Oceanographic processes in the subantarctic region contribute crucially to the physical and biogeochemical aspects of the global climate system. To explore and quantify these contributions, the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) organised the SAZ Project, a multidisciplinary, multiship investigation carried out south of Australia in the austral summer of 1997-1998. Taken from the abstracts of the referenced papers: In March 1998 we measured iron in the upper water column and conducted iron- and nutrient-enrichment bottle-incubation experiments in the open-ocean Subantarctic region southwest of Tasmania, Australia. In the Subtropical Convergence Zone (~42 degrees S, 142 degrees E), silicic acid concentrations were low (less than 1.5 micro-M) in the upper water column, whereas pronounced vertical gradients in dissolved iron concentration (0.12-0.84 nM) were observed, presumably reflecting the interleaving of Subtropical and Subantarctic waters, and mineral aerosol input. Results of a bottle-incubation experiment performed at this location indicate that phytoplankton growth rates were limited by iron deficiency within the iron-poor layer of the euphotic zone. In the Subantarctic water mass (-46.8 degrees S, 142 degrees E), low concentrations of dissolved iron (0.05-0.11 nM) and silicic acid (less than 1 micro-M) were measured throughout the upper water column, and our experimental results indicate that algal growth was limited by iron deficiency. These observations suggest that availability of dissolved iron is a primary factor limiting phytoplankton growth over much of the Subantarctic Southern Ocean in the late summer and autumn. The importance of resource limitation in controlling bacterial growth in the high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) region of the Southern Ocean was experimentally determined during February and March 1998. Organic- and inorganic-nutrient enrichment experiments were performed between 42 degrees S and 55 degrees S along 141 degrees E. Bacterial abundance, mean cell volume, and [3H]thymidine and [3H]leucine incorporation were measured during 4- to 5-day incubations. Bacterial biomass, production, and rates of growth all responded to organic enrichments in three of the four experiments. These results indicate that bacterial growth was constrained primarily by the availability of dissolved organic matter. Bacterial growth in the subtropical front, subantarctic zone, and subantarctic front responded most favourably to additions of dissolved free amino acids or glucose plus ammonium. Bacterial growth in these regions may be limited by input of both organic matter and reduced nitrogen. Unlike similar experimental results in other HNLC regions (subarctic and equatorial Pacific), growth stimulation of bacteria in the Southern Ocean resulted in significant biomass accumulation, apparently by stimulating bacterial growth in excess of removal processes. Bacterial growth was relatively unchanged by additions of iron alone; however, additions of glucose plus iron resulted in substantial increases in rates of bacterial growth and biomass accumulation. These results imply that bacterial growth efficiency and nitrogen utilisation may be partly constrained by iron availability in the HNLC Southern Ocean. The download file also contains three excel spreadsheets of iron data from the project. The file Sedwick_A9706_Fe_data contains water-column dissolved Fe and total-dissolvable Fe data from cruise A9706, which is presented in Sedwick et al. (1999) and Sedwick et al. (2008). The files Sedwick_A9706_ProcessStn1_Exp_data and Sedwick_A9706_ProcessStn2_Exp_data present data from shipboard experiments conducted during cruise A9706 at Process Stations 1 and 2, respectively, as reported in Sedwick et al. (1999).

The data set includes information relevant for the study and description of sea-ice bacteria contains the following dataset subgroups and is organised by REFERENCE number. 1) Isolation data: strain designations (e.g. culture collection names are indicated for type cultures); media used for isolation and routine cultivation; temperature used for incubation; any special conditions (e.g. enrichment conditions) used for isolation; isolation site and type (e.g. sea-ice); availability of the indicated strain from the chief investigator (J. Bowman) 2) Phenotypic data: Includes morphological, physiological and biochemical tests performed. Details on how these were performed are indicated in the relevant reference. 3) Growth/temperature data: data for temperature related growth curves are given where available. Methods are indicated in the associated reference. 4) Fatty acid/chemotaxonomy data: fatty acid and other related data are given where available. Methods are indicated in the associated reference. 5) Genotypic data: data for DNA-guanosine/cytosine-content and genomic DNA:DNA hybridization are shown where available. Methods are indicated in the associated reference. 6) Phylogenetic data: data for sequences are cross-referenced to the GenBank database. In some cases, aligned sequence datasets are available in FASTA format and can be viewed in the programs BIOEDIT (www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html) or CLUSTAL W (www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw). 7) Other related published references which are useful or relevant to the dataset e.g. related sequences published subsequent to the ASAC study

Antarctic sediments and sea-ice are important regulators in global biogeochemical and atmospheric cycles. These ecosystems contain a diverse range of bacteria whose biogeochemical roles remains largely unknown and which inhabit what are continually low temperature habitats. An integrated molecular and chemical approach will be used to investigate the coupling of microbial biogeochemical processes with community structure and cold adaptation within coastal Antarctic marine sediments and within sea-ice. Overall the project expects to make an important contribution to our understanding of biological processes within low temperature habitats. DATA SET ORGANISATION: The dataset is organised on the basis of publication and is organised on the basis of the following sections: 1. SEDIMENT SAMPLES and ISOLATES Samples collected are described in terms of location, type and where data were obtained chemical features. The designation, source, media used for cultivation and isolation and availability of sediment and other related isolates are provided. Samples included are from the following locations: Clear Lake, Pendant Lake, Scale Lake, Ace Lake, Burton Lake, Ekho Lake, Organic Lake, Deep lake and Taynaya Bay (Burke Basin), Vestfold Hills region; and the Mertz Glacier Polynya region. 2. BIOMASS and ENZYME ACTIVITY DATA Biomass, numbers and extracellular enzyme activity data are provided for Bacteria and Archaea populations from Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediments. 3. FATTY ACID and TETRAETHER LIPID DATA Phospholipid and tetraether lipid data are provided for Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediments. Whole cell fatty acid data are provided for various bacterial isolates described officially as new genera or species. 4. RNA HYBRIDISATION DATA RNA hybridisation data for Mertz Glacier Polynya sediment samples is provided, including data for oligonucleotide probes specifc for total Bacteria, Archaea, the Desulfosarcina group (class Deltaproteobacteria, sulfate reducing bacterial clade), phylum Planctomycetes, phylum Bacteroidetes (Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides), class Gammaproteobacteria, sulfur-oxidizing and related bacteria (a subset of class Gammaproteobacteria) and Eukaryota. 5. PHYLOGENETIC DATA 16S rRNA gene sequence data are indicated including aligned datasets for three clone libraries derived from the Mertz Glacier Polynya including GenBank accession numbers. Sequence accession numbers are provided for Vestfold Hills lake sediment samples. In addition GenBank numbers are provided for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis band sequence data from Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediment. Other forms of this DGGE data (banding profile analysis) are available in reference Bowman et al. 2003 (AAD ref 10971).

This record relates to the Australian component of the Latitudinal Gradient Project. The LGP is largely a New Zealand, US and Italian venture, but a small contribution has been made by Australian scientists. The Australian component of this work was completed as part of ASAC projects 2361 and 2682 (ASAC_2361, and ASAC_2682). Data from this project were entered into the herbarium access database, which has been linked to this record. The list below contains details of where and when samples were collected, and also the type of sample and the method of sampling. Cape Hallett and vicinity (2000, 2004): Biodiversity assessment of terrestrial plants (mosses, lichens); Invertebrate collections (mites, Collembola); plant ecology and community analysis; photosynthetic physiology of mosses and lichens; molecular genetics of mosses and lichens. Random sampling for biodiversity studies; point quadrats, releves for vegetation analysis, field laboratory experiments for physiological studies. Dry Valleys: Taylor Valley (1989, 1996), Garwood Valley (2001), Granite Harbour (1989; 1994, 1996) - plant ecology; plant physiology; biodiversity; invertebrate collections; molecular genetics of mosses. Random sampling for biodiversity studies; point quadrats, releves for vegetation analysis, field laboratory experiments for physiological studies. Beaufort Island (1996) - plant biodiversity; molecular genetics of mosses. Random sampling for biodiversity studies; point quadrats, releves for vegetation analysis, laboratory studies for molecular genetics. Darwin Glacier (1994): plant biodiversity; molecular genetics of invertebrates and mosses (random sampling for biodiversity; laboratory studies of invertebrate and moss molecular genetics). Project objectives: 1. Investigate the distribution of bryophytes and lichens in continental Antarctica 1a). to test the null hypothesis that species diversity does not change significantly with latitude; 1b). to explore the relationships between species and key environmental attributes including latitude, distance from the coast, temperature, substrate, snow cover, age of ice-free substrate. 2. To continue to participate in the Ross Sea Sector Latitudinal Gradient Project and develop an Australian corollary in the Prince Charles Mountains, involving international collaborators, incorporating the first two objectives of this project. 3. To develop an international collaborative biodiversity and ecophysiological program in the Prince Charles Mountains that will provide a parallel N-S latitude gradient study to mirror the LGP program in the Ross Sea region as part of the present RISCC cooperative program (to be superseded by the EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity of Antarctica) program) to address the above objectives. Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report: Progress against objectives: Continuing identification of moss and lichen samples previously collected from Cape Hallett, Granite Harbour and Darwin Glacier region. Lecidea s.l. lichens currently being studied in Austria by PhD student. Field work in Dry Valleys significantly curtailed by adverse weather. Field work planned for Darwin Glacier region and McMurdo Dry Valleys, particularly Taylor Valley and Granite Harbour region was severely curtailed due to adverse weather, helicopter diversions due to a Medical Evacuation, and other logistic constraints. 10 days of field time were lost. Limitations on field travel in Darwin Glacier region restricted the field work to a biologically depauperate region. The Prince Charles Mountains N-S transect, the only continental transect possibility for comparison with the Ross Sea area, unfortunately appears to have been abandoned through lack of logistic support. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Identification of samples collected from AAT and Ross Sea Region continued during the year, interrupted significantly by the packing of the collection and transfer of specimens to the Tasmanian Herbarium. Work is now proceeding at the Herbarium with sorting, databasing and incorporation of packets into the Herbarium collection. The merging of the collection provides long-term security of curation and significantly boosts the cryptogam collections (35000 numbers) of the Tasmanian Herbarium.