Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40555383›Full record

ArticleJournal of the Royal Society, Interface2025

Rethinking planetary protection: an island biogeographical analysis.

Daniel J Brener, Charles S Cockell

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Daniel J BrenerHiggs Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3340-0177
Charles S CockellUK Centre for Astrobiology, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3662-0503

Funding

Science and Technology Facilities Council
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We reconsider the problem of planetary protection using, by the analogy of planets as islands, the theory of island biogeography. We show that although the notion of equilibrium populations that emerge from the effects of immigration and extinction generally breaks down when applied to interplanetary scales, the mean-time to extinction resulting from the combined effects of growth and death rates can be quantified. We reconsider the probabilistic model of planetary protection, discuss how mean-time to extinction can instead be used to assess contamination risk, and we propose a research direction for planetary protection based on these ideas. We discuss more broadly the applicability of island biogeography to considering biotic transfer at interplanetary scales.

Indexed as

IslandsModels, TheoreticalPlanetsExtinction, Biologicalbiogeographyinterplanetarylifeplanetary protectionpopulation dynamics

Identifiers

PMID40555383
PMCPMC12187411

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.