Insights of Extreme Desert Ecology to the Habitats and Habitability of Mars

Warren‐Rhodes, Kimberley; Phillips, Michael S.; Dávila, Alfonso F.; McKay, Christopher P.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-98415-1_9

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 290 publications

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“…Extreme environments may also be used to test ecological theories that address limits and absolute restrictions, such as specific resource availability, temperature and water availability, that are not typically found in conventional ecological studies (for a modelling of an extreme ecosystem, see Fisher and Schulze-Makuch, 2013). These studies can reveal the role of functional traits, such as adaptations to extreme conditions, and ecological interactions, such as mutualisms and facilitation, in enabling organismal survival and can also aid in understanding the reasons underlying ‘ecological extinctions’ (Warren-Rhodes et al ., 2022).…”

Section: Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astroecology: bridging the gap between ecology and astrobiology

Meurer,

Haqq-Misra,

Mendonça

2023

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Although astrobiology studies how life functions and evolves, ecology is still largely overlooked in astrobiology research. Here we present an argument for astroecology, a merger of ecology and astrobiology, a self-aware scientific endeavour. Ecology is rarely mentioned in influential documents like the NASA Astrobiology Strategy (2015), and terms such as ‘niche’ can end up being used in a less precise fashion. As ecology deals with sequential levels of organization, we suggest astrobiologically-relevant problems for each of these levels. Organismal ecology provides ecological niche modelling, which can aid in evaluating the probability that Earth-like life would survive in extraterrestrial environments. Population ecology provides a gamut of models on the consequences of dispersal, and if lithopanspermia can be validated as a form of space dispersal for life, then metabiospheres and similar astrobiological models could be developed to understand such complex structure and dynamics. From community ecology, the discussion of habitability should include the concept of true vacant habitats (a misnomer, perhaps better called ‘will-dwells’) and contributions from the blossoming field of microbial ecology. Understanding ecosystems by focusing on abiotic properties is also key to extrapolating from analogue environments on Earth to extraterrestrial ones. Energy sources and their distribution are relevant for ecological gradients, such as the biodiversity latitudinal gradient – would tropics be species-rich in other inhabited planets? Finally, biosphere ecology deals with integration and feedback between living and non-living systems, which can generate stabilized near-optimal planetary conditions (Gaia); but would this work for other inhabited planets? Are there ‘strong’ (like Earth) and ‘weak’ (perhaps like Mars) biospheres? We hope to show ecology can contribute relevant ideas to the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology, helping conceptualize further levels of integration. We encourage new partnerships and for astrobiologists to take ecology into account when studying the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.

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Section: Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astroecology: bridging the gap between ecology and astrobiology

Meurer,

Haqq-Misra,

Mendonça

2023

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Rapid recovery of desert shrubs is attributed to imbalance of water supply to demand after disturbance in Northwest China

Zhou,

Feng,

et al. 2024

Ecol Process

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Background Disturbance is a key driver of changes in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in water limited regions. In the desert ecosystem of Northwest China, shrubs are often foraged by camels and this causes the shrubs lost their aboveground tissues. Although the aboveground tissue could recover after the disturbance, the mechanisms of resprouts’ recovery after the disturbance are still poorly understood. We investigated the morphological and physiological characteristics and root water uptake sources of resprouts and non-disturbed seedlings of four desert shrub species that were often foraged by camels. Results The results showed that the resprouts grew rapidly after the removal of aboveground tissue. The height and aboveground biomass of resprouts reached the level of 5-year-old seedlings following a growing season. Compared to un-disturbed seedlings, higher leaf water potential, leaf hydraulic conductance and photosynthesis rate were observed in resprouts, indicating that resprouts grew rapidly after disturbance. Furthermore, we found that the root water uptake source did not change after disturbance. This indicated that the roots of resprouts kept intact water uptake capacity after disturbance, which could keep supplying sufficient water to the aboveground tissue. Due to the removal of aboveground tissue of the resprouts, the water demand of aboveground tissue decreased, which induced an imbalance of water supply from roots to demand of aboveground tissues of resprouts. This explained the improved physiological performance and rapid recovery of resprouts after disturbance. Conclusions The imbalance of water supply to demand contributes to the rapid recovery of desert shrubs after disturbance. The findings provide insight into the eco-physiological mechanism for the maintenance of desert ecosystems that are facing disturbance.

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Insights of Extreme Desert Ecology to the Habitats and Habitability of Mars

Cited by 2 publications

References 290 publications

Astroecology: bridging the gap between ecology and astrobiology

Astroecology: bridging the gap between ecology and astrobiology

Rapid recovery of desert shrubs is attributed to imbalance of water supply to demand after disturbance in Northwest China

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