Glacier moss balls are unique features of glaciers are biological mesocosms growing on an unstable environment and we are working to tell their microbial and insect stories.

Temperate monsoonal glacial meltwater streams are unstable and torrential during the ablation season with lower water temperatures than winter time.  Contrary to high and low latitude glaciers, monsoon meltwater supports a greater diversity of invertebrates even in the metakryal zone where year round temperatures are <2oC.

Not all glacier work is clean and icy.  Glaciers are like bulldozers that pulvarize bedrock into fine silt  that becomes like marshmallows when mixed with glacial meltwater...but don't stay in one place for too long.  You may bounce for a moment, but you will become cemented in.  We are working to unravel the ecosystem functions of thixotropic mud in the glacier forefront.

Ganze Tibetan Autonomous region has many active fault lines as evidenced by the recent 2022 Moxi Earthquake which impacted our ability to safely access the Hailuogou Glacier research site, so we developed a project on the west side of the mountain range.  Hotsprings are found near Kangding along the Xianshuihe fault system.  Along an active strike-slip fault zone is where our ecological investigation is occuring on the west side of Mt. Gongga to understand how microbial and invertebrate communities are reflected at the emergence point of hotsprings and downstream.