Polar Regions Offer Rich Opportunities For Research

Polar science is receiving increased attention this spring with several new developments in the national and international arenas. At last month's meeting of the United States-Russian Joint Commission on Economics and Technological Cooperation, one of the major agenda items was Arctic sciences. This commission has met semiannually since it was initiated in 1993 by U.S. Vice President Al Gore and former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chenomyrdin to establish new intergovernmental agreements for priority areas of science, technology, and economics. The U.S. and Russia have substantial scientific and environmental interests in the Arctic, and recognition of its value has increased dramatically. On the national level, "Polar Connections" is the theme of this year's National Science and Technology Week--April 26 to May 2--a major public-outreach program produced by the National Science Foundation and supported by corporate and associated sponsors. In a message last fall to educators and parents engaged in outreach activities, NSF director Neal Lane wrote that "the North and South Poles are natural laboratories and unique in the matchless opportunities they offer scientists and engineers to conduct research in pristine, natural environments." The notion of natural laboratories as a place to conduct scientific research is an attractive one, particularly to those doomed to spend the greater part of their lives working inside concrete walls lit by flickering banks of fluorescent lights. But the concept of natural laboratories, or geographically defined research, probably is at odds with what many life scientists consider to be modern approaches to biology. The terms themselves have the implication of artificiality; they also raise several other related questions: What is a natural laboratory? How can the poles--two of the harshest and most isolated places on Earth--be advantageous for conducting science, particularly life sciences, which are increasingly driven by the demands of biotechnology and biomedical research? Isn't "polar research" an arbitrary and outmoded subdivision better left to the residuum of 19th-century scientific endeavor? After all, scientific research traditionally is practiced and funded by disciplinary fields, such as developmental genetics or plant ecology. By contrast, polar sciences have always enjoyed a distinct identity. At NSF, polar research is the responsibility of the Office of Polar Programs, which funds scientific and research support activities in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Life sciences research in polar regions is a critical and necessary component of work done in other regions and in other ways. There are several reasons why this is so, and they relate to the particular history, geography, and physical environments of the Arctic and Antarctic. Research can be focused on understanding the special roles that the poles and their biota play in the world environment as well as on utilizing the specific features of polar regions to facilitate experimental or observational science. Recent research is beginning to provide keys to assessing the effects of global change, understanding the different biotic adaptations to survival in extreme environments, identifying the patterns and processes that have structured the biodiversity of polar life, and, not least, understanding how human beings interact with the polar environment. The human capacity to adapt to change will soon be tested, as the polar regions are expected to sustain the early and significant effects associated with contemporary global change. The accord that resulted from the United Nations climate conference held in Kyoto, Japan, December 1-10, 1997, set limits on the amount of CO2 emitted by industrialized nations such as the U.S. Simulation models on global warming caused by increased amounts of greenhouse gases indicate that the poles should warm faster and to a greater degree than equatorial regions. John E. Walsh, an atmospheric researcher at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has shown that Arctic winter mean temperatures have become as much as 1 to 2 degrees Celsius warmer over the past three decades. It is not just the Arctic and Antarctic that will be affected, however. Simulations by many global climate modelers, such as David Rind at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, are showing that physical changes originating in the poles could propagate to the lower latitudes--changing air and sea temperatures, sea levels, and coastal topographies--and affect economies. Major Atlantic and Pacific fisheries could depend on oceanic conditions that are driven by climate change. The polar regions are seen as an early-warning system for emerging global changes that will ultimately affect other areas. Arctic waters support some of the most productive fisheries in the world, but George Hunt at the University of California, Irvine, has documented dramatic and unexplained crashes in the abundance of Bering Sea zooplankton and seabirds. Moreover, recent analysis of satellite vegetation data by Donald and Marilyn Walker at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research suggests that plant cover in the Arctic appears earlier and lasts longer than it did a decade ago. These data indicate an ecological response to climate changes over a broad region and may be an early sign of human-caused global warming. Recent dramatic changes in stratospheric ozone over the Antarctic have resulted in an increase in ultraviolet-B radiation. Thomas Day at Arizona State University, Tempe, is studying how this and climate warming is affecting the two native species of vascular plants found here as a model to predict the effect on vegetation in other parts of the world. The polar regions share many features in climate and environmental rigor, such as extreme cold, barren and forbidding landscapes, and long periods of near-total light and dark. These environments have been strong influences on the ecology of polar life and in the evolution of physiological and behavioral adaptations that enable life to be maintained. The geography of the two poles, however, is quite different. In the North, land rings the Arctic Ocean, and the oceanographic patterns of ocean currents and distribution of sea ice significantly affect the distributions and ecologies of the inhabitants, including humans. In contrast, the Antarctic continent is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean, flowing continuously to the east. Coastal oceanography has a much more localized effect on the Antarctic landmass. Polar environments in the Antarctic are dominated by the seasonal presence and distribution of sea ice. Ray Smith at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is leading a team of scientists whose work in the Palmer peninsula indicates that variability in coastal ice cover may affect the timing and magnitude of primary productivity, the dynamics of microbial blooms, the abundance and distribution of krill and other zooplankton, and the success of their predators, such as penguins, seabirds, seals, whales, and humans. In the Arctic, Terry Chapin at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that ecosystems are more responsive to availability of nutrients than to temperature and that feedback mechanisms may compensate for initial responses to change. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are located on the western coast of McMurdo Sound on Antarctica and form the largest ice-free area on the continent. They are among the most extreme deserts in the world and are subject to low temperatures, very low precipitation, and high accumulation of salt. Robert Wharton of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev., has assembled a large team of collaborators who are working to understand the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecology and biodiversity. Although the biological systems support few species, the trophic interactions and nutrient cycles are complex. The biotic diversity appears to be derived from many sources, such as through transport from other regions by ocean currents and prevailing winds. Much less research has been done on the nature of Arctic biodiversity, but the terrestrial microbiota--such as mosses and lichens, insects, and other small arthropods--predominate. Millions of years ago, however, the Arctic was a far different place--eastern Greenland was a tropical swamp in the Triassic. Harvard University paleontologist Farish Jenkins is studying the evolution of the area's early mammals and dinosaurs by excavating fossils found nowhere in the world. Studying extremophiles is one means of understanding the biology of early life. Microbiologists are recovering many examples of bacteria and viruses adapted to life in extreme habitats associated with polar environments, such as psychrophilic (or ice-loving) bacteria. Ed Carpenter at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and David Caron and Rebecca Gast at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are beginning work to understand how snow- and ice-bound microorganisms adapt to life in Antarctica. Antarctic fish seem to avoid freezing through several physiological mechanisms Arthur DeVries of the University of Illinois is studying the molecular mechanisms, gene evolution, and tissue specificity of specialized peptides and glycopeptides that prevent the formation of ice crystals within the body of the fish. Antarctic fish also have the highest serum osmolality of any marine bony fish, and David Petzel of Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb., is examining how mechanisms that maintain fluid balance under these conditions are related to ion-transport activity performed by specialized cells located on the gills. Current research is focused on understanding how the underlying mechanisms of enhanced hypo-osmoregulation are maintained and the role of sodium/ potassium adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) in regulation of gill function. One primary factor that distinguishes the Arctic from the Antarctic is the Arctic's long history of human cultures. Today the region is culturally, demographically, politically, and economically diverse. Its settlements range from small indigenous communities, dependent on local resources, to modern industrial cities. The Arctic's long winter, limited soil fertility, and vast distances continue to challenge the residents. Arctic environments tend to change dramatically, and the environment dominates many aspects of daily life. Researchers--including Allen McCartney at the University of Arkansas and Dixie West of the University of Kansas--who study past and contemporary cultures of the Inupiaq and Aleut peoples are finding that survival depends on adaptability. The experience of Arctic peoples should be instructive for humans here who are striving to adjust to exacerbated fluctuations and accelerating rates of change in natural and social environments. Research by Jack Kruse at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Nick Flanders at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., is indicating how native Alaskans are adapting their hunting practices and economies in the face of changing distributions of caribou and other subsistence animals. The emphasis of National Science and Technology Week 1998 on polar sciences reflects this subject area's distinct character and importance. Life sciences research at high latitudes encompasses all aspects of scientific enterprise, but the unique nature of polar environments provides special insights into biological processes and patterns that would be difficult to obtain here. Polar research is supported through many institutions and agencies, but primary is the NSF Office of Polar Programs, which is responsible for funding basic research on all aspects of science focused on better understanding of the Arctic and Antarctic. For more information on National Science and Technology Week and Polar Connections, contact NSF at nstw@nsf.gov or via the World Wide Web at www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nstw/ start.htm. Douglas Siegel-Causey is a program officer of the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and a research professor of biology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Polar Regions Offer Rich Opportunities For Research

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