Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-r8qmj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-15T13:09:12.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Water track modification of soil ecosystems in the Lake Hoare basin, Taylor Valley, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2013

Joseph S. Levy ,
Andrew G. Fountain ,
Michael N. Gooseff ,
J.E. Barrett ,
Robert Vantreese ,
Kathy A. Welch ,
W. Berry Lyons ,
Uffe N. Nielsen  and
Diana H. Wall
Joseph S. Levy*
Affiliation:
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Andrew G. Fountain
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97210, USA
Michael N. Gooseff
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
J.E. Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Robert Vantreese
Affiliation:
Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
Kathy A. Welch
Affiliation:
Byrd Polar Research Centre and the School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
W. Berry Lyons
Affiliation:
The School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Centre, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Uffe N. Nielsen
Affiliation:
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment and School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Diana H. Wall
Affiliation:
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
*
joe.levy@utexas.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Water tracks are zones of high soil moisture that route shallow groundwater down-slope, through the active layer and above the ice table. A water track in Taylor Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, was analysed for surface hydrogeological, geochemical, and biological characteristics in order to test the hypothesis that water tracks provide spatial structure to Antarctic soil ecosystems by changing the physical conditions in the soil environment within the water tracks from those outside the water tracks. The presence of the water track significantly affected the distribution of biotic and abiotic ecosystem parameters: increasing soil moisture, soil salinity, and soil organic matter within the water track relative to soils outside the water track, and reducing soil phosphate, soil pH, and the population of nematodes and other invertebrates in water track soils relative to off track soils. These results suggest that water tracks are distinct and extreme ecological zones in Taylor Valley that provide long-range (kilometre to multi- kilometre) structure to Antarctic hillslope ecosystems through physical control on soil moisture and solute content. Contrary to expectations, these high soil-moisture sites are not hotspots for faunal biological activity because high soil salinity makes them suitable habitats for only the most halo-tolerant organisms.

Keywords

active layerground waterinvertebratesMcMurdo Dry Valleysterrestrial ecosystem

Information

Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 153 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

Current address: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, Austin, TX 78758, USA

References

Barrett, J.E., Gooseff, M.N. Takasc-Vesbach, C. 2009. Spatial variation in soil active-layer geochemistry across hydrologic margins in polar desert ecosystems. Hydrology and Earth Systems Science, 13, 2349–2358.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Wall, D.H., Parsons, A.N., Powers, L.E. Burkins, M.B. 2004. Variation in biogeochemistry and soil biodiversity across spatial scales in a polar desert ecosystem. Ecology, 85, 3105–3118.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Lyons, W.B., McKnight, D.M., Priscu, J.C., Doran, P.T., Fountain, A.G., Wall, D.H. Moorhead, D.L. 2007. Biogeochemical stoichiometry of Antarctic dry valley ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research, 10.1029/2005JG000141.Google Scholar
Bate, D.B., Barrett, J.E., Poage, M.A. Virginia, R.A. 2008. Soil phosphorus cycling in an Antarctic polar desert. Geoderma, 144(1–2), 21–31.Google Scholar
Bockheim, J.G., Campbell, I.B. McLeod, M. 2007. Permafrost distribution and active-layer depths in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 18, 217–227.Google Scholar
Bockheim, J.G., Prentice, M.L. McLeod, M. 2008. Distribution of glacial deposits, soils, and permafrost in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 40, 279–286.Google Scholar
Bowden, W.B., Gooseff, M.N., Balser, A., Green, A., Peterson, B.J. Bradford, J. 2008. Sediment and nutrient delivery from thermokarst features in the foothills of the North Slope, Alaska: potential impacts on headwater stream ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research, 10.1029/2007JG000470.Google Scholar
Campbell, I.B. 2003. Soil characteristics at a long-term ecological research site in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 41, 351–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, I.B., Claridge, G.G.C., Balks, M.R. Campbell, D.I. 1997. Moisture content in soils of the McMurdo Sound and Dry Valley region of Antarctica. In Lyons, W.B., Howard-Williams, C. & Hawes, I., eds. Ecosystem processes in Antarctic ice free landscapes. Rotterdam: Balkema, 61–76.Google Scholar
Cheng, W. Virginia, R.A. 1993. Measurement of microbial biomass in arctic tundra soils using fumigation-extraction and substrate-induced respiration procedures. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 25, 135–141.Google Scholar
Clow, G.D. McKay, C.P., Simmons, G.M. Jr Wharton, R.A. Jr 1988. Climatological observations and predicted sublimation rates at Lake Hoare, Antarctica. Journal of Climatology, 1, 715–728.Google Scholar
Courtright, E.M., Wall, D.H. Virginia, R.A. 2001. Determining habitat suitability for soil invertebrates in an extreme environment: the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 13, 9–17.Google Scholar
Decker, E.R. Bucher, G.J. 1980. Geothermal studies in Antarctica. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 12(4), 102–104.Google Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Clow, G.D., Dana, G.L., Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T. Lyons, W.B. 2002. Valley floor climate observations from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 1986–2000. Journal of Geophysical Research, 10.1029/2001JD002045.Google Scholar
Freckman, D.W. Virginia, R.A. 1997. Low-diversity Antarctic soil nematode communities: distribution and response to disturbance. Ecology, 78, 363–369.Google Scholar
Freckman, D.W., Kaplan, D.T. van Gundy, S.D. 1977. A comparison of techniques for extraction and study of anhydrobiotic nematodes from dry soils. Journal of Nematology, 9, 176–181.Google Scholar
Hagedorn, B., Sletten, R.S. Hallet, B. 2007. Sublimation and ice condensation in hyperarid soils: modeling results using field data from Victoria Valley, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research, 10.1029/2006JF000580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, K.J., Carey, A.E., Lyons, W.B., Welch, K.A. Fountain, A.G. 2007. Solute and isotope geochemistry of subsurface ice melt seeps in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 119, 548–555.Google Scholar
Hastings, S.J., Luchessa, S.A., Oechel, W.C. Tenhunen, J.D. 1989. Standing biomass and production in water drainages of the foothills of the Philip Smith Mountains, Alaska. Holarctic Ecology, 12, 304–311.Google Scholar
Kennedy, A.D. 1993. Water as a limiting factor in the Antarctic terrestrial environment: a biological synthesis. Arctic and Alpine Research, 25, 308–315.Google Scholar
Levy, J. 2012. Hydrological characteristics of recurrent slope lineae on Mars: evidence for liquid flow through regolith and comparisons with Antarctic terrestrial analogs. Icarus, 219, 1–4.Google Scholar
Levy, J.S., Fountain, A.G., Welch, K.A. Lyons, W.B. 2012b. Hypersaline “wet patches” in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 10.1029/2012GL050898.Google Scholar
Levy, J.S., Fountain, A.G., Gooseff, M.N., Welch, K.A. Lyons, W.B. 2011. Water tracks and permafrost in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: extensive and shallow groundwater connectivity in a cold desert ecosystem. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 10.1130/B30436.30431.Google Scholar
Levy, J., Fountain, A., Gooseff, M., Barrett, J., Wall, D., Nielsen, U., Adams, B., Lyons, W.B. 2012a. Active layer processes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: decadal trends and experimental responses to changes in soil moisture. In Hinkel, K.M., ed. Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, June 2012, Salekhard, Russia, 221–226.Google Scholar
Lyons, W.B., Fountain, A.G., Doran, P.T., Priscu, J.C., Neumann, K. Welch, K.A. 2000. Importance of landscape position and legacy: the evolution of the lakes in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Freshwater Biology, 43, 355–367.Google Scholar
Lyons, W.B., Welch, K.A., Carey, A.E., Wall, D.H., Virginia, R.A., Fountain, A.G., Doran, P.T., Csatho, B.M. Tremper, C.M. 2005. Groundwater seeps in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: an example of a subsurface melt event. Annals of Glaciology, 40, 200–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant, D.R. Head, J.W. 2007. Antarctic dry valleys: microclimate zonation, variable geomorphic processes, and implications for assessing climate change on Mars. Icarus, 192, 187–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, L.D. Jensen, T.E. 1971. Permafrost-hydrogeologic regimen in two ice-free valleys, Antarctica, from electrical depth sounding. Quaternary Research, 1, 31–38.Google Scholar
McNamara, J.P., Kane, D.L. Hinzman, L.D. 1999. An analysis of an arctic channel network using a digital elevation model. Geomorphology, 29, 339–353.Google Scholar
McNamara, J.P., Kane, D.L., Hobbie, J.E. Kling, G.W. 2008. Hydrologic and biogeochemical controls on the spatial and temporal patterns of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Kuparuk River, Arctic Alaska. Hydrological Processes, 22, 3294–3309.Google Scholar
Michalski, G., Bockheim, J.G., Kendall, C. Thiemens, M. 2005. Isotopic composition of Antarctic dry valley nitrate: implications for NO(y) sources and cycling in Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 10.1029/2004GL022121.Google Scholar
Nielsen, U.N., Wall, D.H., Adams, B.J., Virginia, R.A., Ball, B.A., Gooseff, M.N. McKnight, D.M. 2012. The ecology of pulse events: insights from an extreme climatic event in a polar desert ecosystem. Ecosphere, 10.1890/ES1811-00325.00321.Google Scholar
Nkem, J.N., Virginia, R.A., Barrett, J.E., Wall, D.H. Li, G. 2006. Salt tolerance and survival thresholds for two species of Antarctic nematodes. Polar Biology, 29, 643–651.Google Scholar
Poage, M.A., Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A. Wall, D.H. 2008. The influence of soil geochemistry on nematode distribution, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 40, 119–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, L.E., Ho, M., Freckman, D.W. Virginia, R.A. 1998. Distribution, community structure, and microhabitats of soil invertebrates along an elevation gradient in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 30, 133–141.Google Scholar
Smith, T.E., Wall, D.H., Hogg, I.D., Adams, B.J., Nielsen, U.N. Virginia, R.A. 2012. Thawing permafrost alters nematode populations and soil habitat characteristics in an Antarctic polar desert ecosystem. Pedobiologia, 55, 75–81.Google Scholar
Stieglitz, M., Shaman, J., McNamara, J., Engel, V., Shanley, J. Kling, G.W. 2003. An approach to understanding hydrologic connectivity on the hillslope and the implications for nutrient transport. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 10.1029/2003GB002041.Google Scholar
Virginia, R.A. Wall, D.H. 1999. How soils structure communities in the Antarctic dry valleys. BioScience, 49, 973–983.Google Scholar
Welch, K.A., Lyons, W.B., Whisner, C., Gardner, C.B., Gooseff, M.N., McKnight, D.M. Priscu, J.C. 2010. Spatial variations in the geochemistry of glacial meltwater streams in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 22, 662–672.Google Scholar