The Case for a Gaian Bottleneck: The Biology of Habitability
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Chopra, Aditya; Lineweaver, Charles
Description
The prerequisites and ingredients for life seem to be abundantly available in the Universe. However, the Universe does not seem to be teeming with life. The most common explanation for this is a low probability for the emergence of life (an emergence bottleneck), notionally due to the intricacies of the molecular recipe. Here, we present an alternative Gaian bottleneck explanation: If life emerges on a planet, it only rarely evolves quickly enough to regulate greenhouse gases and albedo,...[Show more]
dc.contributor.author | Chopra, Aditya | |
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dc.contributor.author | Lineweaver, Charles | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-02-14T04:21:02Z | |
dc.date.available | 2017-02-14T04:21:02Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1531-1074 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/112349 | |
dc.description.abstract | The prerequisites and ingredients for life seem to be abundantly available in the Universe. However, the Universe does not seem to be teeming with life. The most common explanation for this is a low probability for the emergence of life (an emergence bottleneck), notionally due to the intricacies of the molecular recipe. Here, we present an alternative Gaian bottleneck explanation: If life emerges on a planet, it only rarely evolves quickly enough to regulate greenhouse gases and albedo, thereby maintaining surface temperatures compatible with liquid water and habitability. Such a Gaian bottleneck suggests that (i) extinction is the cosmic default for most life that has ever emerged on the surfaces of wet rocky planets in the Universe and (ii) rocky planets need to be inhabited to remain habitable. In the Gaian bottleneck model, the maintenance of planetary habitability is a property more associated with an unusually rapid evolution of biological regulation of surface volatiles than with the luminosity and distance to the host star. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | A.C. acknowledges PhD scholarship funding from the Australian Postgraduate Award and the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University. | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.publisher | Mary Ann Liebert | |
dc.rights | © Mary Ann Liebert | |
dc.source | Astrobiology | |
dc.subject | carbonates | |
dc.subject | extinction, biological | |
dc.subject | models, theoretical | |
dc.subject | silicates | |
dc.subject | time factors | |
dc.subject | water | |
dc.subject | exobiology | |
dc.subject | extraterrestrial environment | |
dc.subject | planets | |
dc.title | The Case for a Gaian Bottleneck: The Biology of Habitability | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
local.identifier.citationvolume | 16 | |
dc.date.issued | 2016-01 | |
local.publisher.url | http://www.liebertpub.com/ | |
local.type.status | Published Version | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Chopra, A., Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University | |
local.identifier.essn | 1557-8070 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.issue | 1 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage | 7 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage | 22 | |
local.identifier.doi | 10.1089/ast.2015.1387 | |
dcterms.accessRights | Open Access | |
Collections | ANU Research Publications |
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