Life on Mars: How it disappeared (if it was ever there)

doi:10.1016/0273-1177(89)90224-X

Advances in Space Research

Volume 9, Issue 6, 1989, Pages 167-172

https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-1177(89)90224-X Get rights and content

Abstract

The cryptoendolithic microbial community in the Ross Desert (McMurdo Dry Valleys) of Antarctica exists at temperatures significantly below the temperature optima of the primary producers. Surviving near the limit of their physiological adaptability, the organisms are under severe environmental stress, so further deterioration in the environment results in cell damage and death. The sequence of events leading to extinction is considered to be a terrestrial analog for disappearance of possible life on early Mars. Progressive stages of cell damage and death in the Ross Desert material are documented with transmission electron microscopy.

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^∗: Present address: Division of Rice Diseases, Plant Pathology Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

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Life on Mars: How it disappeared (if it was ever there)

Abstract

Adv. Space Res.

Endolithic microorganisms in the Antarctic cold desert

Science

Physiological adaptations of biota in Antarctic oasis lakes

Ant. J. U.S.

Removal of organic and inorganic matter from Antarctic lakes by aerial escape of blue-green algal mats

J.Phycol.

Thickness of ice on perennially frozen lakes

Nature

The cryptoendolithic microbial environment in the Ross Desert of Antarctica: Satellite transmitted continuous nanoclimate data

Polar Biol.

The cryptoendolithic microbial environment in the Ross Desert of Antarctica: mathematical models of the thermal regime

Microb. Ecol.

Cryptoendolithic lichen and cyanobacterial communities of the Ross Desert, Antarctica