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| Hothouse; Fall of animals, rise of plants | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 11 2010, 06:57 PM (2,025 Views) | |
| Scrublord | Jun 11 2010, 06:57 PM Post #1 |
Father Pellegrini
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This was an odd little novel written in 1962 that may actually have been one of the first real works of speculative biology out there. Basically, the premise is that millions of years in the future, plants have somehow evolved the ability to move around like animals, and are competing with them. There are only a few species of mammals left, including a very tiny posthuman. Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hothouse_(novel) Edited by Pandorasaurus, Jun 11 2010, 09:25 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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| Pando | Jun 11 2010, 09:27 PM Post #2 |
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Edited the post to fix the link. Anyways, don't find it plausible. How would plants even start moving or get a brain-like structure necessary to outcompete animals? |
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| Toad of Spades | Jun 11 2010, 09:39 PM Post #3 |
Clorothod
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Not to mention the herbivores that feed on them. More likely animals would still dominate ecosystems. Also wouldn't it make sense that plants would suffer as well instead of doing better than they are now? |
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Sorry Link, I don't give credit. Come back when you're a little...MMMMMM...Richer. Bread is an animal and humans are %90 aluminum. | |
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| MitchBeard | Jun 11 2010, 10:21 PM Post #4 |
proud gondwanan
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Plants would do better in a hothouse world, as long as they had plenty of water. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure plants already dominate the worlds ecosystems. I know I see way more plants than animals every time I go outside, and its a hell of a lot easier to see plants from space than it is to see animals. |
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| Holben | Jun 12 2010, 03:18 AM Post #5 |
Rumbo a la Victoria
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Plants don't dominate ecosystems, that's the microbes' job. Plants becoming able to move and evolving a suitable nervous structure would take billions of years. They won't be around that long. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| TheCoon | Jun 12 2010, 02:15 PM Post #6 |
Happy merry Jesusmas inhabitants of the Spec Forums!
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Besides, I don't see any advantage for them to evolve nervous system. It would be better if they evolved symbiosis with animals, so that animals move for them. |
Greetings young life form! Procyon Lotor at your service.
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| Rhob | Jun 12 2010, 02:27 PM Post #7 |
Adult
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Why did carnivorous plants evolve at all, then? A "hothouse" world may have more rainforest-type habitats where competition over soil and sunlight is very fierce. Some plants may give rise to descendants which supplement their poor soil nutrition with animal nutrients. On Earth today, the Venus Flytrap is a famous example of an "active" carnivorous plant. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine a plant that can move even more than a Venus Flytrap can? Perhaps it also has the ability to sense nearby prey in some manner. |
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| colddigger | Jun 12 2010, 02:30 PM Post #8 |
Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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Carnivorous plants evolved to deal with the lack of nutrients in the soil, they kill and absorb animals to get to the phosphorus and such in their bodies, not for the fats or sugars to use as energy. I suppose that in a rain forest environment, where the soil is incredibly low in nutrients, carnivorous and parasitic plants might arise, but they would likely be parasitic to other plants since animals would simply clean the early versions off of themselves. Or eat them.
Edited by colddigger, Jun 12 2010, 02:32 PM.
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| Holben | Jun 12 2010, 02:33 PM Post #9 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Carnivorous plants evolved to get nutrients in poor-nutrient environments. Any senses a plant has are the snapping shut of a flytrap, due to movement of water, or the twisting and growing of a thing. Errr.... word... sorry, forgotten it. Not even a quick google found it. But anyway, if you touch it it wraps round your finger, slowly. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| colddigger | Jun 12 2010, 02:35 PM Post #10 |
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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The flytrap is triggered by sensory hairs, not sure about the vine you are talking about but I've heard of something like that... I think that's just rapid growth to anchor the main plant isn't it? |
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| Rhob | Jun 12 2010, 02:38 PM Post #11 |
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Adult
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I did say that carnivorous plants evolved to deal with poor soil nutrition. I don't know how you could claim that I said otherwise, or that I somehow implied that plants would eat animals for protein, fat, etc. What serves as nutrition to plants doesn't have to be the same things that serve as such to animals. Also, to say that plant could never evolve animal-like senses is akin to saying blind worm could never evolve eyes. Edited by Rhob, Jun 12 2010, 02:39 PM.
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| Holben | Jun 12 2010, 02:44 PM Post #12 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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A blind worm is far more advanced in that respect than any plant, ie it already has a complex nervous system and with a little growth enough space to porcess light. ANimals with brains that size can tell light from dark. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| Rhob | Jun 12 2010, 02:46 PM Post #13 |
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Adult
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Okay, replace "blind worm" with "blind cnidarian". Now what?
Edited by Rhob, Jun 12 2010, 02:47 PM.
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| Holben | Jun 12 2010, 02:48 PM Post #14 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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... cheating. Cnidarians are vastly different and have no chance of moving to land where that kind of sense would be needed. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| Ddraig Goch | Jun 12 2010, 03:11 PM Post #15 |
Ar hyd y nos
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Non-carnivorous plants can move. The Stilt-Palm (Socratea exorrhiza) quite literally drags itself into patches of light in the rainforests of Central America. |
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