Research Objectives:
Our work is part of a multinational, multidisciplinary program called the Victoria Land Latitudinal Gradient Project (VLLGP), which includes scientists from both the Italian Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) and the Antarctica New Zealand Research Program. The overall goal of the VLLGP is to take a latitudinal gradient approach to ecosystem studies in Victoria Land.
Personnel from the Seafloor Mapping Lab (SFML) at California State University–Monterey Bay will participate in a 20-day PNRA cruise on the research ship Italica during January 2004. The specific goals of this Italian/U.S. collaboration are to
+ Identify the environmental gradients linked to latitude and to relate community transitions along the Victoria Land coast to climatic, geomorphologic, and oceanographic features;
+ Identify biochemical, physiological, and other adaptive responses of representative organisms;
+ Quantify biodiversity patterns and test the hypothesis of progressive emergence of marine assemblages with latitude; and
+ Use biotic changes associated with steep environmental gradients to predict possible effects of climate change.
We will use high-resolution acoustic remote-sensing (multibeam and sidescan sonar) and spatial data-modeling tools to identify and characterize benthic habitats and species/habitat associations along the gradient from a depth of 0 to 200 meters. Accurate mapping and classification of habitat types within each study area will be critical to selecting comparable sampling sites so valid community comparisons can to be made along the latitudinal gradient. Since the Ross Sea coast extends across one of the longest latitudinal gradients in the Antarctic (15 degrees), this study offers a unique opportunity for predicting and establishing a baseline to detect environmental and community responses to global change and anthropogenic disturbance.
This work will not only foster research, logistical, and data management collaboration among scientists from different disciplines and national programs, but it will also provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to participate in the research.
