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Atacama Life Vida en Atacama Chris McKay & Maite Trujillo NASA Ames cmckay@mail.arc.nasa.gov mtrujillo@mail.arc.nasa.gov
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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
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Colonized Stones in the Atacama Desert Warren-Rhodes et al. Micro. Ecol. 2005
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Crestline for the coastal range in the Atacama Desert
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Rock garden Altamira Vineyard
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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
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Moisture Bacterial Counts Biology>Oxidant Biology~Oxidant Biology<Oxidant
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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.
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