On the glacier surface, our research questions began by first examining habitats of temperate monsoonal debris-covered glaciers, but we have expanded our questions and examinations to clean-surface, moraines, and proglacial habitats of glaciers in Alaska. Our original questions for debris-covered glaciers included:
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What are the physical habitat and chemical characteristics of cryoconite holes/supraglacial pools?
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What macroinvertebrates and bacterial communities occur within cryoconite holes/supraglacial pools?
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What physical habitat and chemical variables best predict macroinvertebrate and microbial occurrence, abundance, and richness within supraglacial pools?
These questions are setting a foundation of debris-covered glacier ecology in supraglacial pools that can be compared with different types of glaciers around the world to better understand the factors influencing the microbial and invertebrate communities on glaciers. Furthermore, the number of debris-covered glaciers is increasing around the world due to climate warming enhancements to sediment processes. We aim to gain insight into what might happen to clean-surface valley glaciers around the world as they become covered with silts and debris from surrounding valleys.
We also aim to:
1) compare supraglacial pools on debris-covered glaciers with cryoconite holes on clean surface glaciers;
2) continue to develop our understanding of environmental relationships of supraglacial, periglacial, and proglacial meltwater habitats with autotrophic and heterotrophic community structures from glacier headwater sources to downstream meltwater environments.
Here are initial insights into the ecologicy of debris-covered glaciers from this work:
1) Physical characteristics and invertebrates of debris-covered glaciers
2) Best predictors of microbial communities of supraglacial pool sediments
3) Co-occurrence networks of debris sediments on the surface of temperate monsoonal glaciers
