Special Issue "Environmental Windows for Complex Life"

Guest Editor
Dr. Martin John Heath
Ecospheres Project, c/o 47 Tulsemere Road, West Norwood, London SE27 9EH, UK
Website: http://www.ecospheresproject.moonfruit.com/
E-Mail: ecospheresproject@hotmail.co.uk
Interests: comparative geology of the earth and other planetary bodies; implications of styles of geological activity for the ability of planetary bodies to sustain life; the opportunities for complex life to develop in different kinds of planetary environments, with an emphasis on planetary-scale ecosystems with high biomass comparable to earth's forest ecosystems; the boundaries of the habitable zone, the epistemology the HZ and alternatives to the classic HZ concept; campaigning to protect earth's ecosystems and for governments to augment relevant research into earth systems, given that the longevity and prosperity of our civilisation depends upon how we interact with a changing global environment.

Dear Colleagues,

Astrobiologists have devoted a great deal of interest  to identifying environments suitable for microbial life. This is understandable, since microbiologists have demonstrated that bacteria on Earth have a wide range of environmental tolerances and an ability to remain dormant but viable for geologically significant intervals. At the other end of the spectrum, the SETI Institute is searching the skies for evidence of radio transmissions from other technologically competent civilisations. This issue will explore a territory that bridges these two disciplines, namely the investigation of the range of planetary environments which could sustain ecosystems with complex life. This is an eclectic topic and contributors are invited to bring perspectives from a wide range of disciplines to the question of  the hierarchy of environmental windows, cosmic, galactic, stellar, system architecture, and planetary which  have conditioned the  development of complex life on Earth – and also to explore the possibility of complex life which might exploit non-Earth-like environments.

Dr. Martin John Heath
Guest Editor

Submission

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• biospheres
• ecospheres
• ecosystems
• forest ecosystems
• complex life
• habitable zones
• habitable planets
• extrasolar planets
• astrobiology