Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Atacama Life Vida en Atacama Chris McKay & Maite Trujillo NASA Ames

Similar presentations


Presentation on theme: "Atacama Life Vida en Atacama Chris McKay & Maite Trujillo NASA Ames"— Presentation transcript:

1 Atacama Life Vida en Atacama Chris McKay & Maite Trujillo NASA Ames cmckay@mail.arc.nasa.gov mtrujillo@mail.arc.nasa.gov

2 A transect from arid to extreme arid Yungay station, extreme arid 50 times drier than Death Valley 500 km south of Yungay, arid about as dry as Death Valley

3 Colonized Stones in the Atacama Desert Warren-Rhodes et al. Micro. Ecol. 2005

4 Crestline for the coastal range in the Atacama Desert

5 Rock garden Altamira Vineyard

6 Moisture mm/yr Life Mars-like soils Soil Bacteria Hypolithic algae Shrubs and insects 1 525 125 Desert ecosystems Gobi Desert Mojave Desert Biology wins reducing Photochemistry wins, oxidizing Nitrate deposits 0.2

7

8 Moisture Bacterial Counts Biology>Oxidant Biology~Oxidant Biology<Oxidant

9 Implications Length scale of patchiness should vary with moisture. Soil organics will be patchy and correlate with soil organisms. Soil oxidant will be patchy and anti- correlated with organisms.


Download ppt "Atacama Life Vida en Atacama Chris McKay & Maite Trujillo NASA Ames"

Similar presentations


Ads by Google