The McMurdo Dry Valleys of southern Victoria Land,Antarctica, represent a unique environment where climat-

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: McMurdo Dry Valleys; Ross Sea; Victoria Land; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.693.5624; http://www.nsf.gov/geo/plr/antarct/ajus/nsf9828/9828pdf/nsf9828i.pdf

ic extremes limit the development of complex and diverse soil communities. In these soils, the microbial feeding nematode is the most abundant and widespread invertebrate. The distribu-tion of this nematode is highly patchy and is related to soil properties such as salinity and pH (Freckman and Virginia in press). The primary source of soil organic matter (SOM) sus-taining these low-diversity dry valley soil ecosystems is not obvious given the virtual absence of above-ground plant bio-mass. The photosynthetic capacity of the soils may be inade-quate to account for observed levels of SOM, implicating other sources of organic matter such as windborne particulates from biologically richer lakes and streams, cryptoendolithic com-munities, and the Ross Sea (Wynn-Williams 1990, pp. 71–146). An understanding of dry valley soil communities and the cycling of carbon and other nutrients in these ecosystems