Variability of organic material in surface horizons of the hyper-arid Mars-like soils of the Atacama Desert

Fletcher, Lauren E.; Valdivia-Silva, Julio; Perez-Montaño, Saul; Condori-Apaza, Reneé; Conley, Catharine A.; McKay, Christopher P.

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2011.10.001

Cited by 31 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Presently, research on the microbiology of the Atacama Desert exhibits more vigor than ever before, with the hyperarid region around Yungay concentrating most of the efforts. As shown recently, surface organic carbon in this area varies from 2 to 73 lg per gram of soil, and there seems to be no relation between organic content and the geomorphology of the sites [44]. The microbiology in soils from one of these sites was analyzed by Fletcher et al using different methodologies.…”

Section: Progress Keeps On (2010-2012)mentioning

confidence: 84%

Life at the dry edge: Microorganisms of the Atacama Desert

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tThe Atacama Desert, located in northern Chile, is the driest and oldest Desert on Earth. Research aimed at the understanding of this unique habitat and its diverse microbial ecosystems begun only a few decades ago, mainly driven by NASA's astrobiology program. A milestone in these efforts was a paper published in 2003, when the Atacama was shown to be a proper model of Mars. From then on, studies have been focused to examine every possible niche suitable for microbial life in this extreme environment. Habitats as different as the underside of quartz rocks, fumaroles at the Andes Mountains, the inside of halite evaporates and caves of the Coastal Range, among others, have shown that life has found ingenious ways to adapt to extreme conditions such as low water availability, high salt concentration and intense UV radiation.

show abstract

Section: Progress Keeps On (2010-2012)mentioning

confidence: 84%

Life at the dry edge: Microorganisms of the Atacama Desert

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The hyper-arid soils of the Atacama experience some of the most severe climatic conditions on Earth, and are often used to understand the potential for life on exoplanets such as Mars (Valdivia-Silva et al, 2012;McKay, 2014). These soils contain very low organic carbon (OC) concentrations, with labile OC values varying from 2-73 µg C g -1 (Valdivia-Silva et al, 2012;Fletcher et al, 2012). The role of (hyper)arid conditions on soil OC processing vs. stabilization continues to be debated (e.g.…”

Section: Xeric; Yungaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Moisture activation and carbon use efficiency of soil microbial communities along an aridity gradient in the Atacama Desert

Jones

Olivera-Ardid

Klumpp

et al. 2018

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In one of the most focused studies on this topic, Fletcher et al (2012) investigated the variability of surface soil organic carbon within the Yungay region. They reported labile organic carbon values that ranged from 2 to 73 mg/g of soil, consistent with the variability of other studies in the Yungay area.…”

Section: What Has Been Reported About Organic Carbon and Life In The mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Hyperarid Core of the Atacama Desert, an Extremely Dry and Carbon Deprived Habitat of Potential Interest for the Field of Carbon Science

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest and oldest desert on Earth, also considered one of the best Mars analog models. Here, several heterotrophic microbial communities have been discovered in its driest regions, with the ones present in the soil subsurface being one of the most interesting due to its existence in a habitat with almost no water available and almost undetectable organic carbon sources. Our recent discovery of the driest site of the Atacama known to date (and the heterotrophic microbial species that are able to survive in this site) reaffirms the opportunity to better characterize the physiological and molecular mechanisms that these species use to detect, mobilize, incorporate and use carbon under these extremely harsh conditions. Here we summarize what has been reported up to date on the organic carbon concentrations in different sites of the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, proposing that due to the meager amounts of carbon and extremely dry conditions, the microbial communities of the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert may be of interest for the field of carbon science.

show abstract

Variability of organic material in surface horizons of the hyper-arid Mars-like soils of the Atacama Desert

Cited by 31 publications

References 32 publications

Life at the dry edge: Microorganisms of the Atacama Desert

Life at the dry edge: Microorganisms of the Atacama Desert

Moisture activation and carbon use efficiency of soil microbial communities along an aridity gradient in the Atacama Desert

The Hyperarid Core of the Atacama Desert, an Extremely Dry and Carbon Deprived Habitat of Potential Interest for the Field of Carbon Science

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About