Deep
Subsurface Biosphere ─ Any Parasites?
Post #27
Donald
A. Windsor
As
even more information comes in on the deep subsurface biosphere, the
more I wonder about generalities already made about our surface
biosphere.
The
deep subsurface biosphere is composed of archaea, bacteria, and
eukaryotes that live underground down to great depths, even under the
oceans (1 - 6). It could have more species than our surface
biosphere does (2).
Six
years ago I proposed that parasitism was a property of life on Earth
and if it is found on extraterrestrial planets, it would be a
universal property. If it were not found on other planets, then it
would be a property of Earth alone (7).
So
far, I have not uncovered any reports of parasites in the deep
subsurface biosphere.
In
1998 I proclaimed that most of the species on Earth were parasites
(8). If there are no parasites in the deep subsurface biosphere, my
hypothesis would be nullified. However, I did say "on"
Earth, not "in". Nevertheless, I meant "on",
because I was not aware of how massive the deep subsurface biosphere
is.
Another
thought I advocated is that parasites produce biodiversity by
stopping monocultures before they get too large (9). Some of the
colonies in the deep subsurface may have monocultures. That in itself
could indicate a lack of parasites.
I
find this all very exciting because I thought that finding
extraterrestrial life on Mars would be a test of my hypotheses (10).
But now the deep subsurface biosphere may provide that test.
References
cited:
1.
Lawton, Graham. Earth's deep, dark secret. New Scientist
2019 May 11; 242(3229): 42-45.
2.
Klein, JoAnna. Deep beneath your feet, they live in the octillions.
The New York Times 2018 December 19.
3.
Purkamo, Lotta. et al. Diversity and functionality of archaeal,
bacterial, and fungal communities in deep archaean bedrock. FEMS
Microbiology Ecology 2018; 94: 1-14.
4.
D'Hondt, Steven; et al. Presence of oxygen and aerobic communities
from sea floor to basement in deep-sea sediments. Nature
Geoscience 2015; 8: 299-304.
5.
Magnabosco, C. et al. The biomass and biodiversity of the continental
subsurface. Nature Geoscience 2018 October; 11(10): 707.
6.
Puente-Sánchez, Fernando. et al. Viable cyanobacteria in the deep
continental subsurface. PNAS 2018 October 16; 115(42):
10702-10707.
7.
Windsor, Donald A. Parasitism as a property of life.
parasitesdominate.blogspot.com 2013 September 3. Post #2.
8.
Windsor, Donald A. Most of the species on Earth are parasites.
International
Journal for Parasitology 1998 December;
28(12): 1939-1941.
9. Windsor, Donald A. Role of parasites in Earth's biosphere.
parasitesdominate.blogspot.com 2017 September 30. Post #13.
10.
Windsor, Donald A. Parasitism on Mars.
parasitesdominate.blogspot.com 2015 November 8. Post #10
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