<<-portals

Census of Deep Life Portal

The mandate of the Census of Deep Life is to perform a global survey of life in continental and marine subsurface environments using deep DNA sequencing technology.

Data are being compiled to explore: 1 the genetic diversity of subsurface microbes 2 non-biological controls on microbial distribution and diversity in the subsurface 3 their community structure and distribution in different geological systems 4 whether there are "keystone" species characteristic of underground habitats 5 the role of microbes in carbon and other geochemical cycles Investigators will provide high-quality DNA samples from relevant globally distributed sites for deep sequencing analysis of microbial ribosomal RNAs. The Census of Deep Life (CoDL) is a sub-program within the Deep Life Directorate (DLD) of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO). More information is available from the white paper "Deep Subsurface Microbiology and the Deep Carbon Observatory", the report from a Deep Carbon Observatory workshop on Deep Life in marine and continental subsurface environments.