Award Dates: March 1, 2012 — February 28, 2013
PI: Sunshine Menezes (University of Rhode Island)
Co-I: Sara Hickox (University of Rhode Island),
John B. Kirkpatrick (University of Rhode Island)
Abstract
The discovery of life in the deep biosphere has raised a conundrum for scientists: how in the world can anything persist buried far below the surface of the Earth for thousands, and even millions, of years? What adaptations allow organisms to flourish in this ecosystem poised at the edge of starvation and extinction? This is the topic of C-DEBI theme 4, Evolution and Survival: Adaptation, Enrichment, and Repair.