Earth's Biosphere Research Articles

Methane genesis within olivine-hosted fluid inclusions in dolomitic marble of the Hida Belt, Japan

Abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbon-bearing fluids during geological processes has a significant impact on the evolution of both the Earth's biosphere and the solid Earth. Aqueous alteration of ultramafic rocks, i.e., serpentinization, which forms serpentinite, is one of the geological processes generating abiotic methane (CH4). However, abiotic CH4 generation is not limited to the serpentinization of mafic and ultramafic lithologies. Metasedimentary dolomitic marble from the Hida Belt, Japan, is characterized by the presence of forsterite-rich olivine (Fo~89–93), and olivine crystals contain abundant fluid inclusions (<1 to 10 μm in size). Raman spectroscopic analyses of olivine-hosted fluid inclusions found that both primary and secondary fluid inclusions contain CH4, lizardite/chrysotile, and brucite. This indicates that micro-scale interactions between COH fluid and host olivine produced CH4 through the reduction of CO2 by H2 released during local serpentinization within inclusions. Our observation implies that the dolomitic marble has the potential to be a key lithology for the synthesis and storage of abiotic CH4 in a shallower crustal portion of orogenic belts.

Nature-like power industry

An overview of the works, describing the current state of the technosphere energy and presenting forecasts of its further development, is provided in the article. Based on the works of ecologists, the contradiction between the organization principles and the directions of the evolution vector of the modern technosphere and its energy with the Earth biosphere is shown. Since the transformation scale of matter and energy by the technosphere is currently commensurate with the volumes of planetary flows, the confrontation between artificial and natural habitats can lead to the destruction of the latter and to a global ecological catastrophe. In order to avoid such a negative scenario, scientists propose to “learn from Nature”, that is, to rebuild the technosphere according to the naturalness principles, just as the biosphere is organized. This process can be called greening, as a result of which a nature-like ecotechnosphere will probably be built. It will harmoniously coexist and develop (co-evolving) together with the biosphere. The main task of creating an ecotechnosphere is the formation of a nature-like energy supply system for humanity. At the beginning of the twentieth century, V.I. Vernadsky began to consider this topic in the work “Autotrophy of humanity”. In this article, the authors propose a configuration of the power industry of the future ecotechnosphere, which is based on the already well–known theoretical and experimental developments carried out by scientists in the direction of nature imitation - biomimetics. This term includes equipment and technologies that reproduce natural processes of obtaining and converting energy, such as low-potential renewable energy sources, bioelectricity generation, controlled photosynthesis, glucose power industry, artificial muscle fiber.

Research on Isolation and Protection Technology for Returning Astronauts of Deep Space Exploration Missions

With the acceleration of deep space exploration missions such as the moon, mars and asteroids, planetary protection has become an important issue that must be faced. In the near future, astronauts will perform extraterrestrial celestial operations in more distant and complex unknown environments, which may lead to a large increasing in probability and uncertainty of carrying unknown microorganisms after the spacecraft returning to the earth. From the perspective of protecting astronauts and the Earth's biosphere, it is necessary to conduct safe isolation and protection for astronauts returning from the outer space. In this paper, biological isolation and protection technologies at home and abroad are studied. For China’s future manned deep space exploration missions, we carry out a demand analysis, and propose a design scheme of isolation protection platform.

The Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) Project.

With advances in commercial space launch capabilities and reduced costs to orbit, humans may arrive on Mars within a decade. Both to preserve any signs of past (and extant) martian life and to protect the health of human crews (and Earth's biosphere), it will be necessary to assess the risk of cross-contamination on the surface, in blown dust, and into the near-subsurface (where exploration and resource-harvesting can be reasonably anticipated). Thus, evaluating for the presence of life and biosignatures may become a critical-path Mars exploration precursor in the not-so-far future, circa 2030. This Special Collection of papers from the Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) project describes many of the scientific, technological, and operational issues associated with searching for and identifying biosignatures in an extreme hyperarid region in Chile's Atacama Desert, a well-studied terrestrial Mars analog environment. This paper provides an overview of the ARADS project and discusses in context the five other papers in the ARADS Special Collection, as well as prior ARADS project results.

Carbon cycling: How much life has ever existed on Earth?

Carbon has cycled through Earth's biosphere for billions of years. New work estimates that life has recycled the equivalent of almost 100 times the Earth's entire carbon reservoir through the biosphere. This highlights life's global impact, providing a benchmark for habitable planets.

The P10K database: a data portalfor the protist 10 000 genomes project.

Protists, a highly diverse group of microscopic eukaryotic organisms distinct from fungi, animalsand plants, exert crucial roles within the earth's biosphere. However, the genomes of only a small fraction of known protist species have been published and made publicly accessible. To address this constraint, the Protist 10000 Genomes Project (P10K) was initiated, implementing a specialized pipeline for single-cell genome/transcriptome assembly, decontaminationand annotation of protists. The resultant P10K database (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/p10k/) serves as a comprehensive platform, collating and disseminating genome sequences and annotations from diverse protist groups. Currently, the P10K database has incorporated 2959 genomes and transcriptomes, including 1101 newly sequenced datasets by P10K and 1858 publicly available datasets. Notably, it covers 45% of the protist orders, with a significant representation (53% coverage) of ciliates, featuring nearly a thousand genomes/transcriptomes. Intriguingly, analysis of the unique codon table usage among ciliates has revealed differences compared to the NCBI taxonomy system, suggesting a need to revise the codon tables used for these species. Collectively, the P10K database serves as a valuable repository of genetic resources for protist research and aims to expand its collection by incorporating more sequenced data and advanced analysis tools to benefit protist studies worldwide.

AN EMERGENT PLANETARY HEALTH LAW

AbstractThe health of the planet and its life forms are under threat from anthropogenic climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, and the extreme weather events, heatwaves and wildfires that accompany them. The burgeoning field of planetary health studies the interplay between humanity and the Earth's biosphere and ecosystems on which human health depends. Scholarship on law from a planetary health vantage point remains scarce. This article fills this gap by delineating the conceptual building blocks of a planetary health law, which, in its latent form, is dispersed across various hard and soft sources of international environmental law and global health law that converge on the right to a healthy environment, and, to a lesser extent, rights of nature emerging in various domestic jurisdictions. It elucidates how the fragmented regimes of international environmental and global health law could be developed in more coherent ways, driven by an overarching concern for the integrity of the planetary foundations of life.

Paleomagnetic Constraint on the Age of the Shyok Suture Zone

AbstractThe India‐Eurasia collision is a key case study for understanding the influence of plate tectonic processes on Earth's crust, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. However, the timing of the final India‐Eurasia continental collision is debated due to significant uncertainty in the age of the collision between the Kohistan‐Ladakh arc (KLA) and Eurasia along the Shyok suture zone. Here we present paleomagnetic results that constrain the Karakoram terrane in northwest India to a paleolatitude of 19.9 ± 8.9°N between 93 and 75 million years ago (Ma). Our results show that the Karakoram terrane was situated on the southern margin of Eurasia in the Late‐Cretaceous. Our results indicate that the KLA and Eurasian continent had a not converged until &lt;61.6 Ma, placing a Paleocene older limit on the age of final closure of the Shyok suture zone. This suggests that the India‐Eurasia collision in northwestern India likely occurred after the closure of the oceanic basin between the KLA and Eurasia. The Paleocene collision event affecting India that has been widely interpreted to represent final India‐Eurasia collision instead records the arc‐continent collision between the KLA and the northern edge of India prior to final India‐Eurasia collision. Final India‐Eurasia collision in northwest India most likely occurred after the closure of the oceanic basin between the KLA and Eurasia.

Биокупол на уроках по предмету «Окружающий мир» при изучении темы «Круговорот воды в природе»

The topic "The Water Cycle", which is part of the discipline "The World Around Us", requires visual material for better understanding by younger students. The justification for this statement lies in the predominance of the visual-imaginative type of thinking over the verbal-logical type of thinking in younger students. In this regard, the abstract natural science material in the educational process of primary school, as a rule, is studied through experiments and experiments. We offer for consideration a visual material, which until recently had almost no scientific coverage: a children's scientific and entertaining set "Bio-dome", simulating the biosphere of the planet Earth and assuming interactive participation of students, including work in groups. The aim of this article is to describe the effectiveness of using the Bio-dome in laboratory experiments with elementary school students in studying the topic "The Water Cycle in Nature" based on the results of an empirical study. During the practical research the following methods were used: testing of elementary schoolchildren, laboratory experiment with a bio-dome and a pedagogical experiment. The study was conducted on the basis of the state budgetary educational institution of the city of Moscow "School N 1561". The results showed the effectiveness and prospects of using the bio-dome in the lessons of the discipline "The World Around Us" in the elementary school.

Decline and fall of the Ediacarans: late-Neoproterozoic extinctions and the rise of the modern biosphere.

The end-Neoproterozoic transition marked a gradual but permanent shift between distinct configurations of Earth's biosphere. This interval witnessed the demise of the enigmatic Ediacaran Biota, ushering in the structured trophic webs and disparate animal body plans of Phanerozoic ecosystems. However, little consensus exists on the reality, drivers, and macroevolutionary implications of end-Neoproterozoic extinctions. Here we evaluate potential drivers of late-Neoproterozoic turnover by addressing recent findings on Ediacaran geochronology, the persistence of classical Ediacaran macrobionts into the Cambrian, and the existence of Ediacaran crown-group eumetazoans. Despite renewed interest in the possibility of Phanerozoic-style 'mass extinctions' in the latest Neoproterozoic, our synthesis of the available evidence does not support extinction models based on episodic geochemical triggers, nor does it validate simple ecological interpretations centred on direct competitive displacement. Instead, we argue that the protracted and indirect effects of early bilaterian innovations, including escalations in sediment engineering, predation, and the largely understudied impacts of reef-building, may best account for the temporal structure and possible selectivity of late-Neoproterozoic extinctions. We integrate these processes into a generalised model of early eumetazoan-dominated ecologies, charting the disruption of spatial and temporal isotropy on the Ediacaran benthos as a consequence of diversifying macrofaunal interactions. Given the nature of resource distribution in Ediacaran ecologies, the continuities among Ediacaran and Cambrian faunas, and the convergent origins of ecologically disruptive innovations among bilaterians we suggest that the rise of Phanerozoic-type biotas may have been unstoppable.

Planetary Scale Information Transmission in the Biosphere and Technosphere: Limits and Evolution.

Information transmission via communication between agents is ubiquitous on Earth, and is a vital facet of living systems. In this paper, we aim to quantify this rate of information transmission associated with Earth's biosphere and technosphere (i.e., a measure of global information flow) by means of a heuristic order-of-magnitude model. By adopting ostensibly conservative values for the salient parameters, we estimate that the global information transmission rate for the biosphere might be ∼1024 bits/s, and that it may perhaps exceed the corresponding rate for the current technosphere by ∼9 orders of magnitude. However, under the equivocal assumption of sustained exponential growth, we find that information transmission in the technosphere can potentially surpass that of the biosphere ∼90 years in the future, reflecting its increasing dominance.

Biostructure of Corona Virus Infection Cycle Protein &amp; Genome Bioanalysis &amp; Generalised Route of Bio-Vaccine &amp; DNA Vaccine: A Review with Bioactive Compounds to Tackle Covid-19

Possibly Corona virus is a Space Virus. Another Possibility behind spreading of Corona virus maybe it was present in Earth Biosphere in inactive form from many years before Covid -19 pandemic. Spreading of Corona Virus was made possible by 5G &amp; 6G Technology. Extensive Space Research by which Radio signals have to be sent to Superclusters of Stars Galaxies such as IC Galaxy &amp; NGC Galaxy of Corona Austalis &amp; Corona Bolaris to search Alien Life &amp; New Stars cum Galaxy Cluster is another reason for corona virus to come on/at Earth Biosphere. As such super clusters are high energy clusters. ISM related important gaseous component which are called coronal are analogy with the solar corona. Sun Planet is thought to be surrounded by a local bubble with a radius of 100 pc containing coronal Atmosphere that produces in huge amount which contains High Temperature Sensitive Microbes which are called Galactic Corona. Worldly Known that space agencies and space centres in India, worldwide &amp; Globally are working on SETI &amp; Planetary Science as some Scientists or group of Scientist are working on Sun Planet as All those Laboratories in India Worldwide Globally send Radio Signal to Sun Planet &amp; others planets &amp; of/to their galaxies as said above such as Messier Galaxy IC Galaxy NGC galaxy &amp; targeted space microbes from those planets &amp; galaxies from space to make Space Microbes Library by which Became Discharge cum Spout by Reasons to worldwide Globally. However, they forgot it will harm to themselves too. In the Present Review we are Providing GENEREALISED BIO-NANO-ECO-BIO VACCINE ROUTE FOR COVID 19 In vitro. Also in this review we are Providing Generalised Chart of Corona DNA Vaccine to Develop it in Future.

Variations in climate habitability parameters and their effect on Earth's biosphere during the Phanerozoic Eon

Essential insights on the characterization and quality of a detectable biosphere are gained by analyzing the effects of its environmental parameters. We compiled environmental and biological properties of the Phanerozoic Eon from various published data sets and conducted a correlation analysis to assess variations in parameters relevant to the habitability of Earth’s biosphere. We showed that environmental parameters such as oxygen, global average surface temperatures, runoff rates and carbon dioxide are interrelated and play a key role in the changes of biomass and biodiversity. We showed that there were several periods with a highly thriving biosphere, with one even surpassing present day biodiversity and biomass. Those periods were characterized by increased oxygen levels and global runoff rates, as well as moderate global average surface temperatures, as long as no large or rapid positive and/or negative temperature excursions occurred. High oxygen contents are diagnostic of biomass production by continental plant life. We find that exceptionally high oxygen levels can at least in one instance compensate for decreased relative humidities, providing an even more habitable environment compared to today. Beyond Earth, these results will help us to understand how environmental parameters affect biospheres on extrasolar planets and guide us in our search for extraterrestrial life.

Microbial-driven carbon fixation in natural wetland.

With the development of global industrialization, carbon neutrality has become an issue that we must be paid attention to. Microorganisms not only have an important impact on the carbon chemical cycle between the Earth's biosphere and biogeography but also play a key role in maintaining the global organic carbon balance. Wetlands are the main reservoir of organic carbon in the mainland of China, and wetland carbon sinks are indispensable for China to achieve the goal of "dual carbon," and China has taken the consolidation and improvement of wetland carbon sink capacity as an important part of the carbon peaking action plan. As a unique low-latitude, high-altitude seasonal plateau wetland in China, Napahai shows high research value. However, the role of microbes in maintaining dissolved organic carbon balance in this area has not been reported. In the study, six carbon fixation genes, accA, aclB, acsA, acsB, cbbL, and rbcL, were analyzed based on metagenomics to elucidate the rich genetic diversity, uniqueness and differences in the Napahai plateau wetland. It was found that the microbial diversity in the Napahai plateau wetland was different from other habitats. In addition, the aclB gene, a rare taxon with high genetic diversity and rich species in the Napahai plateau wetland, played a key role in the microbial metabolic pathway. Finally, the construction of a metabolic pathway through the Kyoto encyclopedia for genes and genomes revealed the contribution of microbes to carbon fixation and the role of microbes in maintaining the organic carbon balance of the Napahai plateau wetland.

Silica-scaled heterotrophic protists: Rotosphaerida, Thaumatomonadida and Centroplasthelida in Arctic waters of Russia

Maintaining high levels of biological diversity in various ecosystems is necessary for stable functioning of the Earth's biosphere. The article describes diversity and ecology of heterotrophic siliceous protists – rotosphaerids, colourless free-living thaumatomonad flagellates, and centrohelid heliozoans – in Arctic waters located of Asian Russia. Samples were collected in the mouths of the Olenyok, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma Rivers – and small freshwater ponds near Settlement of Tiksi in Yakutia. Based on electron microscopy, 35 centrohelids (Heliozoa), 11 rotosphaerid species as well as four thaumatomonad flagellate species were found in the region. Seven species were recorded in Russia for the first time: Rabdiaster multicosta, Rabdiaster reticulata, Turriplaca denticulata, Choanocystis cf. cordiformis parvula, Raineriophrys pteromorphos, Pseudoraphidocystis glutinosa and Pseudoraphidiophrys formosa. For 43 species, the study area is the most northern location they were described. Morphological details of scales are discussed for selected species, particularly for widespread species of rotosphaerids – Pinaciophora fluviatilis. The literature on hydrochemical conditions was analyzed to find taxa with high sensitivity towards environmental changes. Such species could be further used for monitoring plankton, recovering evolutionary changes, and reconstructing past environments.

The Rock-Hosted Biosphere

Our understanding of Earth's rock-hosted subsurface biosphere has advanced over the past two decades through the collection and analysis of fluids and rocks from aquifers within the continental and oceanic crust. Improvements in cell extraction, cell sorting, DNA sequencing, and techniques for detecting cell distributions and activity have revealed how the combination of lithology, permeability, and fluid mixing processes controls the diversity and heterogeneous distribution of microbial communities in fractured rock systems. However, the functions of most organisms, and the rates of their activity and growth, remain largely unknown. To mechanistically understand what physiochemical and hydrological factors control the rock-hosted biosphere, future studies are needed to characterize the physiology of microorganisms adapted to mineral-associated growth under energy- and nutrient-limited conditions. Experiments should be designed to detect synergistic interactions between microorganisms, and between microorganisms and minerals, at highly variable turnover rates. ▪ The heterogeneous distribution of the rock-hosted biosphere is controlled by variations in porosity, permeability, and chemical disequilibrium. ▪ Several imaging and chemical techniques can sensitively detect microbial activity within the rock-hosted biosphere. ▪ The physiology and turnover rates of the subsurface rock-hosted biosphere remain poorly known.

Isotopic constraints on the contribution of lightning-produced nutrients to Earth’s early biosphere

Isotopic constraints on the contribution of lightning-produced nutrients to Earth’s early biosphere

Isotopic constraints on lightning as a source of fixed nitrogen in Earth’s early biosphere

Bioavailable nitrogen is thought to be a requirement for the origin and sustenance of life. Before the onset of biological nitrogen fixation, abiotic pathways to fix atmospheric N2 must have been prominent to provide bioavailable nitrogen to Earth’s earliest ecosystems. Lightning has been shown to produce fixed nitrogen as nitrite and nitrate in both modern atmospheres dominated by N2 and O2 and atmospheres dominated by N2 and CO2 analogous to the Archaean Earth. However, a better understanding of the isotopic fingerprints of lightning-generated fixed nitrogen is needed to assess the role of this process on early Earth. Here we present results from spark discharge experiments in N2−CO2 and N2−O2 gas mixtures. Our experiments suggest that lightning-driven nitrogen fixation may have been similarly efficient in the Archaean atmosphere, compared with modern times. Measurements of the isotopic ratio (δ15N) of the discharge-produced nitrite and nitrate in solution show very low values of −6‰ to −15‰ after equilibration with the gas phase with a calculated endmember composition of −17‰. These results are much lower than most δ15N values documented from the sedimentary rock record, which supports the development of biological nitrogen fixation earlier than 3.2 billion years ago. However, some Paleoarchean records (3.7 billion years ago) may be consistent with lightning-derived nitrogen input, highlighting the potential role of this process for the earliest ecosystems. Spark discharge experiments suggest lightning was not the main source of bioavailable nitrogen for the established Archaean biosphere, but could have been significant for Earth’s earliest ecosystems.

Frontier of Understanding Earth's Dynamics

Frontier of Understanding Earth's Dynamics

Astrovirology: how viruses enhance our understanding of life in the Universe.

Viruses are the most numerically abundant biological entities on Earth. As ubiquitous replicators of molecular information and agents of community change, viruses have potent effects on the life on Earth, and may play a critical role in human spaceflight, for life-detection missions to other planetary bodies and planetary protection. However, major knowledge gaps constrain our understanding of the Earth's virosphere: (1) the role viruses play in biogeochemical cycles, (2) the origin(s) of viruses and (3) the involvement of viruses in the evolution, distribution and persistence of life. As viruses are the only replicators that span all known types of nucleic acids, an expanded experimental and theoretical toolbox built for Earth's viruses will be pivotal for detecting and understanding life on Earth and beyond. Only by filling in these knowledge and technical gaps we will obtain an inclusive assessment of how to distinguish and detect life on other planetary surfaces. Meanwhile, space exploration requires life-support systems for the needs of humans, plants and their microbial inhabitants. Viral effects on microbes and plants are essential for Earth's biosphere and human health, but virus-host interactions in spaceflight are poorly understood. Viral relationships with their hosts respond to environmental changes in complex ways which are difficult to predict by extrapolating from Earth-based proxies. These relationships should be studied in space to fully understand how spaceflight will modulate viral impacts on human health and life-support systems, including microbiomes. In this review, we address key questions that must be examined to incorporate viruses into Earth system models, life-support systems and life detection. Tackling these questions will benefit our efforts to develop planetary protection protocols and further our understanding of viruses in astrobiology.