Habitability: A Review

What is it about?

To mark the 15th anniversary of the journal Astrobiology, this paper provides a review of habitability using both astrobiological and ecological concepts. Additionally to distinguishing between "instantaneous" and "continuous" habitability, we discuss the conditions required for life within surface liquid water worlds (including Earth) and interior liquid water worlds (such as icy moons).

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Why is it important?

The term "habitability" is often used in the environmental sciences. For astrobiologists, the term is often connected to the conditions required for life to persist within planetary environments, particularly over geological timescales. The definition of what constitutes a habitable environment has also been studied for decades by ecologists. However, there have been few attempts to synthesize these two parallel lines of thinking into a single, consistent view of habitability.