BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Biologists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are heading to Antarctica in February 2010, and they invite classrooms, educators and other science enthusiasts from across the country to join them on the trip via the award-winning UAB in Antarctica Web site at antarctica.uab.edu.
Charles Amsler, Ph.D., James McClintock, Ph.D., and research assistant Margaret Amsler will lead the UAB team as it spends more than two months at Antarctica's Palmer Station continuing research into understanding predator-prey dynamics in the unique Antarctic marine plant and animal communities.
"We want to share our experiences in the magical place that is Antarctica with science students," McClintock says. "Through our UAB in Antarctica Web site, students and others everywhere have a chance to ask our research team questions about living and working on the ice."
Amsler says the interactive nature of the Web site immerses followers in the Antarctic experience, making it a virtual classroom for anyone interested in learning about one of the world's most remote and unique ecosystems.
"We update the site with educational entries about Antarctica, our research and other experiences," Amsler says. "We post photos via Flickr and videos through YouTube so that the Web site is constantly engaging our site followers with new, educational material."
Educators, bloggers, classrooms and schools interested in following UAB in Antarctica on the Web from February to May 2010 should contact Amsler at amsler@uab.edu or McClintock at mcclinto@uab.edu for further details. UAB in Antarctica Web site updates are scheduled to begin by the first week of February 2010.
More about UAB in Antarctica
The 2010 expedition continues the work of previous journeys, the most recent being in 2007. The team's work focuses on understanding how Antarctica's marine ecosystem works. It investigates the roles of small shrimp-like animals called amphipods in structuring the marine communities, and studies the unique characteristics of the marine plant life.
"The marine plant community of Antarctica is very lush, rich flora," Amsler said. "I tell people that there are forests in Antarctica. That they just have to look under the ocean to see them."
All the chemicals that the team discovers among the plant life are sent to the National Cancer Institute and the UAB Cystic Fibrosis Center. One of the compounds found has been shown to kill four kinds of melanoma.
All three of UAB's leading Antarctic researchers have been honored with the naming of geographic features on the continent. McClintock Point, located at the end of a three-mile stretch of land known as Explorers Cove in Antarctica, was named in 1998. Amsler Island, which lies between Loudwater Cove and Arthur Harbor near Anvers Island, was named in 2007.
About the UAB Department of Biology
The UAB Department of Biology is a dynamic academic partnership that provides a broad-based graduate and undergraduate curriculum. Most members of the graduate faculty have research specialties in comparative biochemistry, physiology and eco-physiology of aquatic organisms. A second, important department research focus is environmental microbiology.