03243nas a2200193   4500008004100000245010700041210006900148260005600217300000800273490001000281520253500291653001502826653001702841653001302858653001702871653001802888100002502906856011802931       2024                        eng d00aIn situ and remote biosignatures from microbial mats in ephemeral streams of Fryxell Basin, Antarctica0 aIn situ and remote biosignatures from microbial mats in ephemera  aFlagstaff, AZbNorthern Arizona Universityc08/2024  a3400 vPh.D.3 a<p>Transient water-limited environments are understood to have hosted microbial communities early in Earth&rsquo;s history, and thus, may have been important ecosystems for life in ancient fluvial systems on Mars and water-limited environments on rocky Earth-like exoplanets. Similar environmental systems exist on Earth today, acting as meaningful analogs to study the preservation and detection of life in these environments. Particularly useful analogs are the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, given their cold temperatures, aridity, elevated UV radiation exposure, and predominantly microbial ecosystem. Basins in these valleys contain ephemeral glacial meltwater streams, which contain a diversity of microbial communities that are only active when the streams are flowing ten weeks of the summer. These microbial communities were studied to examine how their in situ and remote biosignatures could inform the detection of similar life on Mars and rocky exoplanets. Specifically, these organisms were found in association with carbonate rock coatings, morphologically resembling modern and ancient stromatolites from rivers, ponds, lakes, and hot springs. Microorganisms from these communities were preserved within and influenced the formation of these coatings, becoming an additional Antarctic analog to ancient stromatolites. The presence of these carbonate coatings in an ephemeral stream suggests that processes in transient fluvial environments on Mars could have also generated coatings, which could have preserved biosignatures. We also identified pigments within these microbial communities and correlated the pigments to community composition. We determined how the reflectance spectra of these communities were influenced by their pigments, demonstrating the capability of distinguishing microbial mat community composition in visible and near-infrared spectroscopy. The results of our study indicate that pigment spectral absorptions can act as remote biosignatures which we then applied to modeling the detection of similar life on the surfaces of cold and rocky Earth-like exoplanets. The detection times of Antarctic microbial mat remote biosignatures were compared with those of anoxygenic photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic microorganisms, accounting for false positives, to determine which biosignatures were most detectable. The results from this work demonstrate the ability of the future space-based telescope, Habitable Worlds Observatory, to detect surface life on rocky Earth-like exoplanets.</p>10aAntarctica10aastrobiology10apigments10aspectroscopy10astromatolites1 aBorges, Schuyler, R.  uhttps://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/em-situ-remote-biosignatures-microbial-mats/docview/3094642420/se-202506nas a2200289   4500008004100000022001400041245006300055210006300118260001200181490000800193520169900201653001501900653001701915653001301932653001801945653001001963653001001973100002601983700002102009700001802030700001702048700002002065700002002085700002102105700001702126856007302143       2021                        eng d  a2169-895300aExploring the boundaries of microbial habitability in soil0 aExploring the boundaries of microbial habitability in soil  c06/20210 v1263 a<p>Microbes are widely assumed to be capable of colonizing even the most challenging terrestrial surface environments on Earth given enough time. We would not expect to find surface soils uninhabited by microbes as soils typically harbor diverse microbial communities and viable microbes have been detected in soils exposed to even the most inhospitable conditions. However, if uninhabited soils do exist, we might expect to find them in Antarctica. We analyzed 204 ice-free soils collected from across a remote valley in the Transantarctic Mountains (84&ndash;85&deg;S, 174&ndash;177&deg;W) and were able to identify a potential limit of microbial habitability. While most of the soils we tested contained diverse microbial communities, with fungi being particularly ubiquitous, microbes could not be detected in many of the driest, higher elevation soils&mdash;results that were confirmed using cultivation-dependent, cultivation-independent, and metabolic assays. While we cannot confirm that this subset of soils is completely sterile and devoid of microbial life, our results suggest that microbial life is severely restricted in the coldest, driest, and saltiest Antarctic soils. Constant exposure to these conditions for thousands of years has limited microbial communities so that their presence and activity is below detectable limits using a variety of standard methods. Such soils are unlikely to be unique to the studied region with this work supporting previous hypotheses that microbial habitability is constrained by near-continuous exposure to cold, dry, and salty conditions, establishing the environmental conditions that limit microbial life in terrestrial surface soils.</p>10aAntarctica10aastrobiology10abacteria10aextremophiles10afungi10asoils1 aDragone, Nicholas, B.1 aDiaz, Melisa, A.1 aHogg, Ian, D.1 aLyons, Berry1 aJackson, Andrew1 aWall, Diana, H.1 aAdams, Byron, J.1 aFierer, Noah  uhttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JG00605201707nam a2200205   4500008004100000020001800041245013400059210006900193260001300262520102300275653001501298653001701313653001201330653001201342653001801354653000901372100002401381700002101405856007501426       2021                        eng d  a978012820245600aThe McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica: A geological, environmental, and ecological analog to the Martian surface and near surface0 aMcMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica A geological environmental and  bElsevier3 a<p>The surface of Mars is universally thought to have experienced widespread cold and dry environmental conditions for at least the last half of its geologic history, with more modern studies suggesting relatively cold and dry conditions early in its geologic history as well. However, the paucity of liquid water and mean annual temperatures well below the freezing point of water do not necessarily mean a complete cessation of all water-related geologic activity at the Martian surface. Over the past several decades, investigations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica have revealed a dynamic geological, environmental, and ecological system resulting from locally optimized conditions operating over repeated, albeit brief, intervals during summer months. In this chapter, we compare the hyper-arid and hypo-thermal environments of the MDV and the modern Martian surface and discuss three unique enigmas that demonstrate how the Antarctic is a valuable analog to better understand processes on Mars.</p>10aAntarctica10aastrobiology10aclimate10ageology10ageomorphology10aMars1 aSalvatore, Mark, R.1 aLevy, Joseph, S.  uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128202456000112