A Planning Workshop for a McMurdo Dry Valleys Terrestrial Observation Network

该奖项将支持美国科学家参加一个国际规划研讨会，专门讨论如何最好地促进和协调国际上在南极洲麦克默多干谷进行陆地系统研究的努力。迄今为止，美国和新西兰的科学家已经对不同的干谷景观特征（湖泊、土壤、冰川、溪流）及其生物群的各个方面进行了最深入的研究，但如果这些努力得到协调，以减少冗余，减少环境退化，最重要的是，产生可比较的数据集，这些努力可以显著提高其解释力。此外，许多目前的环境管理方案是基于过去的基线组成和生物群落的位置。随着这些群落未来在山谷中重新排列，人们有兴趣评估今天的管理计划是否足够。为了有效地推进麦克默多干谷的这些研究项目，需要一个协调的、跨学科的、长期的数据监测和观测网络。研讨会的最终目标是：i)确定评估和解决与干谷生态系统环境变化相关的关键过程所需的最佳、互补的测量套件；Ii)制定标准和协议，收集与驱动环境变化的关键过程相关的最关键的生物和非生物测量数据；Iii)制定数据协调和开发计划草案，最大限度地利用这些数据；iv)评估现行麦克默多干谷ASMA（南极特别管理区）环境保护准则的有效性。

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.