SANAP Project Name: Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems
Principal Investigator: Prof Ian Meiklejohn
Project Description: We are a South African National Research Foundation funded project and work in Western Dronning Maud Land of Antarctica. Our current home is the Department of Geography at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
Read on our web page about our research in the Antarctic. We are dealing with permafrost environments, which despite being integral parts of the terrestrial cryosphere and, therefore, ecosystem functioning, are highly fragmented and poorly documented. The active-layer environments in the region are critical to understanding interactions between abiotic variables and biological distribution, as well as responses of the cryosphere to the rapidly changing climates in the Antarctic. A necessity, therefore, exists to improve knowledge of landscape processes, the processes that drive them, the landforms that result, and how the landscape impacts on patterns of biodiversity at a local and regional scales. Existing landform inventories, geomorphological process studies, and ground thermal monitoring are being conducted at a range of temporal (from seconds, to seasonal, to annual and decal) and spatial (from cm to regional) scales. Ground thermal monitoring, in particular, will enable us to determine the short and long-term responses of the permafrost and active-layer environments to climatic drivers and climate change. The findings from this study will provide information on the abiotic components of the terrestrial Antarctic ecosystem in Western Dronning Maud Land.
Discipline: Geology
Contact Details
| Email: | i.meiklejohn@ru.ac.za |
| Website: | https://geomorphologyantarctica.wordpress.com/ |
| Facebook: | Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems |
| Address: | Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems, Geography Department, Rhodes University, Lucas Avenue, Grahamstown |
| Tel: | +27-46-603-8024 |
Photo Credit: Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems