The reason why the beauty is more prominent is political in my opinion: The people on Mars can relate to and see the changing environment in the later books. Th

The reason why the beauty is more prominent is political in my opinion: The people on Mars can relate to and see the changing environment in the later books. The possibility of Martian life is a mere academic motive. Also some characters begin to spread earth life already in the first book. So if they would find Martian life after this event it could be just mutated Earth life...