Skip to main content

Estimation, Modeling, and Simulation of Patterned Growth in Extreme Environments

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Software Tools and Algorithms for Biological Systems

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 696))

Abstract

In the search for life on Mars and other extraterrestrial bodies or in our attempts to identify biological traces in the most ancient rock record of Earth, one of the biggest problems facing us is how to recognize life or the remains of ancient life in a context very different from our planet’s modern biological examples. Specific chemistries or biological properties may well be inapplicable to extraterrestrial conditions or ancient Earth environments. Thus, we need to develop an arsenal of techniques that are of broader applicability. The notion of patterning created in some fashion by biological processes and properties may provide such a generalized property of biological systems no matter what the incidentals of chemistry or environmental conditions. One approach to recognizing these kinds of patterns is to look at apparently organized arrangements created and left by life in extreme environments here on Earth, especially at various spatial scales, different geologies, and biogeochemical circumstances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Special issue on banded vegetation. Catena vol. 37 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Press release images: Spirit. http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050819a.html (2005)

  3. Bassler, B.L.: Small talk: cell-to-cell communication in bacteria. Cell 109, 421–424 (2002)

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Boston, P.: Extraterrestrial caves. In: Encyclopedia of cave and karst science, pp. 355–358. Fitzroy-Dearborn Publishers, Ltd., London, UK (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Boston, P., Hose, L., Northup, D., Spilde, M.: The microbial communities of sulfur caves: A newly appreciated geologically driven system on Earth and potential model for Mars. In: R. Harmon (ed.) Karst geomorphology, hydrology, & geochemistry, pp. 331–344. Geological Society of America (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Boston, P., Ivanov, M., McKay, C.: On the possibility of chemosynthetic ecosystems in subsurface habitats on mars. Icarus 95, 300–308 (1992)

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Boston, P., Spilde, M., Northup, D., Melim, L., Soroka, D., Kleina, L., Lavoie, K., Hose, L., Mallory, L., Dahm, C., Crossey, L., Schelble, R.: Cave biosignature suites: Microbes, minerals and mars. Astrobiology Journal 1(1), 25–55 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. CA, K.: Regular and irregular patterns in semiarid vegetation. Science 284, 1826–1828 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Cady, S.: Formation and preservation of bona fide microfossils. In: Signs of life: A report based on the april 2000 workshop on life detection techniques, committee on the origins and evolution of life, pp. 149–155. National Research Council, The National Academies, Washington, DC (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Conrad, L.: Spaceward bound project. http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/ (2009)

  11. Couzin, I., Krause, J., James, R., Ruxton, G., Franks, N.: Collective memory and spatial sorting in animal groups. Journal of Theoretical Biology 218, 1–11 (2002)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Cushing, G., Titus, T., Wynne, J., Christensen, P.: Themis observes possible cave skylights on mars. Geophysical Research Letters 34(L17201) (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gardner, M.: The fantastic combinations of john conway’s new solitaire game ‘life’. Scientific American 223, 120–123 (1970)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. von Hardenberg, J., Meron, E., Shachak, M., Zarmi, Y.: Diversity of vegetation patterns and desertifcation. Physical Review Letters 87(19):(198101-14) (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  15. HilleRisLambers, R., Rietkerk, M., van den Bosch, F., Prins, H., de Kroon, H.: Vegetation pattern formation in semi-arid grazing systems. Ecology 82, 50–62 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hoare, D., Couzin, I., Godin, J.G., Krause, J.: Context-dependent group size choice in fish. Animal Behavior 67, 155–164 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hose, L., Palmer, A., Palmer, M., Northup, D., Boston, P., Duchene, H.: Microbiology and geochemistry in a hydrogen sulphide-rich karst environment. Chemical Geology 169, 399–423 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Jacob, E.B., Aharonov, Y., Shapira, Y.: Bacteria harnessing complexity. Biofilms 1, 239–263 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Krause, J., Tegeder, R.: The mechanism of aggregation behavior in fish shoals: individuals minimize approach time to neighbours. Animal Behavior 48, 353–359 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Levine, H., Jacob, E.B.: Physical schemata underlying biological pattern formation-examples, issues and strategies. Journal of Physical Biology 1, 14–22 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Meron, E., Gilad, E., von Hardenberg, J., Shachak, M., Zarmi, Y.: Vegetation patterns along a rainfall gradient. Chaos, Solutions and Fractals 19, 367–376 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Nealson, K., Conrad, P.: Life: past, present and future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Science 354(1392), 1923–1939 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Pitcher, T., Misund, O., Fernö, A., Totland, B., Melle, V.: Adaptive behaviour of herring schools in the norwegian sea as revealed by high-resolution sonar. ICES Journal of Marine Science 53, 449–452 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Savill, N.J., Hogeweg, P.: Competition and dispersal in predator-prey waves. Theoretical Population Biology 56, 243–263 (1999)

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Seckbach, J.: Algae and cyanobacteria in extreme environments. In: Cellular origin, life in extreme habitats and astrobiology, p. 814. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Shi, J.: Partial differential equations and mathematical biology. http://www.resnet.wm.edu/~jxshix/math490/lecture-chap1.pdf (2008)

  27. Strader, B.: Simulating spatial partial differential equations with cellular automata. M. cs., CSU San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA, USA (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Strader, B., Schubert, K., Gomez, E., Curnutt, J., Boston, P.: Simulating spatial partial differential equations with cellular automata. In: H.R. Arabnia, M.Q. Yang (eds.) Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, vol. 2, pp. 503–509 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Thiéry, J., d’Herbès, J., Valentin, C.: A model simulating the genesis of banded vegetation patterns in niger. The Journal of Ecology 83, 497–507 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Wolfram, S.: Twenty problems in the theory of cellular automata. Physica Scripta T9, 170–183 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wolfram, S.: A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media Inc. (2002)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. E. Schubert .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Strader, B., Schubert, K.E., Quintana, M., Gomez, E., Curnutt, J., Boston, P. (2011). Estimation, Modeling, and Simulation of Patterned Growth in Extreme Environments. In: Arabnia, H., Tran, QN. (eds) Software Tools and Algorithms for Biological Systems. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 696. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7046-6_16

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics