QUESTION:
When did you realize you wanted to study birds in Antarctica?

        From Mrs. Squicciarini's 5th grade class in West Babylon, 
        Long Island, New York.

ANSWER from Dr. Bill Fraser, Ecologist,  Palmer Station, Antarctica
            Wed, 19 Feb 1997 16:43:48 -0500

Dear Fifth Graders and Mrs. Squicciarini,
       
I guess I realized that on my first trip here in 1974.  You
can read more about this on the LFA web page, but basically I
was interested in ecology, or how ecosystems work.  In the
Antarctic food chains are short, meaning animals like birds
can tell you what is happening to an ecosystem because their
populations depend, for example, on only a few prey species
such as krill.  So what you have are these short links
between predators (birds), prey (krill) and the marine
ecosystem, which enables you to better relate responses in
one component to responses in another.  Birds are like
a window into how this marine ecosystem works. 

Thanks for your question!
Bill