A Planning Workshop for a McMurdo Dry Valleys Terrestrial Observation Network

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This award will support the participation of US scientists in an international planning workshop devoted to discussions of how to best facilitate and coordinate international efforts for terrestrial system studies at the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. To date, various aspects of the different Dry Valley landscape features (lakes, soils, glaciers, streams) and their biota have been studied most intensively by US and New Zealand scientists, but these efforts could significantly improve their explanatory power if they were coordinated so as to reduce redundancy, decrease environmental degradation and, most importantly, produce comparable datasets. Additionally, many of the present environmental management programs are based on the past baseline composition and location of biotic communities. As these communities become rearranged across the valleys in the future there is interest in assessing whether today's management plans are adequate. To efficiently move these research programs forward for the McMurdo Dry Valleys requires a coordinated, interdisciplinary, long-term data monitoring and observation network. The ultimate objectives of the workshop are to: i) identify the optimal, complementary suites of measurements required to assess and address key processes associated with environmental change in Dry Valley ecosystems; ii) develop standards and protocols for gathering the most critical biotic and abiotic measurements associated with the key processes driving environmental change; iii) generate a draft data coordination and development plan that will maximize the utility of these data; iv) assess the effectiveness of current McMurdo Dry Valley ASMA (Antarctic Special Management Area) environmental protection guidelines.