2023-2024 USAP Field Season
Project Detail Project TitlePAL-LTER: Ecological response to "Press-Pulse" disturbances along a rapidly changing West Antarctic Peninsula Summary
Event Number:
Program Director:
ASC POC/Implementer: Principal Investigator(s)
Dr. Benjamin Van Mooy
Project Web Site: Location
Supporting Stations: ARSV Laurence M. Gould, Palmer Station DescriptionSeasonal sea ice-influenced marine ecosystems at both poles are characterized by high productivity concentrated in space and time by local, regional, and remote physical forcing. These polar ecosystems are among the most rapidly changing on Earth. The Palmer Long Time Ecological Research (PAL-LTER) seeks to build on three decades of long-term research along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula to gain new mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecosystem changes in response to disturbances spanning long-term, subdecadal, and higher-frequency “pulses” driven by a range of processes, including long-term climate warming, natural climate variability and storms. These disturbances alter food-web composition and ecological interactions across temporal and spatial scales that are not well understood. Researchers will contribute fundamental understanding of how population dynamics and biogeochemical processes are responding within a polar marine ecosystem undergoing profound change. Field Season OverviewLaurence M. Gould In this biogeochemistry component of the LTER, a team of three researchers will embark on the ARSV Laurence M. Gould for the LMG24-01 cruise. The team will collect samples with a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) rosette and deployed drifting sediment traps. The team will also collect and sort live zooplankton, conduct on-deck incubations, conduct microscope work, and preserve samples in formalin. Opportunistic seasonal sea-ice sampling will assess the input of calorie-rich phytoplankton biomass into the West Peninsula Antarctic marine ecosystem. Palmer Station. One participant will deploy to Palmer Station. Activities will include: 1) PAL-LTER sampling trips and assist the penguin/whale group as needed; 2) conducting seawater incubation experiments; 3) collecting ice core samples from seasonal sea-ice and/or fast-ice; 4) collecting live krill; 5) collecting penguin stomach contents and feces; and 6) twice weekly trips with other PAL-LTER groups into the Palmer Deep Canyon (Adelie penguin foraging area) and Bismarck Strait (Gentoo penguin foraging). Deploying Team Members
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