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| What if the Air had been Colonized? | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 18 2009, 03:16 PM (1,670 Views) | |
| Scrublord | Dec 18 2009, 03:16 PM Post #1 |
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Father Pellegrini
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OK. You might remember that I earlier posted a topic about the plausibility of the atmospheric animals in Kenneth Oppel's novels. Well, that inspired me to post an entirely new topic of the sort about how the Earth's atmosphere could have been colonized by vertebrates, starting about 30 million years ago. Step 1, 30 million years ago: The first colonist, an the keystone species of this aerial ecosystem, is a species of fly. This fly's larvae have evolved the ability to "balloon" great distances, like baby spiders, feeding on airborne pollen grains and algae. They only touch the ground to pupate and when they are eggs--the adults are also exclusively airborne. Step 2, 25 million years ago: One species of these flies evolves swarms, great masses of larvae that float thousands of feet in the air. They are, however, easy prey for predatory insects such as wasps, some of which evolve a similar life cycle to prey on them specifically. Step 3, 20 million years ago: The next breakthrough occurs when birds begin to evolve species specialized in these atmospheric insects. Most of these birds are related to swifts and swallows, and they spend the majority of their lives in flight, hunting the insect "plankton." Naturally, they are followed by birds of prey. Step 4, 15 million years ago: Here's the difficult part. Some of these birds become even more specialized. They overcome their inability to evolve vivipary by storing their eggs in a brood pouch of skin as they fly, and almost never land. They reach enormous sizes, with 12-foot wingspans and weighing over 35 lb. With arrays of bristles around their mouths to funnel in insects, they are the baleen whales of the sky. They, in turn, are preyed on by highly specialized raptors. By this point, the sky is a fully functioning ecosystem Any thoughts? Edited by Scrublord, Dec 23 2009, 05:39 PM.
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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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| ATEK Azul | Dec 18 2009, 07:29 PM Post #16 |
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Transhuman
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That could work to. |
| I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's! | |
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| The Dodo | Dec 18 2009, 07:46 PM Post #17 |
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Prime Specimen
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It would be an interesting life for the baby bird, do you think it would need to grow quick because it needs to fly to feed? |
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| Carlos | Dec 18 2009, 08:28 PM Post #18 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Most likely birds precocial on the level of megapodes (that can fly on the same day they are born) would occur |
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Lemuria: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/ Terra Alternativa: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Carliro ![]() | |
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| Iowanic | Dec 20 2009, 12:44 PM Post #19 |
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Adult
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A thought: How vital to large-scale movements(Migration) would jet streams be? I have the seasonal climate changes on Zeta as creating hemisphere-wide jet-streams, that many of the flying creatures use to their advantage to be transported to warmer climes. Note on hydrogen as a lifting gas.....It's easier to produce, true(Water as a source, yes?) I used to worry about thunderstorms for such critters, but on earth the danger of lightening strikes hasn't stopped flying creatures, so maybe my worries were for moot... |
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| GundamX67 | Dec 20 2009, 03:00 PM Post #20 |
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Zygote
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Well, if an air-borne species were to have such migrations, then the answer would be VERY important. It would save them energy that would otherwise be used by propelling themselves such a far distance. That saved energy would be critical in ensuring that they are able to survive when they land, and have energy to sustain themselves. And for the lifting gas...Methane would be more likely: it is also lighter-than-air, it's molecules are larger, thus more easily contained, and it's produced by a wide range of biological organisms through digestive properties or similar processes. Theoretically, it could be more than possible that a methane-producing bacterium or protist becomes symbiotic with a number of plants. Those plants eventually create leaf-like "balloons" that contain the gas, and provide for an environment for the bacteria to live and thrive. Then, the network of "methane-filled balloon" plants could create a place for the air-based creatures to rest and seek shelter. *Edit: Hydrogen looks to be a likely gas, as well, but it's more likely a combination of the two to provide the lift necessary. Edited by GundamX67, Dec 20 2009, 03:02 PM.
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| ATEK Azul | Dec 20 2009, 04:13 PM Post #21 |
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Transhuman
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I doubt lightning will be to much of a problem. Also welcome GundamX67, thanks for the imput you have some good reasoning. |
| I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's! | |
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| Iowanic | Dec 20 2009, 04:46 PM Post #22 |
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Adult
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Another aspect to living up-high... Air temp. It tends to get cold as one gets higher. Will we have little flying fur-balls? For plant-life....how will it adapt to below freezing? Some hybernation effect? |
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| GundamX67 | Dec 20 2009, 09:43 PM Post #23 |
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Zygote
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Thanks ATEK. And at Iowanic: to deal with the cold, I'm thinking the plants would have more specialized tissues, i.e. with more resistant/thicker cuticles or waxy surfaces. Or, alternatively, the plants could have numerous empty "pockets" that hold air to be warmed by the sun or at the very least act as a buffer between the atmosphere and the trunk. The trees could also be more like the conifers of the North-Eastern US or mountain ranges. Needle-like leaves could retain the most moisture, prevent condensation that would inevitably freeze, and yet still produce the sugars and nutrients the plants need. But that means that there must be a connection between the sky-islands and the birds/insects. Bird waste would provide the soil with nitrogen, which could be broken down by insects or bacteria/protists, then absorbed by plants, etc... Now a good question would be how would the plants reproduce in such a wide, fluctuating environment? |
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| Carlos | Dec 21 2009, 05:21 AM Post #24 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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I suppose it depends on what type of plant it is. If they are ferns or whatever, maybe spores could be released into the atmosphere; they'd be circulating for a while before landing with the rains. Then they grow on the soil and, when maturing enough, the gas filled main part of the plant rises while the ground base is left to rot or be eaten. Angiopserms could maybe solve the problem by developing gas filled seeds or whatever |
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Lemuria: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/ Terra Alternativa: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Carliro ![]() | |
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| sam999 | Dec 21 2009, 10:28 AM Post #25 |
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Adult
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Now that would look silly. |
I am not suffering from insanaty. I truely enjoy being mad.![]() ![]() ![]() Comeon, thy dragons need YOU! Visit them here please... | |
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| ATEK Azul | Dec 21 2009, 11:27 AM Post #26 |
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Transhuman
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Your welcome GundamX64 you made a good impresion and a good comment of course. As for the air pockets is it possible that they use Methane pockets both as a form of floatation while using its green house properties as an insulator simular to fat? Another idea for keeping from freezing might be to have more oils and sugars in their cells than water which freezes faster. And flying fuzz balls would be hilarious but overly silly. Another thing I just thought of is that these plants could develope specialized flowers that have colored needles instead of petals. |
| I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's! | |
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| Scrublord | Dec 23 2009, 05:37 PM Post #27 |
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Father Pellegrini
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Well, I don't have any lighter than air animals or plants in my airborne ecosystem. The primary autotrophs are tiny airborne "phytoplankton" that are small enough to drift on the wind. They are eaten by the flies that in turn provide food for most of the other animals. I hope I make that clear, because I'd like to turn this into a full-fledged project on par with the Neozoic and Valhalla. |
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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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| Venatosaurus | Dec 23 2009, 05:55 PM Post #28 |
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HAUS OF SPEC
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I have my own ideas concerning an airborne ecosystem...though it's a radically alternate Earth, where arthropods remained large and dominant throughout history, and instead of fish coming onto land developing Tetrapods, they instead take to the air developing several flying forms and eventually "grounding' some of their children, which in-turn develop radically altered "tetrapods"(which in their case would be as radically different from our Tetrapods, as a monkey is from a crab). Some plants have spawned huge kite-like descendents which lead to the development of the new airborne ecosystems. |
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| Carlos | Dec 23 2009, 07:50 PM Post #29 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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As whoever who even looks at my DA gallery can tell, I sort of made up a cheap aerial ecosystem on my own. |
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Lemuria: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/ Terra Alternativa: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Carliro ![]() | |
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| The Dodo | Dec 23 2009, 09:30 PM Post #30 |
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Prime Specimen
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I took a look at it. It was good, not much information on the pterosaurs though. Is the ecosystem apart of a project of yours? |
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