Research in geobiology at the Geophysical Laboratory includes both experimental and observational studies. Biological cycling of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur are key processes profoundly affecting Earth’s environment and history. Scientists at the Laboratory have been studying modern ecosystems with an eye to understanding how similar ecosystems and environments operated during the past. Our emphasis relies heavily on the use of stable isotopes to trace elements through biochemical cycles along with biochemical measurements of community function and composition. By understanding how these parameters work in modern ecosystems, we are then able to interpret paleoclimate, paleoecology, and paleooceanography. Our studies take us to the far reaches of the globe with long-term studies in the Australian deserts (1994 to 2007), tropical mangrove forest ecosystems (1999-2008), and cold, dry Arctic regions  (2004-2008).  The strengths of these long-term studies include an in depth understanding of how biology differs on landscape and continental scales, which provides information on current global change in addition to its value in interpreting past climate and environmental changes.

• Astrobiology
• Geoecology
• Microbiology

Recent Publications

3716   Alexander, C. M. O'D., M. Fogel, H. Yabuta, and G. D.Cody, The origin and evolution of chondrites recorded in the elemental andisotopic compositions of their macromolecular organic matter, Geochim.Cosmochim. Acta 71, 4380-4403, 2007.

3653   Asthagiri, A., and R. M. Hazen, An ab initio study of adsorption of alanine on the chiralcalcite(2131) surface, Mol. Simul. 33,343-351, 2007.

3722   Bekker, A., and A. J. Kaufman, Oxidative forcing ofglobal climate change:  a biogeochemical record across the oldest Paleoproterozoic ice age in North America, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 258,486–499, 2007.

3712   Boyce, C. K., C. L. Hotton, M. L. Fogel, G. D. Cody, R.M. Hazen, A. H. Knoll, and F. M. Hueber, Devonian landscape heterogeneity recorded by a giant fungus, Geology 35,399-402, 2007.

____   Eigenbrode, J., Fossil lipids for life-detection:  A case study from the early Earth record, Space Sci. Rev., in press.

3765   Ertem, G., R. M. Hazen, and J. P. Dworkin, Sequence analysis of trimer isomers formed by montmorillonite catalysis in the reaction of binary monomer mixtures, Astrobiology 7,715-722, 2007.

3654   Hazen, R. M., Emergence and the origin of life, in WorkshopReport:  Philosophical, Ethical,and Theological Implications of Astrobiology, C.Bertka, N. Roth, and M. Shindell, eds., pp. 30-40, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., 2007.

____   Hazen, R. M., Emergence and the experimental pursuit ofthe origin of life, in Future of Life, C.M. Bertka, ed., Cambridge University Press, New York, in press.

____   Hazen, R. M., The emergence of chemical complexity:  An introduction, in Chemical Evolution, L. Zaikowski and J. M.Friedrich, eds., American Chemical Society Symposium Series, Oxford UniversityPress, New York, in press.

____   Hazen, R. M., The emergence of patterning in life’s origin and evolution, Int. J. Dev. Biol., in press.

3651   Hazen, R. M., and D. W. Deamer, Hydrothermal reactions of pyruvic acid:  Synthesis, selection, and self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules, Origins Life Evol.Biosphere 37, 143-152, 2007.

3678   Hazen, R. M., P. L. Griffin, J. M. Carothers, and J. W.Szostak, Functional information and the emergence of biocomplexity,Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 8574-8581, 2007.

____   Hazen, R. M., P. L. Griffin, J. M. Carothers, and J. W.Szostak, Functional information and the emergence of biocomplexity, in In the Light of Evolution I: Adaptation and Complex Design, J. C. Avise and F. J. Ayala, eds., National AcademiesPress, Washington, D.C., in press.

3762   McCarthy, M. D., R. Benner, C. Lee, and M. L. Fogel, Amino acid nitrogen isotopic fractionation patterns as indicators of heterotrophy in plankton, particulate, and dissolved organic matter, Geochim.Cosmochim. Acta 71, 4727-4744, 2007.

3711   Miller, G. H., J. W. Magee, M. L. Fogel, and M. K.Gagan, Detecting human impacts on the flora, fauna, and summer monsoon o fPleistocene Australia, Clim. Past 3,463-473, 2007. (No reprints availalble. Available online at http://www.climate-of-the-past.net/)

3672   Newsome, S. D., M. A. Etnier, D. Gifford-Gonzalez, D. L.Phillips, M. van Tuinen, E. A. Hadly, D. P. Costa, D. J. Kennett, T. P.Guilderson, and P. L. Koch, The shifting baseline of northern fur seal ecology in the northeast Pacific Ocean, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 9709-9714, 2007.

3670   Newsome, S. D., M. A. Etnier, C. M. Kurle, J. R.Waldbauer, C. P. Chamberlain, and P. L. Koch, Historic decline in primary productivity in western Gulf of Alaska and eastern Bering Sea:  isotopic analysis of northern fur seal teeth, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 332,211-224, 2007.

3747   Newsome, S. D., C. Martinez del Rio, S. Bearhop, and D.L. Phillips, A niche for isotopic ecology, Front. Ecol. Environ. 5, 429-436, 2007.

3768   Noffke, N., N. Beukes, D. Bower, R. M. Hazen, and D. J.P. Swift, An actualistic perspective into Archean worlds – (cyano-)bacterially induced sedimentary structures in the siliciclastic Nhlazatse Section, 2.9 GaPongola Supergroup, South Africa,Geobiology 6, 5-20, 2008.

3744   Parnell, J., D. Cullen, M. R. Sims, S. Bowden, C. S.Cockell, R. Court, P. Ehrenfreund, F. Gaubert, W. Grant, V. Parro, M. Rohmer,M. Sephton, H. Stan-Lotter, A. Steele, J. Toporski, and J. Vago, Searching for life on Mars:  selection ofmolecular targets for ESA's Aurora ExoMars mission, Astrobiology 7, 578-604, 2007.

____   Rotundi, A., G. A. Baratta, J. Borg, J. R. Brucato, H.Busemann, L. Colangeli, L. D'Hendecort, Z. Djouadi, G. Ferrini, I. A. Franchi,M. Fries, F. Grossemy, L. P. Keller, V. Mennella, K. Nakamura, L. R. Nittler,M. E. Palumbo, S. A. Sandford, A. Steele, and B. Wopenka, Combined micro-IR andmicro-Raman analyses of comet 81P/Wild 2 particles collected by Stardust, Meteoritics Planet. Sci., in press.

3746   Schweizer, M. K., A. Steele, J. K. W. Toporski, and M.L. Fogel, Stable isotopic evidence for fossil food webs in Eocene Lake Messel, Paleobiology 33, 590-609, 2007.

____   Steele, A., D. W. Beaty, J. Amend, R. Anderson, L.Beegle, L. G. Benning, J. Bhattacharya, D. Blake, W. Brinckerhoff, J. Biddle,S. Cady, P. Conrad, J. Lindsay, R. Mancinelli, G. Mungas, J. Mustard, K.Oxnevad, J. Toporski, and H. Waite, The science goals of the Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL).  Report of the MEPAG Science Steering Group, Astrobiology,in press.

3780   Steele, A., M. D. Fries, H. E. F. Amundsen, B. O. Mysen,M. L. Fogel, M. Schweizer, and N. Z. Boctor, Comprehensive imaging and Raman spectroscopy of carbonate globules from Martian meteorite ALH84001 and a terrestrial analogue from Svalbard,Meteoritics Planet. Sci. 42, 1549-1566, 2007.

3674   Suo, Z., X. Yang, R. Avci, L. Kellerman, D. W. Pascual,M. Fries, and A. Steele, HEPES-stabilized encapsulation ofSalmonellatyphimurium, Langmuir 23, 1365-1374, 2007.

3657   Teece, M. A., and M. L. Fogel, Stable carbon isotope biogeochemistry of monosaccharides in aquatic organisms and terrestrial plants,Org. Geochem. 38, 458-473, 2007.

3655   Toporski, J., and A. Steele, Observations from a 4-year contamination study of a sample depth profile through the Martian meteorite Nakhla, Astrobiology 7, 389-401, 2007.

____   Wooller, M .J., R. Morgan, S. Fowell, H. Behling, and M.Fogel, A multiproxy peat record of Holocene mangrove palaeoecology from TwinCays, Belize, Holocene, in press.