incubations and experiments. Findings from this project will advance research in plant and soil microbial ecology, ecosystem modeling and advance understanding of the potential changes in the Antarctic ecosystem due to warming conditions.