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Arsenic in the Evolution of Earth and Extraterrestrial Ecosystems

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01490450903102525

1521-0529

Ronald S. Oremland, Chad W. Saltikov, Felisa Wolfe‐Simon, John F. Stolz,

Polar Research and Ecology

Abstract If you were asked to speculate about the form extra-terrestrial life on Mars might take, which geomicrobial phenomenon might you select as a model system, assuming that life on Mars would be 'primitive'? Give your reasons. At the end of my senior year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1968, I took Professor Ehrlich's final for his Geomicrobiology course. The above question beckoned to me like the Sirens to Odysseus, for if I answered, it would take so much time and thought that I would never get around to the exam's other essay questions and consequently, would be "shipwrecked" by flunking the course. So, I passed it up. With this 41-year perspective in mind, this manuscript is now submitted to Professor Ehrlich for (belated) "extra-credit." R.S. Oremland Keywords: arsenic respiring microorganismsbiofilmbiogeochemical cyclingexobiologyplanetary evolution This work was funded in part by the USGS and by an Exobiology grant to RSO and JFS. Also FWS is thankful for an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (DBI-0511972) and support from the NASA Astrobiology Institute. We are grateful to Prof. H.L. Ehrlich for his gracious invitation to submit this manuscript to Geomicrobiology Journal, and for his help in the editing of an earlier draft.