Limnological investigations in the shallow margins of Lake Fryxell and the poinds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Dec 2017-Jan 2018

Our long term objective is to understand the ability of microbial communities in aquatic habitats in the McMurdo Sound region to accommodate environmental change – rising lake levels as a consequence of climate change. Water and microbial mat samples were collected at these locations to be characterised for an ongoing study of temporal variability, relationships between biota and environment and in long term experiments on landscape and location resilience to changing environment conditions. Samples will be analysed in ways that describe the biological abundance and diversity (both functional and taxonomic) and the chemical and physical environment. It is linked to a long term international programme investigating the consequences of hydrological variation on Dry Valley lakes