How Does Life Begin and Develop? Objective
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5 Does Life Exist Elsewhere in the Universe? Objective
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Question: How Does Life Begin and Develop? Objective 6: Define how ecophysiological processes structure microbial communities, influence their adaptation and evolution, and affect their detection on other planets.
We must expand studies of microbial ecosystems because the diversification, evolution, and survival of the early biosphere depended upon the efficient coordination of resources and processes by diverse microbial populations. Interdisciplinary studies of microbial communities are required to identify the genetic and environmental factors that influenced the spread of biological diversity and its impact on biospheric change. For example, we must define and quantify the relationship between environmental heterogeneity and microbial diversity and its bearing on evolution. We must understand how organisms affect each other, and how ecosystems modulate the environment through the processes of chemistry and the changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere due to natural geophysical processes and biology. Implementation Near- and mid-term
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