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The Impact of the Spectral Radiation Environment on the Maximum Absorption Wavelengths of Human Vision and Other Species
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Space Technology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8831-6047
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Space Technology. School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, King’s College, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK; Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR), Armilla, 18100 Granada, Spain.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6479-2236
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Space Technology. School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, King’s College, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK; Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4492-9650
2021 (English)In: Life, E-ISSN 2075-1729, Vol. 11, no 12, article id 1337Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Since the earliest development of the eye (and vision) around 530 million years ago (Mya), it has evolved, adapting to different habitats, species, and changing environmental conditions on Earth. We argue that a radiation environment determined by the atmosphere played a determining role in the evolution of vision, specifically on the human eye, which has three vision regimes (photopic-, scotopic-, and mesopic vision) for different illumination conditions. An analysis of the irradiance spectra, reaching the shallow ocean depths, revealed that the available radiation could have determined the bandwidth of the precursor to vision systems, including human vision. We used the radiative transfer model to test the existing hypotheses on human vision. We argue that, once on the surface, the human photopic (daytime) and scotopic (night-time) vision followed different evolutionary directions, maximum total energy, and optimum information, respectively. Our analysis also suggests that solar radiation reflected from the moon had little or no influence on the evolution of scotopic vision. Our results indicate that, apart from human vision, the vision of only a few birds, rodents, and deep-sea fish are strongly correlated to the available radiation within their respective habitats.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2021. Vol. 11, no 12, article id 1337
Keywords [en]
human vision, atmosphere, photopic vision, scotopic vision, evolution, astrobiology
National Category
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Zoology
Research subject
Atmospheric science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-88887DOI: 10.3390/life11121337ISI: 000737669500001PubMedID: 34947867Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85122412354OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-88887DiVA, id: diva2:1631313
Funder
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
Note

Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-01-24 (johcin);

Funder: The County Administrative Board of Norrbotten

Available from: 2022-01-24 Created: 2022-01-24 Last updated: 2025-02-01Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Atmospheric Species and Spectral Radiation in Terrestrial Exoplanets: Implications for Astrobiology
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Atmospheric Species and Spectral Radiation in Terrestrial Exoplanets: Implications for Astrobiology
2022 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The physical properties of the planets and their parent stars are fundamental in the composition of atmospheres and radiative environments, which fundamentally determine their surface temperature and habitability. The atmospheric composition and radiation play a vital role in the emergence of life. 

This doctoral thesis presents two main results: 

1. A method that uses the physical properties of the planets and their parent stars to infer the potential atmospheric compositions of the known exoplanets. For that, fundamental physics concepts and the basics of the kinetic theory of gases are used. Additionally, a new list of potentially habitable exoplanets is presented based on the resulting atmospheric compositions and the criteria that Earth-like atmospheres that can host liquid water should be considered habitable. The presented method also provides a preliminary classification of exoplanets similar to Earth (in terms of atmosphere) and their potential habitability. 

2. A study of the impact of the radiation environment on the development and evolution of the human visual system towards optimal use of the available radiation. Human vision's possible evolutionary directions are presented while overcoming the shortcomings in the existing studies. The human visual system is hypothesised to have evolved in conjugation with the prevailing spectral radiation environment for photopic (daytime) and scotopic (night-time). One of the main novelties of this study is the comparison of the human vision bandwidth with the Full Width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the radiation reaching the shallow depths of the ocean, which may suggest that this is optimized for the development of animal sight during the formation of the early proto-visual system. Moreover, the observed maximum absorption wavelength during photopic vision (555nm) correlates with the maximum total energy for a 300 nm vision bandwidth. Furthermore, the analysis of the radiation environment at different solar zenith angles (SZA) during dusk suggests that the scotopic vision evolved to optimize information retrieval during these hours. 

The work presented in this thesis contributes to perform screening of Earth-like exoplanets and the study of astrobiological or space exploration aspects such as potential habitability, human-like vision, photosynthesis efficiency and evolution of life systems on exoplanets. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå: Luleå University of Technology, 2022
Series
Doctoral thesis / Luleå University of Technology 1 jan 1997 → …, ISSN 1402-1544
Keywords
Exoplanets, Atmospheres, Habitability, Human vision, Scotopic vision, Photopic vision, Spectral radaition
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Research subject
Atmospheric science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-93145 (URN)978-91-8048-155-7 (ISBN)978-91-8048-156-4 (ISBN)
Public defence
2022-11-10, A3583, Luleå tekniska universitet, Luleå, 15:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2022-09-29 Created: 2022-09-28 Last updated: 2022-10-20Bibliographically approved

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Konatham, SamuelMartin-Torres, JavierZorzano, María-Paz

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