For some background information on U.S. involvement in polar research in Antarctica go the USAP website. There is information there about the treaties governing research in Antarctica.

About to leave home

Welcome to my journal. I will use this blog to document my time in Antarctica. I will be working in the Dry Valleys, which are in the picture on the left. I leave home tomorrow, so the picture here is from the National Geographic website. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section. I'll try to answer questions when I have internet access.

My background: I grew up in Michigan, and I studied ecology at the University of Michigan. I studied aquatic insects in streams in the Appalachian Mountains in graduate school at Virginia Tech, and now I normally work in the Everglades in south Florida. Most of my research focuses on why different types of organisms live together in different types of ecosystems. In the Appalachians, I studied how logging affected the types of insects we find in streams. In the Everglades I study how hydroperiod and nutrient availability influence aquatic invertebrate communities.