A $27,000 Small Grant for Exploratory Research was awarded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs to Assistant Professor of Biology Mike McCormick and his collaborators, Professor of Geosciences Eugene Domack and Professor of Biology Jinnie Garrett. The project, titled "Geologic Constraints on Life in an Antarctic Sub-ice-shelf Environment," will pursue the first geochemical and microbial characterization of a novel ecosystem discovered by Domack in 2005.
Located in a region of the Antarctic that was previously covered by an ice shelf, the ecosystem exists in a truly extreme environment of high pressures (800 meters ocean depth), no sunlight and a perennially frigid temperature of -1.8 degrees Celsius. Visual evidence suggests that the microorganisms that thrive in this environment gain energy from the oxidation of methane gas that seeps up from the ocean floor (an example of chemotrophy). Presently, Domack and two Hamilton students, Nikola Banishki and Kim Roe, are in the Antarctic collecting samples for the study. More information about the discovery and the current expedition can be found at www.hamilton.edu/antarctica.
Located in a region of the Antarctic that was previously covered by an ice shelf, the ecosystem exists in a truly extreme environment of high pressures (800 meters ocean depth), no sunlight and a perennially frigid temperature of -1.8 degrees Celsius. Visual evidence suggests that the microorganisms that thrive in this environment gain energy from the oxidation of methane gas that seeps up from the ocean floor (an example of chemotrophy). Presently, Domack and two Hamilton students, Nikola Banishki and Kim Roe, are in the Antarctic collecting samples for the study. More information about the discovery and the current expedition can be found at www.hamilton.edu/antarctica.
