LIFE ON EARTH:

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Life on Earth

Big life

But most of life is microscopic

Microbes were first observed in the 17 th

Century

Lots of extreme conditions stop life from

growing its not everywhere
Extreme high temperature
Extreme low temperature
Extreme radiation
Extreme acid
And so on.
These extreme conditions define the limits of life and the
places where life can and cannot grow. They define the
shape of the biosphere.

We can think of life on Earth as a

biological zoo or biospace

The edges, or extremes, of the biospace

are occupied by microbes

Most extreme environments on Earth are

dominated by microbes

How many microbes on the Earth?

It is difficult to estimate the total number of microbes, but using estimates of the
number in soils, the sea and other environments there are something like 1030
microbes on the planet
Thats

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 microbes

Where is life on Earth?

Life is a thin layer on and just beneath

the surface of the Earth

Why doesnt it look like this?

Or this?

The lower level is set by the heat in the

Earth (the geothermal gradient)

The upper temperature limit for life is about 120oC, making the
maximum depth about 5 to 10 kilometers

The upper level is set by the extreme

conditions in clouds

Currently active life has only be shown at about 3 km height

So the biosphere is only about 10-20 km

thick

How does this relate to the search for

extraterrestrial life?

Some conditions suitable for life might

overlap with extraterrestrial places

Places on Mars are

cold and salty

What have we learned?

Life is abundant on the surface and just underneath the surface of Earth
Life is bounded by physical limits and occupies a biospace
Although life is abundant, its physical limits mean it occupies a small part
of the Earth
Some physical conditions that are suitable for life may overlap with
conditions on other planetary bodies, driving an interest in the search for
extraterrestrial life
Microbes are the most abundant form of life on the Earth and usually
occupy the most extreme environments. These microbes are called
extremophiles