Biocomplexity: Victoria Land, Antarctica, Coastal Biome -- Marine-Terrestrial Interaction Across a High Latitudinal Environmental Gradient

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Marine and terrestrial ecosystems in coastal zones around the Earth are particularly vulnerable to local and global impacts from natural and anthropogenic sources. The Antarctic coastal zone, while utilized by humans to a limited extent, is among the most pristine regions on the planet for unambiguously assessing global environmental changes. The primary objectives for the proposed workshop are related to the interpretation of Antarctic terrestrial-marine biocomplexity along the latitudinal environmental gradient of the Victoria Land Coastal Biome (from ~72 degrees S to ~78 degrees S in the western Ross Sea) as a global climate barometer. The workshop will be convened within six months of project funding at the Byrd Polar Research Center. Participants will include 20 United States and 4 foreign scientists from ecosystem, environmental, computational, educational and social science disciplines. Workshop priorities are as follows: (1) compiling existing information regarding the components, dynamics and chronologies of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and environments - which have been studied largely with integration since the beginning of the 20th century; (2) assessing marine-terrestrial ecosystem coupling related to sea-ice coverage and regional hydrology over seasonal to millennial time scales; (3) assessing marine-terrestrial ecosystem dynamics associated with environmental gradients and transition zones across the Victoria Land Coastal Biome which reflect global climate dynamics; and (4) identifying potential emergent phenomena that would provide 'sentinels' for predicting local human impacts and global environmental changes (such as increased temperature and ultraviolet radiation feedbacks). Each participant will be expected to bring data, maps, photographs, publications and other research products that are relevant to integrating environmental and ecosystem biocomplexity along the latitudinal gradient of the Victoria Land Coastal Biome. Overall, the interdisciplinary dimensions of studying this high latitude gradient will contribute to our understanding of global environmental changes and the role of science in our society.