The overall responsibility of SciMT is to advise and support the Director of Science on management issues that affect planning and delivery of science on both short and long timescales.
Specific responsibilities of SciMT are:
Chair: Dr Anna Jones, Director of Science
1 October, 2024 by Adriana Giles, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Nadia Frontier, Simon Morley
There is a dearth of basic life history and physiological data from Southern Ocean species, particularly from benthic vagile predators. This is an important data gap because species inhabiting the…27 September, 2024 by Andrew Kavanagh
The high latitude ionospheric evolution of the May 10‐11, 2024, geomagnetic storm is investigated in terms of Total Electron Content and contextualized with Incoherent Scatter Radar and ionosonde observations. Substantial…26 September, 2024 by David Pearce, Michael Dunn, Peter Convey, Stacey Adlard
The gut microbiomes of Antarctic penguins are important for the fitness of the host birds and their chicks. The compositions of microbial communities in Antarctic penguin guts are strongly associated…24 September, 2024 by Geraint Tarling, Sophie Fielding
The South Georgia region of the Southern Ocean represents the northernmost range edge for Antarctic krill. Of concern is the extent to which rapid warming of surface water temperatures and…24 September, 2024 by Andrew Kavanagh
Long-term reduction (∼20 km) in the height of the ionospheric F2 layer, hmF2, is predicted to result from increased levels of tropospheric greenhouse gases. Sufficiently long sequences of ionospheric data exist…Read more on Calibrating estimates of ionospheric long-term change [preprint]
23 September, 2024 by Peter Convey
Elevation gradients are often used as a proxy for climate change as they allow comparisons of ecological responses over much larger temporal and spatial scales than is possible through experimental…19 September, 2024 by Andrew Meijers, Povl Abrahamsen, Hugh Venables, Alexander Brearley, Michael Meredith, Natasha Lucas
The South Scotia Ridge, in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, is a key region for water mass modification. It is the location of the Weddell-Scotia Confluence, an area…13 September, 2024 by Geraint Tarling, Melody Clark
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana) is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, with ecological and commercial significance. However, its vulnerability to climate change requires an urgent investigation of…11 September, 2024 by Peter Convey
Microalgae are gaining considerable attention in the field of cosmeceuticals due to their unique profile. In particular, the diverse range of valuable bioactive compounds isolated from microalgae are known to…1 September, 2024 by Peter Convey
Marine birds and pinnipeds which come to land to breed, rest and moult are widely known to fertilize adjacent terrestrial ecosystems, with cascading effects on vegetation and other trophic levels.…Read more on The impact of marine vertebrates on polar terrestrial invertebrate communities
1 September, 2024 by Peter Convey
While long-range transport is believed to be the primary source of mercury (Hg) in Antarctica, it is known that seabirds transport organic matter, nutrients, and contaminants from the sea to…Read more on Ornithogenic mercury input to soils of Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica
1 September, 2024 by Andrew Clarke, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
The affect of temperature on tissue protein synthesis rates has been reported in temperate and tropical, but not Antarctic fishes. Previous studies have generally demonstrated low growth rates in Antarctic…1 September, 2024 by Andrew Kavanagh, Ingrid Cnossen
Increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are increasing radiative cooling in the upper atmosphere, leading to thermospheric contraction and decreased neutral mass densities at fixed altitudes.…Read more on Future Climate Change in the Thermosphere Under Varying Solar Activity Conditions
30 August, 2024 by Peter Convey
Species arrival sequence in new habitats impacts plant community development. This ‘priority-effect’ is documented, but mechanisms by which early arriving plants dominate future communities are less clear, complicating our ability…28 August, 2024 by Andrew Kavanagh
Cold plasma of ionospheric origin has recently been found to be a much larger contributor to the magnetosphere of Earth than expected. Numerous competing mechanisms have been postulated to drive…Read more on Earth’s ambipolar electrostatic field and its role in ion escape to space
26 August, 2024 by Peter Convey
The use of yeasts has been explored as an efficient alternative to fungicide application in the treatment and prevention of post-harvest fruit deterioration. Here, we evaluated the biocontrol abilities of…19 August, 2024 by Chester Sands, Peter Convey
Accurate knowledge of geographic ranges of species is essential for effective conservation management. Species with large distributions and good connectivity are presumed to be resilient to adverse localised/regional conditions, whereas…6 August, 2024 by Joanne Johnson, Peter Convey, Peter Fretwell
Terrestrial vegetation communities across Antarctica are characteristically sparse, presenting a challenge for mapping their occurrence using remote sensing at the continent scale. At present there is no continent-wide baseline record…Read more on A satellite-derived baseline of photosynthetic life across Antarctica
1 August, 2024 by Peter Convey
We studied the culturable fungal community recovered from deep marine sediments in the maritime Antarctic, and assessed their capabilities to produce exoenzymes, emulsifiers and metabolites with phytotoxic activity. Sixty-eight Ascomycota…
