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| Low gravity life | |
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| Topic Started: May 30 2009, 01:05 PM (3,815 Views) | |
| lamna | May 30 2009, 01:05 PM Post #1 |
 
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I have long wondered what would happen to earth life if it had to live in very low gravity. Suppose for some reason humans create ecosystems with very low gravity. Perhaps on Deimos. And that this habitat is maintained for millions of years. What would develop? |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| ATEK Azul | May 30 2009, 04:20 PM Post #2 |
Transhuman
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I think alot of gliders and flyers would develope along with alot of things bigger than dinosaurs. |
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| Temporary | May 30 2009, 04:37 PM Post #3 |
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Transhuman
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No, not big life. Deimos is small, any life living on it could, at most, use the same amount of surface area of Deimos. Keeping that in mind life would be small. Some species might get larger, sort of like island gigantism, but it would be very limited. |
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| lamna | May 30 2009, 05:05 PM Post #4 |
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Indeed, their would not be enough food for colossal animals. I expect many bird's wings would atrophy so they would look flightless. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Temporary | May 30 2009, 05:08 PM Post #5 |
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Transhuman
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Maybe a planet in another solar system with roughly Earth's surface area but a lower density? |
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| Scrublord | May 30 2009, 05:20 PM Post #6 |
Father Pellegrini
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Shouldn't this be in the Habitable Zone or Alternate Evolution |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Temporary | May 30 2009, 05:24 PM Post #7 |
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Transhuman
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I think it can go here, since this is basically Earth life in the future, just in a different location. |
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| lamna | May 30 2009, 05:32 PM Post #8 |
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That is why I placed it here, because it is earth life in the future. A planet like that would probably be impossible, and even if it was not the atmosphere would quickly disappear. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Temporary | May 30 2009, 05:40 PM Post #9 |
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Transhuman
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Well, staying with Deimos I imagine flowers would grow much larger and have longer stems, so fruit would be far more common. Insects would thrive in this environement, able to evolve even thinner legs and easier to grow faster, since they the integrity of their exoskeleton would be of less concern. Any human descendent could grow to be far taller, as well as with most animals, until space became a real limit. Evolution, do to a lack of space, would be far slower. |
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| shomas | Aug 31 2010, 07:30 PM Post #10 |
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Zygote
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Gravity and a hearts ability a heart to bump blood to the brain, vital organs, and limbs is one of the major factors determining possible size in both height and length. The number of chambers in the heart and more advanced circulatory and respiratory systems allows a species to achieve larger dimensions. The smallest of insects don't have a heart but rely on muscle and digestive track movement to circulate blood. Most insects have a single chamber heart, while non have vessels to circulate blood to distant extremities. Fish have 2 chamber hearts but living suspended in water, they don't have to overcome gravity (one reason why aquatic mammals such as whales can be so huge). Amphibians and reptiles have 3 chamber hearts, but oxygen poor blood mixes with oxygen rich blood from the lungs in the heart limiting their height, length and in part limits how long they can exert energy. Birds and mammals have 4 chamber hearts with distinct veins and arteries for circulatory systems, making the tallest animals today ostriches for birds and giraffes for animals. I am inclined to believe that earth has expanded in volume and grown in mass (Check out expanding earth theories (click back button to watch more vids)), that prehistoric dinosaurs (gigantic reptile relatives), insects (almost a meter) that would crush under todays gravity, and monster sized amphibians at 4 meters and the largest of land mammals such as mastodons lived on lower gravity earth in the past but now extinct. If it is true that gravity has increased, and that gigantic sized animals of the past were able to reach their size because of lower gravity, then it is likely that evolution would lead the the possibility of larger animals then earth bound ones. Considering that todays animals have many vestigial genes left over from their ancestors, It may be possible that in micro gravity environments minor mutations could allow for rapid changes in size as some genes are reused. Even more so if selected for such. |
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| Pando | Aug 31 2010, 07:38 PM Post #11 |
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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That theory is bogus. Deimos is too small, Luna is a better spot. |
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| Wibnice | Aug 31 2010, 11:22 PM Post #12 |
Newborn
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I can understand why organisms can grow bigger in such an environment, but do they need to? |
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| shomas | Aug 31 2010, 11:52 PM Post #13 |
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Zygote
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The alternative "Pangaea" has too many problems both geologically and biologically. Frankly there is no other theory that better explains geography such as coast of every continent fitting together on a smaller earth, mountain forming as earth's crust re-curves, the age of ocean floors between tectonic spreads, same processes on the mars, our own moon, and other moons around to solar system. As it relates to biology, the distributions of prehistoric animals and plants living in a reduced oxygen environment and lower gravity supporting both huge plants and at the same time the largest animals that would not need as much oxygen to move around as they would today with even more oxygen. More Gravity and carbon dioxide explain why the largest plant of today are smaller then prehistoric ones, why today no reptile stands more then a few feet, but the longest, a salt water crocodile grows on average 16 feet to 20 feet yet crocodiles used to grow 40 feet or more. The common theme is for each type of animal (insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals), todays earth does not support same as big as it used too. |
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| Toad of Spades | Sep 1 2010, 12:22 AM Post #14 |
Clorothod
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Modern crocodilians have four-chambered hearts inherited from their highly active, endothermic ancestors. When their heart evolved for high control over blood flow and oxygen distribution, they reverted to ectotherms. I'm sure that if conditions are right they can return to a highly active endothermic lifestyle if the conditions are right. In fact some eosuchians did so during the Cenozoic, Pristichampsids as an example. |
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| lamna | Sep 1 2010, 01:44 AM Post #15 |
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Even if they earth did expand, which it hasn't, how would that affect gravity? It's the same mass of planet, just bigger. I have been mucking about with maps for years, I and I know the worlds coastlines aren't some big jigsaw puzzle. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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