The "McDaniel's Hypothesis" suggests that the ability to detect high concentrations of microbial life on the face of an escarpment might be a means of detecting high concentrations of near surface water. Finding a way to quantify richness and distribution of microbes on Earth may have practical applications on Mars, should we find surface-dwelling microscopic life there. Soil samples taken from areas surrounding the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah were classified as either wet, meaning they were collected from places where water persists, such as washes, run-off channels and ephemeral basins, or dry, meaning they were collected from escarpments and other places where water does not persist (regolith). Incubation of samples using soda lime as a measure of microbial respiration show a significant difference in carbon dioxide output between treatments. Wet samples appear to contain more microbial life than dry samples, based on this measure. This suggests that it is possible to quantify microbial richness across treatments, and that more microorganisms persist during the dry season in areas where water lingered longest before disappearing.

KEYWORDS: Microbial ecology, microbial respiration, desert ecology, biological richness

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