Servicenavigation

Project Details

Back

Projekt Print View

SFB 1211:  Earth - Evolution at the Dry Limit

Subject Area Geosciences
Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
Biology
Medicine
Term since 2016
Website Homepage
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 268236062
 
Water is the defining feature of the habitable Earth; it is essential for all life as we know it. Evolution of life in extremely water-limited environments, which cover significant portions on Earth, is not well understood. Akin to life, water-driven processes leave unique marks on the Earth’s surface. Mars is the only other planet known to bear the marks of water-driven surface processes, albeit fossil and of great age. The slow surface processes that may operate even in the virtual absence of liquid water are essentially unknown. What is evident is that transient episodes of increased water availability leave long-lasting traces in extremely water-limited environments. Intriguingly those traces of bursts in Earth-surface evolution have rarely been related to bursts in biological colonization/evolution, and vice versa, although both relate to the same trigger: water. The objective of the CRC Earth – Evolution at the Dry Limit in the proposed second phase is to deepen the pioneering research on the mutual evolutionary relationships between Earth-surface processes and biota. The target areas are arid to hyper-arid systems, where both biota and Earth-surface processes are severely and predominantly limited by the availability of water. In the first phase we focussed on the Atacama Desert, in the second phase we want to expand our research area to include the Namib Desert; to compare the evolutionary trajectories of the two oldest deserts on Earth. Building on the progress made in the first phase we aim to isolate the key fingerprints of biological activity at the (water) limit of the habitable Earth, and to characterize the Earth-surface processes operating in the (virtual) absence of liquid water. We aim to characterize thresholds for biological colonization and concurrent fluvial transformation of landscapes, identify the tipping point(s) of biotically and abiotically controlled Earth-surface systems, and establish detailed long-term terrestrial climatic records of the oldest and most arid zones on Earth. Chronometric and spatial information on the colonization and radiation of biota will be related to the landscape evolution and their common driver: climate. In the second phase we aim to build unified numeric and conceptual models of landscape- and biological co-evolution, and investigate common genetic traits for adaptation to arid environments.
DFG Programme Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

Completed projects

Applicant Institution Universität zu Köln
 
 

Additional Information

© 2024 DFG Disclaimer / Copyright / Privacy Policy

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung