[Determination of carbon dioxide released from soil at different humidities]

The detection of soil microorganisms by their evolution of carbon dioxide does not always correlate with the number of microorganisms and the rate of biochemical processes in soil. New microbial populations appear in the incubation chamber as the concentration of carbon dioxide increases; this results in an increase in the activity of such processes as photosynthesis, chemosynthesis and heterotrophic assimilation of carbon dioxide. Life detection on other planets by determining carbon dioxide evolved from the ground may lead to erroneous conclusions on the presence of microorganism in the ground.