Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Recommendation: EAR should seek new funds for the long-term support of
geobiology to permit studies of the interactions between biological and
geological processes, the evolution of life on Earth, and the geologic factors
that have shaped the biosphere.
A geobiology program would be the basis for a powerful scientific
partnership between Earth sciences and biological sciences, directed toward a
comprehensive understanding of the relationship between life and its planetary
environment. A successful program would integrate geological, paleontological,
environmental, geochemical, pedological, oceanic, atmospheric, and many types
of biological data. It would also add key biological perspectives to research
initiatives in Earth and planetary materials, discussed below. Thus, it will be
crucial to forge strong links between geobiology and existing programs within
NSF, including the Ocean Sciences Division (OCE) (biogeochemical interactions
between marine organisms and their environment); the Environmental
Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry (EGB) Program (biogeochemical processes
in the near-surface environment); the Earth System History (ESH) Program
(ecology and climate change); Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn)
(microorganisms in extreme environments and the origin of life), Water and
Energy: Atmospheric, Vegetative, and Earth Interactions Program (Earth's
hydrologic and energy cycles); and the Biological Sciences Directorate (evolution
of ecosystems, function of organisms as a function of their environment,
microbial biology and growth in natural environments, and microbial processes in
energy flow and nutrient cycling). Partnerships with other agencies will also be
important, particularly the Department of Energy (DOE) (organic geochemistry,
carbon cycle and bioremediation); U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (surficial
cycles and processes, and effects on contaminants on organisms); the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (environmental biology and microbes in
the environment); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (greenhouse gas
budgets, microbial cycling of elements, soil development); the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) (molecular biology and soil-borne pathogens); and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (astrobiology, response of
terrestrial life to environmental change). A geobiology program would also
sponsor a needed Earth science component to the new NSF initiative in
Biocomplexity 4 —which is in many ways concerned about the central issues of
“geocomplexity”—as well as those that may derive
4 The Biocomplexity Initiative is an NSF-wide multiyear effort to understand the nature
and dynamics of biocomplexity in the environment. The first phase will focus on the
functional interrelationships between microorganisms and biological, chemical,
geological, physical, and social systems. See http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/be/ .
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