Des Marais, D. J. The biogeochemistry of hypersaline microbial mats. Adv. Microb. Ecol. 14, 251–274 (1995).
Google Scholar
Belnap, J., Welter, J., Grimm, N., Barger, N. & Ludwig, J. Linkages between microbial and hydrologic processes in arid and semiarid watersheds. Ecology 86, 298–307 (2005).
Google Scholar
Houghton, J. et al. Spatial variability in photosynthetic and heterotrophic activity drives locale δ13Corg fluctuations and carbonate precipitation in hypersaline microbial mats. Geobiology 12, 557–574 (2014).
Google Scholar
Allwood, A., Walter, M., Burch, I. & Kamber, B. 3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia: ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth. Precambrian Res. 158, 198–227 (2007).
Google Scholar
Al-Najjar, M. et al. Spatial patterns and links between microbial community composition and function in cyanobacterial mats. Front. Microbiol. 5, 406 (2014).
Google Scholar
Warren-Rhodes, K., Dungan, J., Piatek, J. & McKay, C. Ecology and spatial pattern of cyanobacterial island patches in the Atacama Desert. J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosciences 112, G04S15 (2007).
Google Scholar
Allwood, A., Walter, M., Kamber, B., Marshall, C. & Burch, I. Stromatolite reef from the early Archaean era of Australia. Nature 441, 714–718 (2006).
Google Scholar
Meslier, V. et al. Fundamental drivers for endolithic microbial community assemblies in the hyperarid Atacama Desert. Environ. Microbiol. 20, 1765–1781 (2018).
Google Scholar
Finstad, K. et al. Microbial community structure and the persistence of cyanobacterial populations in salt crusts of the hyperarid Atacama Desert from genome-resolved metagenomics. Front. Microbiol. 8, 1435 (2017).
Google Scholar
Wilhelm, M. et al. Constraints on the metabolic activity of microorganisms in Atacama surface soils inferred from refractory biomarkers: Implications for Martian habitability and biomarker detection. Astrobiology 18, 955–966 (2018).
Dillon, J. et al. Spatial and temporal variability in a stratified microbial mat community. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 68, 46–58 (2009).
Google Scholar
Rillig, M. & Antonovics, J. Microbial biospherics: the experimental study of ecosystem function and evolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 11093–11098 (2019).
Google Scholar
Sephton, M. & Carter, J. The chances of detecting life on Mars. Planet. Space Sci. 112, 15–22 (2015).
Google Scholar
Naveh, Z., & Lieberman, A. S. Landscape Ecology: Theory and Application (Springer, 2013).
Mony, C., Vandenkoornhuyse, P., Bohannan, B. J. M., Peay, K. & Leibold, M. A. A landscape of opportunities for microbial ecology research. Front. Microbiol. 11, 2964 (2020).
Google Scholar
Summons, R. et al. Preservation of Martian organic and environmental records: final report of the Mars Biosignature Working Group. Astrobiology 11, 157–181 (2011).
Google Scholar
Farmer, J. & Des Marais, D. J. Exploring for a record of ancient Martian life. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 26,977–26,995 (1999).
Google Scholar
Stoker et al. We should search for extant life on Mars in this decade. Bull. AAS 53 (2021); https://doi.org/10.3847/25c2cfeb.36ef5e33
Jakowsky, B. et al. Mars, the nearest habitable world—a comprehensive program for future Mars exploration. Bull. AAS 53 (2021); https://doi.org/10.3847/25c2cfeb.e5222017
Hinman, N. et al. Surface morphologies in a Mars analog Ca sulfate salar, High Andes, Northern Chile. Front. Astron. Space Sci. 8, 797591 (2022).
Google Scholar
Cabrol, N. et al. Record solar UV irradiance in the tropical Andes. Front. Environ. Sci. 2, 19 (2014).
Google Scholar
Phillips, M.S. et al. Planetary mapping using Deep Learning: a method to evaluate feature identification confidence applied to habitats in Mars-analogue terrain. Astrobiology 23 (2023).
Wierzchos, J. et al. Adaptation strategies of endolithic chlorophototrophs to survive the hyperarid and extreme solar radiation environment of the Atacama Desert. Front. Microbiol. 6, 934 (2015).
Google Scholar
Lynch, K. et al. Near-infrared spectroscopy of lacustrine sediments in the Great Salt Lake Desert: an analog study for Martian paleolake basins. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 120, 599–623 (2015).
Google Scholar
El-Maarry, M., Pommerol, A. & Thomas, N. Analysis of polygonal cracking patterns in chloride-bearing terrains of Mars: indicators of ancient playa settings. J. Geophys. Res. 113, 2263–2278 (2013).
Google Scholar
Onstott, T. et al. Paleo-rock-hosted life on Earth and the search on Mars: a review and strategy for exploration. Astrobiology 19, 1230–1262 (2019).
Google Scholar
Davila, A. & Schulze-Makuch, D. The last possible outposts for life on Mars. Astrobiology 16, 159–168 (2016).
Google Scholar
Osterloo, M. M. et al. Geologic context of proposed chloride-bearing materials on Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 115, E10012 (2010).
Google Scholar
Flauhaut, J., Martinot, M., Bishop, J.L., Davies, G.R. & Potts, N.J. Remote sensing and in situ mineralogic survey of the Chilean salars: an analog to Mars evaporate deposits? Icarus 282, 152–173 (2017).
Bosak, T., Moore, K., Gong, J. & Grotzinger, J. Searching for biosignatures in sedimentary rocks from early Earth and Mars. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. 2, 490–506 (2021).
Google Scholar
Balci, N. et al. Biotic and abiotic imprints on Mg-rich stromatolites: lessons from Lake Salda, SW Turkey. Geomicrobiol. J. 37, 401–425 (2020).
Google Scholar
Williams, A., Buck, B., Soukup, D. & Merkler, D. Geomorphic controls on biological soil crust distribution: a conceptual model from the Mojave Desert (USA). Geomorphology 195, 99–109 (2013).
Google Scholar
Warren, J. Evaporites: a Geological Compendium 2nd edn (Springer, 2016).
Wierzchos, J. et al. Microbial colonization of Ca sulfate crusts in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert: implications for the search for life on Mars. Geobiology 9, 44–60 (2010).
Google Scholar
Robinson, C. K. et al. Microbial diversity and the presence of algae in halite endolithic communities are correlated to atmospheric moisture in the hyper-arid zone of the Atacama Desert. Environ. Microbiol. 17, 299–315 (2013).
Google Scholar
Jørgesen, B. & Des Marais, D. Optical properties of benthic photosynthetic communities: fiber-optic studies of cyanobacterial mats. Limnol. Oceanogr. 33, 99–113 (1988).
Google Scholar
Szynkiewicz, A., Moore, C., Glamoclija, M., Bustos, D. & Pratt, L. Origin of coarsely crystalline gypsum domes in a saline playa environment at the White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. J. Geophys. Res. 115, F02021 (2010).
Google Scholar
Walker, J., Spear, J. & Pace, N. Geobiology of a microbial endolithic community in the Yellowstone geothermal environment. Nature 434, 1011–1013 (2005).
Google Scholar
Rasuk, M. et al. Microbial characterization of microbial ecosystems associated to evaporites domes of gypsum in Salar de Llamara in Atacama Desert. Microb. Ecol. 68, 483–494 (2014).
Google Scholar
Chen, L., Papandreou, G., Kokkinos, I., Murphy, K. & Yuille, A. Semantic image segmentation with deep convolutional nets and fully connected CRFs. Preprint at arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7062 (2014).
Chan, M. et al. Exploring, mapping and data management integration of habitable environments in astrobiology. Frontiers in Microbiology 10, 147 (2019).
Farmer, J. in From Habitability to Life on Mars 1–12 (Elsevier, 2018).
Hays, L. et al. Biosignature preservation and detection in Mars analog environments. Astrobiology 17, 363–400 (2017).
Google Scholar
Fairen, A. et al. Astrobiology through the ages of Mars: the study of terrestrial analogues to understand the habitability of Mars. Astrobiology 10, 821 (2010).
Google Scholar
Green, J. et al. Call for a framework for reporting evidence for life beyond Earth. Nature 598, 575–579 (2021).
Google Scholar
He, K., Xiangyu, Z., Shaoqing, R. & Jian, S. Delving deep into rectifiers: surpassing human-level performance on ImageNet classification. In 2015 IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) 1026–1034 (IEEE, 2015).
Adams, J. B. & Filice, A. L. Spectral reflectance 0.4 to 2.0 microns of silicate rock powders. J. Geophys. Res. 72, 5705–5715 (1967).
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine. Origins, Worlds and Life: a Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023–2032 (National Academies Press, 2022).
Rodríguez Albornoz, C. Geology and Controls on Microbiota of the Salar de Pajonales (7.209.000–7.226.500 N.–510.000–530.000 E), Antofagasta, Northern Chile. Master’s thesis, Univ. Católica del Norte Antofagasta (2018).
Naranjo, J., Villa, V. & Venegas, C. Geology of the Salar de Pajonales Area and Cerro Moño. Antofagasta and Atacama Regions (Geological Maps of Chile Basic Geology Series No. 153 (1: 100.000), National Geological Service, Geology and Mining Subsection, 2013).
Schween, J., Hoffmeister, D. & Löhnert, U. Filling the observational gap in the Atacama Desert with a new network of climate stations. Glob. Planet. Chang. 184, 103034 (2020).
Gutiérrez, F. & Cooper, A. Surface morphology of gypsum karst. Treatise Geomorphol. 6, 425–437 (2013).
Google Scholar
Bishop, J. L. et al. Spectral properties of Ca-sulfates: gypsum, bassanite and anhydrite. Am. Mineral. 99, 2105–2115 (2014).
Google Scholar
Green, A., Berman, M., Switzer, P. & Craig, M. D. A transformation for ordering multispectral data in terms of image quality with implications for noise removal. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 26, 65–74 (1988).
Google Scholar
Davis, W., Pater, I. & McKay, C. P. Rain infiltration and crust formation in the extreme arid zone of the Atacama Desert, Chile. Planet. Space Sci. 58, 616–622 (2010).
Google Scholar
McKay, C. P. et al. Temperature and moisture conditions for life in the extreme arid region of the Atacama Desert: four years of observation including the El Niño of 1997–1998. Astrobiology 3, 393–406 (2003).
Google Scholar
Warren-Rhodes, K., Rhodes, K., Liu, S., Zhou, P. & McKay, C. Nanoclimate environment of cyanobacterial communities in China’s hot and cold hyperarid deserts. J. Geophys. Res. 112, G01016 (2007).
Google Scholar
Warren-Rhodes, K. et al. Physical ecology of hypolithic communities in the central Namib Desert: the role of fog, rain, rock habitat and light. J. Geophys. Res. 118, 1451–1460 (2013).
Google Scholar
Lange, O., Kilian, E. & Ziegler, H. Water vapor uptake and photosynthesis of lichens: performance differences in species with green and blue–green algae as phycobionts. Oecologia 71, 104–110 (1986).
Google Scholar
Lange, O. L., Meyer, A. & Büdel, B. Net photosynthesis activation of a desiccated cyanobacterium without liquid water in high air humidity alone. Experiments with a Microcoleus sociatus isolated from a desert soil crust. Funct. Ecol. 8, 52–57 (1994).
Google Scholar
Palmer, R. & Friedmann, E. I. Water relations and photosynthesis in the cryptoendolithic microbial habitat of hot and cold deserts. Microb. Ecol. 18, 111–118 (1990).
Google Scholar
Potts, M. & Friedmann, E. Effects of water stress on cryptoendolithic cyanobacteria from hot desert rocks. Arch. Microbiol. 130, 267–271 (1981).
Google Scholar
Tracy, C. et al. Microclimate and limits to photosynthesis in a diverse community of hypolithic cyanobacteria in northern Australia. Environ. Microbiol. 12, 592–607 (2010).
Google Scholar
Azúa-Bustos, A. et al. Hypolithic cyanobacteria supported mainly by fog in the coastal range of the Atacama Desert. Microb. Ecol. 51, 568–581 (2011).
Google Scholar
Rull, F. et al. ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer for ExoMars. Proc. SPIE 8152, 81520J (2011).
Kontoyannis, C. G., Orkoula, M. & Koutsoukos, P. Quantitative analysis of sulphated calcium carbonates using Raman spectrometry and X-ray powder diffraction. Analyst 122, 33–38 (1997).
Lopez-Reyes, G. et al. Analysis of the scientific capabilities of the ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer Instrument. Eur. J. Mineral. 25, 721–733 (2013).
Hunt, G. Spectral signatures of particulate minerals in the visible and near infrared. Geophysics 42, 501–513 (1977).
Google Scholar
Bishop, J. L. in Remote Compositional Analysis: Techniques for Understanding Spectroscopy, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry of Planetary Surfaces (eds Bishop, J. L. et al.) 68–101 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2019).
Morris, R. V. et al. Evidence for pigmentary hematite on Mars based on optical, magnetic and Mössbauer studies of superparamagnetic (nanocrystalline) hematite. J. Geophys. Res. 94, 2760–2778 (1989).
Google Scholar
Bishop, J. L., Pieters, C. M. & Burns, R. G. Reflectance and Mössbauer spectroscopy of ferrihydrite–montmorillonite assemblages as Mars soil analog materials. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 57, 4583–4595 (1993).
Google Scholar
Levin, S. A. The problem of pattern and scale in ecology. Ecology 73, 1943–1967 (1992).
Google Scholar
Underwood, A. J., Chapman, M. G. & Connell, S. D. Observations in ecology: you can’t make progress on processes without understanding the patterns. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 250, 97–115 (2000).
Google Scholar
Turner, M. G. Landscape ecology: the effect of pattern on process. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 20, 171–197 (1989).
Google Scholar
Turner, M. G., Gardner, R. H. & O’Neill, R. V. Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice (Springer, 2001).
Wiens, J. A., Chr, N., Van Horne, B. & Ims, R. A. Ecological mechanisms and landscape ecology. Oikos 66, 369–380 (1993).
Google Scholar
Urban, D., O’Neill, R. & Shugart, H. Landscape ecology. BioScience 37, 119–127 (1987).
Google Scholar
Underwood, A. J. et al. Experiments in Ecology: their Logical Design and Interpretation using Analysis of Variance (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997).
Quinn, G. P., & Keough, M. J. Experimental Design and Data Analysis for Biologists (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002).
Neyman, J. & Pearson, E. S. On the problem of the most efficient tests of statistical hypotheses. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 231, 289–337 (1933).
Google Scholar
Zar, J. H. Biostatistical Analysis 5th edn (Prentice-Hall/Pearson, 2010).
Ripley, B. D. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B (Methodological) 39, 172-212 (1977).
Royle, J. A. & Nichols, J. D. Estimating abundance from repeated presence–absence data or point counts. Ecology 84, 777–790 (2003).
Google Scholar
Krebs, C. Ecological Methodology 2nd edn (Addison-Wesley, 1999).
Warren-Rhodes, K., Dungan, J., Piatek, J. & McKay, C. Ecology and spatial pattern of cyanobacterial community island patches in the Atacama Desert. J. Geophys. Res. 112, G04S15 (2007).
Google Scholar
Belnap, J., Phillips, S., Witwicki, D. & Miller, M. Visually assessing the level of development and soil surface stability of cyanobacterially dominated biological soil crusts. J. Arid Environ. 72, 1257–1264 (2008).
Google Scholar
Warren-Rhodes, K. et al. Hypolithic cyanobacteria, dry limit of photosynthesis, and microbial ecology in the hyperarid Atacama Desert. Microb. Ecol. 52, 389–398 (2006).
Google Scholar
Yingst, R. et al. Is a linear or a walkabout protocol more efficient when using a rover to choose biologically relevant samples in a small region of interest? Astrobiology 20, 327–347 (2020).
Google Scholar
Shen, J., Wyness, A., Claire, M. & Zerkle, A. Spatial variability of microbial communities and salt distributions across a latitudinal gradient in the Atacama Desert. Microb. Ecol. 82, 442–458 (2021).
Google Scholar
Barrett, J. et al. Variation in biogeochemistry and soil biodiversity across spatial scales in a polar desert ecosystem. Ecology 85, 3105–3118 (2004).
Google Scholar
Pointing, S. B. et al. Highly specialized microbial diversity in hyper-arid polar desert. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 19964–19969 (2009).
Google Scholar
Chiodini, R. et al. Microbial population differentials between mucosal and submucosal intestinal tissues in advanced Crohn’s disease of the ileum. PloS ONE 10, e0134382 (2015).
Google Scholar
Rivas, L. A. et al. A 200-antibody microarray biochip for environmental monitoring: searching for universal microbial biomarkers through immunoprofiling. Anal. Chem. 80, 7970–7979 (2008).
Google Scholar
Sanchez-Garcia, L. et al. Microbial biomarker transition in high-altitude sinter mounds from El Tatio (Chile) through different stages of hydrothermal activity. Front. Microbiol. 9, 3350 (2019).
Google Scholar
Parro, V. et al. SOLID3, a multiplex antibody microarray-based optical sensor instrument for in situ life detection in planetary exploration. Astrobiology 11, 15–28 (2011).
Google Scholar
Parro, V. et al. A microbial oasis in the hypersaline Atacama subsurface discovered by a life detector chip: implications for the search for life on Mars. Astrobiology 11, 969–996 (2011).
Google Scholar
Blanco, Y., Moreno-Paz, M., Aguirre, J. & Parro, V. in Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology Protocols (eds McGenity, T. J. et al.) Ch. 159 (Springer, 2017).
Moreno-Paz, M. et al. Detecting nonvolatile life and nonlife-derived organics in a carbonaceous chrondrite analogue with a new multiplex immunoassay and its relevance for planetary exploration. Astrobiology 18, 1041–1056 (2018).
Google Scholar
Ekwealor, J. & Fisher, K. Life under quartz: hypolithic mosses in the Mojave Desert. PLoS ONE 15, e0235928 (2020).
Google Scholar
Williams, A., Buck, B. & Beyene, M. Biological soil crusts in the Mojave Desert, USA: micromorphology and pedogenesis. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 76, 1685–1695 (2012).
Google Scholar
Archer, S. et al. Endolithic microbial diversity in sandstone and granite from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Polar Biol. 40, 997–1006 (2017).
Google Scholar
Noffke, N., Gerdes, G., Klenke, T. & Krumbein, W. Microbially induced sedimentary structures—a new category within the classification of primary sedimentary structures. J. Sediment. Res. 71, 649–656 (2001).
Google Scholar
Fierer, N. & Jackson, R. The diversity and biogeography of soil bacterial communities. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 626–631 (2006).
Google Scholar
Caruso, T. et al. Stochastic and deterministic processes interact in the assembly of desert microbial communities on a global scale. ISME J. 5, 1406–1413 (2011).
Google Scholar
Valverde et al. Prokaryotic community structure and metabolisms in shallow subsurface of Atacama Desert playas and alluvial fans after heavy rains: repairing and preparing for next dry period. Front. Microbiol. 10, 1641 (2019).
Google Scholar
Sun, H. Endolithic microbial life in extreme cold climate: snow is required, but perhaps less is more. Biology 2, 693–701 (2013).
Maier, S. et al. Photoautotrophic organisms control microbial abundance, diversity and physiology in different types of biological soil crusts. ISME J. 12, 1032–1046 (2018).
Google Scholar
Roldan, M., Ascaso, C. & Weirzchos, J. Fluorescent fingerprint of endolithic phototrophic cyanobacteria living within halite rocks in the Atacama Desert. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80, 2998–3006 (2014).
Google Scholar
Cockell, C. et al. 0.25 Ga salt deposits preserve geological signatures of habitable conditions and ancient lipids. Astrobiology 20, 864–877 (2019).
Google Scholar
Ripley, B. D. Spatial Statistics (Wiley, 1981).
Gelfand, A. E., Diggle, P., Guttorp, P., & Fuentes, M. (eds) Handbook of Spatial Statistics (CRC Press, 2010).
Dixon, P. M. in Encyclopedia of Environmetrics, 1796-1803 (Wiley, 2006).
Baddeley, A., Rubak, E. & Turner, R. Spatial point patterns: methodology and applications with R. J. Stat. Softw. 75, 2 (2016).
Wood, S. Generalized Additive Models: an Introduction with R Ch 3–5 (Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2006).
Simon, R. & Wood, N. GAMS in practice: mgcv. In Generalized Additive Models: an Introduction with R 2nd ed (eds Blitzstein, J., Faraway, J., Tanner, M. & Zidek, J.) Ch 7 (Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2017).
Fang, X. & Chan, K.-S. Generalized Additive Models with Spatio-temporal Data (Univ. Iowa); https://stat.uiowa.edu/sites/stat.uiowa.edu/files/techrep/tr396.pdf
LeCun, Y. et al. Backpropagation applied to handwritten zip code recognition. Neural Comput. 1, 541–551 (1989).
Google Scholar
Roberts, M. et al. Common pitfalls and recommendations for using machine learning to detect and prognosticate for COVID-19 using chest radiographs and CT scans. Nat. Mach. Intell. 3, 199–217 (2021).
Google Scholar
Shelhamer, E., Long J. & Darrell, T. Fully convolutional networks for semantic segmentation. Preprint at arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.06211 (2016).
Gal, Y. & Ghahramani, Z. Dropout as a Bayesian approximation: representing model uncertainty in deep learning. Preprint at arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.02142 (2016).
Bishop, J. L. & Murad, E. in Volcano–Ice Interactions on Earth and Mars (eds Smellie, J. L. & Chapman, M. G.) 357–370 (Special Publication No. 202, Geological Society, 2002).
Buzgar, N., Buzatu, A. & Sanislav, I. V. The Raman study of certain sulfates. An. Stiintificie Univ. Al. I. Cuza IASI Geol. 55, 5–23 (2009).
Jehlicka, J., Edwards, H. & Oren, A. Raman spectroscopy of microbial pigments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80, 3286–3295 (2013).
Source: Ecology - nature.com
