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6 - Habitats and Life

from Part II - Life Here, Implications for Elsewhere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2020

Wallace Arthur
Affiliation:
National University of Ireland, Galway
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Summary

Here, I consider the wide variety of habitats in which organisms live. Some are obviously conducive to life, such as a rainforest, while others are not, for example a black smoker in a mid-ocean trench. Wherever the habitat of a particular organism is, it can be divided into microhabitats, each of which differs in its array of constituent species. I distinguish between the place where an organism lives and the way it makes its living there. The latter is often referred to as the ecological niche, though care is needed with this term as it is used in different ways by different authors. I then focus on three particular examples of habitats to get a more in-depth view: the soil, hydrothermal vents, and the intertidal zone. Finally, I ask the question: to what extent should we expect habitats on exoplanets to have similar features to those on Earth? Considering the ubiquity of topography (on rocky planets) and of liquid water (on habitable-zone rocky planets), it seems reasonable to expect both aquatic and land-based habitats; the latter will generally be a mixture of high and low altitudes, as well as high and low latitudes.

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Chapter
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The Biological Universe
Life in the Milky Way and Beyond
, pp. 84 - 100
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Habitats and Life
  • Wallace Arthur, National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Book: The Biological Universe
  • Online publication: 24 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108873154.009
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  • Habitats and Life
  • Wallace Arthur, National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Book: The Biological Universe
  • Online publication: 24 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108873154.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Habitats and Life
  • Wallace Arthur, National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Book: The Biological Universe
  • Online publication: 24 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108873154.009
Available formats
×