Scientific Questions

By defining a common, non-genetic, controlled vocabulary for the description of microbial biosignatures and developing an open-source database based on that descriptive vocabulary, we should be able to answer a number of important questions. These include, but are not limited to:

1. How have microbial biosignatures changed since their earliest occurrences in the Precambrian to the present?
2. What is the interpretation and significance of these changes with respect to understanding the evolution of life on Earth, its atmosphere, and paleoecology?
3. Is there really a sudden decrease in the diversity of microbial biosignatures as published, and oft-referenced, by Awramik, or is this just a reflection of the [low] quality of the database that he used to come to this conclusion?
4. What is the full range of microbial biosignatures in the Earth’s rock record? This is vitally important as the Earth is the actualistic model for seeking the rock evidence for life on other celestial bodies (such as Mars).
5. Do certain paleoenvironments and geological time periods correlate with specific microbial biosignatures and why?