Adaptive Habitability of Exoplanets: Thriving Under Extreme Environmental Change

TL;DR

This paper introduces an astro-ecological model to explore how life could adapt and survive on exoplanets experiencing extreme environmental changes, emphasizing the importance of adaptation mechanisms in habitability assessments.

Contribution

It presents a simplified yet comprehensive ecological-evolutionary model incorporating temperature variability, migration, and species interactions to evaluate adaptive habitability on exoplanets.

Findings

Adaptive habitability is possible under certain environmental fluctuation thresholds.

Phenotypic variance and dispersal rates are critical for survival amid environmental changes.

Temporal temperature variations significantly influence habitability prospects.

Abstract

The dynamic nature of life's ability to thrive in diverse and changing planetary environments suggests that habitability and survival depend on the evolutionary path and life adaptation to environmental conditions. Here we explore such "adaptive habitability" through astro-ecological models. We study the interplay between temperature adaptation and environmental fluctuations, particularly those induced by solar activity and orbital dynamics. We present a simplified ecological-evolutionary model to investigate the limits of life's adaptability on a planetary scale. By incorporating complexities such as multiple niches, migration, species interactions, and realistic temperature variations, we demonstrate the potential for adaptive habitability in the face of both gradual and abrupt environmental changes. Through simulations encompassing monotonic, periodic, and secular dynamical evolution-induced temperature profiles, we identify critical thresholds for survival and extinction, highlighting the importance of phenotypic variance and dispersal rates in adapting to varying environmental conditions. These findings underscore the significance of considering temporal variations in assessing exoplanet habitability and expanding the search space for potentially habitable worlds.