scholarly journals Microbial life in oceanic crust

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Orcutt ◽  
Timothy D'Angelo ◽  
Sean P. Jungbluth ◽  
Julie A. Huber ◽  
Jason B. Sylvan
Keyword(s):  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
Environment Impact ◽  
Ocean Crust ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Dissolved Chemicals

Oceanic crust comprises a vast but virtually unexplored habitat for life on Earth, characterized by massive global flows of water, heat, and dissolved chemicals. Uncovering where and how life exists in oceanic crust is important because chemical reactions occurring in this environment impact broader ocean systems and also because it is an earth analog for considering the possibility of extraterrestrial life on other ocean worlds. Over the past decade, several major oceanographic expeditions focused on characterizing the ocean crust microbiome, enabled by advances in seafloor drilling and observatory technologies. Here we review what is known about the crustal ocean microbial biosphere, focusing on a new synthesis of recent studies on the diversity of microbial life in oceanic crust to reveal common and unique taxa in this environment.

scholarly journals Commission 51: Bioastronomy: Search for Extraterrestrial Life

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-262
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Extrasolar Planets ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life On Mars ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Cosmic Origin

The past three years have been extraordinarily productive for the Bioastronomy community. In particular, the detection of extrasolar planets and the possible evidence for fossil life on Mars have given substance to the concept of life elsewhere in the universe, and reinforced the connection between life on Earth and its cosmic origin. The structure of this report follows the agenda from the highly successful IAU Colloquium 161 on Bioastronomy, organized by Cristiano Cosmovici and Stuart Bowyer on the island of Capri in July 1996. The content has been provided by attendees of that Colloquium. Given the breadth of the subject matter covered by this Commission, this report could not have been generated any other way, and I am most grateful to all the contributors.

LBE for Generalized Hydrodynamics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sauro Succi
Keyword(s):  
Potential Energy ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
Soft Matter ◽  
Fluid Motion ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
The Past ◽  
Generalized Hydrodynamics ◽  
Internal Forces

This chapter presents the main techniques to incorporate the effects of external and/or internal forces within the LB formalism. This is a very important task, for it permits us to access a wide body of generalized hydrodynamic applications whereby fluid motion couples to a variety of additional physical aspects, such as gravitational and electric fields, potential energy interactions, chemical reactions and many others. It should be emphasized that while hosting a broader and richer phenomenology than “plain” hydrodynamics, generalized hydrodynamics still fits the hydrodynamic picture of weak departure from suitably generalized local equilibria. This class is all but an academic curiosity; for instance, it is central to the fast-growing science of Soft Matter, a scientific discipline which has received an impressive boost in the past decades, under the drive of micro- and nanotechnological developments and major strides in biology and life sciences at large.

Agriculture — Forest Biotechnology is Beginning to Take Root

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (09) ◽  
pp. 507-509
Author(s):  
Yan Hong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Forests ◽  
Mass Propagation ◽  
Environment Impact ◽  
Forest Biotechnology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Acceptance ◽  
Gm Trees ◽  
The World ◽  
Elite Tree ◽  
Natural Means

With the increasing loss of forests, the need for their renewal by natural means is imminent. Thanks to the Kyoto treaty demanding reduction in greenhouse gases, plantations of fast growing and high yielding tree species have thrived around the world. In the past few years, there has been a lot of progress in the area of forest biotechnology. Genetic modification (GM) has introduced desirable traits such as insect tolerance, herbicide resistance, sterility, better pulping quality and fast growth. The plantation of GM trees, however, raises the concerns of possible damage to the environment, impact to biodiversity and possible gene flow into natural forests. These issues need to be addressed before there is any wide acceptance of GM trees. Other non-GM biotechnology techniques such as mass propagation of elite tree individuals through meristematic propagation or somatic embryogenesis are more acceptable and have been widely used.

The “evolution” of Anomalocaris and its classification in the arthropod class Dinocarida (nov.) and order Radiodonta (nov.)

1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desmond Collins
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sea Cucumber ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Burgess Shale ◽  
Middle Cambrian ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Mistaken Identification

The remarkable “evolution” of the reconstructions of Anomalocaris, the extraordinary predator from the 515 million year old Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, reflects the dramatic changes in our interpretation of early animal life on Earth over the past 100 years. Beginning in 1892 with a claw identified as the abdomen and tail of a phyllocarid crustacean, parts of Anomalocaris have been described variously as a jellyfish, a sea-cucumber, a polychaete worm, a composite of a jellyfish and sponge, or have been attached to other arthropods as appendages. Charles D. Walcott collected complete specimens of Anomalocaris nathorsti between 1911 and 1917, and a Geological Survey of Canada party collected an almost complete specimen of Anomalocaris canadensis in 1966 or 1967, but neither species was adequately described until 1985. At that time they were interpreted by Whittington and Briggs to be representatives of “a hitherto unknown phylum.”Here, using recently collected specimens, the two species are newly reconstructed and described in the genera Anomalocaris and Laggania, and interpreted to be members of an extinct arthropod class, Dinocarida, and order Radiodonta, new to science. The long history of inaccurate reconstruction and mistaken identification of Anomalocaris and Laggania exemplifies our great difficulty in visualizing and classifying, from fossil remains, the many Cambrian animals with no apparent living descendants.

scholarly journals Dark matters: effects of light at night on metabolism

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy J. Nelson ◽  
Souhad Chbeir
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Rhythms ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Night Shift ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Shift Workers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Life On Earth

Life on earth has evolved during the past several billion years under relatively bright days and dark night conditions. The wide-spread adoption of electric lights during the past century exposed animals, both human and non-human, to significant light at night for the first time in their evolutionary history. Endogenous circadian clocks depend on light to entrain to the external daily environment and seasonal rhythms depend on clear nightly melatonin signals to assess time of year. Thus, light at night can derange temporal adaptations. Indeed, disruption of naturally evolved light–dark cycles results in several physiological and behavioural changes with potentially serious implications for physiology, behaviour and mood. In this review, data from night-shift workers on their elevated risk for metabolic disorders, as well as data from animal studies will be discussed. Night-shift workers are predisposed to obesity and dysregulated metabolism that may result from disrupted circadian rhythms. Although studies in human subjects are correlative, animal studies have revealed several mechanisms through which light at night may exert its effects on metabolism by disrupting circadian rhythms that are associated with inflammation, both in the brain and in the periphery. Disruption of the typical timing of food intake is a key effect of light at night and subsequent metabolic dysregulation. Strategies to avoid the effects of light at night on body mass dysregulation should be pursued.

Sources of Air Pollution

2018 ◽  
pp. 220-258
Author(s):  
Abderrezak Khelfi
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Pollution Sources ◽  
Atmospheric Gases ◽  
Secondary Pollutants ◽  
Harmful Substances ◽  
Life On Earth

This chapter describes how air is a complex natural gaseous system essential to support life on Earth. Air pollution comes from a wide variety of sources, which discharge of harmful substances into the atmosphere, causing adverse effects to humans and the environment. They can be natural or anthropogenic. Natural air pollution sources are multiple and include volcanic eruption, fire, ocean vapors, dust storms and fermentation of organic materials. However, the range and quantities of chemicals discharged into the atmosphere from industry, transport, agriculture, energy production, domestic heating, and many other human activities, have increased dramatically. Some pollutants are emitted directly into the atmosphere and are known as primary pollutants (NOx, SOx, particulate matter, etc.). Others are formed in the air as a result of chemical reactions with other pollutants and atmospheric gases; these are known as secondary pollutants like ozone. This chapter provides an overview on air pollution sources as well as the ways in which pollutants can affect human health and the environment.

scholarly journals Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth?

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (05) ◽  
pp. 416-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Thatje ◽  
Alastair Brown ◽  
Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Keyword(s):  
Hydrothermal Vents ◽  
Pure Water ◽  
Hydrothermal Activity ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Physiological Adaptations ◽  
Subglacial Lakes ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Harsh Conditions

AbstractAbout 400 subglacial lakes are known from Antarctica. The question of whether life unique of subglacial lakes exists has been paramount since their discovery. Despite frequent evidence of microbial life mostly from accretion ice, subglacial lakes are characterized by physiologically hostile conditions to metazoan life, as we know it. Pure water (salinity ≤0.4–1.2%), extreme cold (−3°C), high hydrostatic pressure, areas of limited or no oxygen availability and permanent darkness altogether require physiological adaptations to these harsh conditions. The record of gene sequences including some associated with hydrothermal vents does foster the idea of metazoan life in Lake Vostok. Here, we synthesize the physico-chemical environment surrounding sub-glacial lakes and potential sites of hydrothermal activity and advocate that the physico-chemical stability found at these sites may be the most likely sites for metazoan life to exist. The unique conditions presented by Lake Vostok may also offer an outlook on life to be expected in extra-terrestrial subglacial environments, such as on Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's moon Enceladus.

scholarly journals New isotope constraints on the Mg oceanic budget point to cryptic modern dolomite formation

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Netta Shalev ◽  
Tomaso R. R. Bontognali ◽  
C. Geoffrey Wheat ◽  
Derek Vance
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Isotope Fractionation ◽  
Hydrothermal Fluids ◽  
Carbonate Precipitation ◽  
Magnesium Isotopes ◽  
Conventional View ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dolomite Formation

AbstractThe oceanic magnesium budget is important to our understanding of Earth’s carbon cycle, because similar processes control both (e.g., weathering, volcanism, and carbonate precipitation). However, dolomite sedimentation and low-temperature hydrothermal circulation remain enigmatic oceanic Mg sinks. In recent years, magnesium isotopes (δ26Mg) have provided new constraints on the Mg cycle, but the lack of data for the low-temperature hydrothermal isotope fractionation has hindered this approach. Here we present new δ26Mg data for low-temperature hydrothermal fluids, demonstrating preferential 26Mg incorporation into the oceanic crust, on average by εsolid-fluid ≈ 1.6‰. These new data, along with the constant seawater δ26Mg over the past ~20 Myr, require a significant dolomitic sink (estimated to be 1.5–2.9 Tmol yr−1; 40–60% of the oceanic Mg outputs). This estimate argues strongly against the conventional view that dolomite formation has been negligible in the Neogene and points to the existence of significant hidden dolomite formation.

scholarly journals Towards understanding how surface life can affect interior geological processes: a non-equilibrium thermodynamics approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Dyke ◽  
F. Gans ◽  
A. Kleidon
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Mantle Convection ◽  
Dynamical Models ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Uplift And Erosion ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Mantle Temperature ◽  
Non Equilibrium

Abstract. Life has significantly altered the Earth's atmosphere, oceans and crust. To what extent has it also affected interior geological processes? To address this question, three models of geological processes are formulated: mantle convection, continental crust uplift and erosion and oceanic crust recycling. These processes are characterised as non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems. Their states of disequilibrium are maintained by the power generated from the dissipation of energy from the interior of the Earth. Altering the thickness of continental crust via weathering and erosion affects the upper mantle temperature which leads to changes in rates of oceanic crust recycling and consequently rates of outgassing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Estimates for the power generated by various elements in the Earth system are shown. This includes, inter alia, surface life generation of 264 TW of power, much greater than those of geological processes such as mantle convection at 12 TW. This high power results from life's ability to harvest energy directly from the sun. Life need only utilise a small fraction of the generated free chemical energy for geochemical transformations at the surface, such as affecting rates of weathering and erosion of continental rocks, in order to affect interior, geological processes. Consequently when assessing the effects of life on Earth, and potentially any planet with a significant biosphere, dynamical models may be required that better capture the coupled nature of biologically-mediated surface and interior processes.

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