Mentor: Rachael Morgan-Kiss, Ph.D.

Lake Bonney, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, is a perennially ice-covered
lake composed of two distinct basins: the East Lobe (ELB) and the West Lobe (WLB). Each lobe is stratified and largely isolated, with limited water exchange between them, resulting in distinct physical and chemical environments. The lake is permanently sealed by an ice cover approximately 3–5 meters thick, and its water column exhibits strong vertical stratification due to density differences driven by salinity, temperature, and chemical gradients. The food web in Lake Bonney is entirely microbial, making it a good model for exploring the processes of the microbial loop. A particularly significant stratified zone, known as the chemocline, occurs between 10 and 20 meters in depth and represents a transition zone of significant chemical and biological change.

Green algae are a dominant group of primary producers in Lake Bonney and are found in high abundance at the chemocline, a critical ecological boundary where biological activity, nutrient availability, and microbial communities undergo sharp transitions. These organisms rely on stable environmental conditions, including light availability, temperature, and nutrient concentrations, all of which are susceptible to changes driven by climate variability.
This study investigates long-term trends (2004–2023) in green algae abundance in both the East and West Lobes of Lake Bonney. Using data provided by the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, we compare trends in green algae abundance at the chemocline across both lobes and analyze the influence of key climate-related variables: air temperature, water column temperature, and ice thickness.


Research questions:
Is the abundance of green algae within the chemocline of Lake Bonney changing over time?
Which environmental variables (air temperature, water temperature, or ice thickness) appear to be driving these changes, if any?

Explore the Project