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| The Planet Barbary; alternative generations experiment | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 4 2008, 07:44 PM (825 Views) | |
| Reedstilt | Aug 4 2008, 07:44 PM Post #1 |
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A couple years ago I had an idea for a strange sort of alien ecosystem. Though I attached it to my overall SF-setting, I never got around to fleshing it out beyond the sapient species the came from that planet (known to humans as Barbary.) The native Barometz look something like mollusk-arthropod hybrids in their most familiar an active form. The Barometz, like all heterotrophs on their planet, are the mobile haploid generation. A male and female Barometz reproduce and instead of producing more barometz the female deposits a seed into the ground. The seed grows into a tree-like sessile autotroph, the diploid generation (all diploid generations are sessile autotrophs, various forms of plant-analogues). The Tree goes through meiosis eventually and forms a "fruit" which is basically a womb in which a Barometz develops, eventually hatching out of the "fruit" and joining the others that are tending groves of these trees. That's really all I know about these guys at this point. Any suggestions on how to flesh out their ecosystem? |
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| Saxophlutist | Aug 4 2008, 10:28 PM Post #2 |
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That sounds very interesting! Haploids as the main heterotroph of a planet. And you wanted ideas? Hmmmm... |
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| Reedstilt | Aug 4 2008, 11:47 PM Post #3 |
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Yeah. Ideas would be greatly appreciated. Should be interesting to develop an ecosystem where you don't have the usual dual kingdoms of plant-analogues and animal-analogues, but one unified kingdom. There might be some specialized clades that either have a very short lived diploid phase or a short lived haploid phase. Perhaps a type of "tree" that only releases its haploid phases every decade or so in huge swarms, which last for about a week and then disappear for another decade. Or maybe a type of "animal" that retains the "plant" phase in or on its body, let's it grow just long enough to produce more "animal" phases. There might be "grass" analogues that cover vast plains, inhabited by enormous elephantine creatures that expand the plains by eliminate "trees." The "grass," though small, is the diploid phase while the elephantine creatures are the haploid phase, constantly reseeding the plains. One thing I realized -- though I might be wrong about this -- it seems like organisms in this ecosystem would be more resistant to extinction. You're basically getting two species for the price on one. As one as one survives the other will be brought along for the ride. That Tandem existence is going to have to play out in their evolution. The "plant" cladogram will have to match up with the "animal" cladogram pretty closely. |
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| pygidium | Aug 5 2008, 12:01 AM Post #4 |
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Heh, reminds me of Orson Scott Card's Lusitania from the Ender's Series
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| Reedstilt | Aug 5 2008, 10:46 AM Post #5 |
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Yeah there is some resemblance to the Piggies-life cyle, though theirs was even more complex (If I remember correctly, there are 6 variations, three for each sex.) Only dealing with three here, an asexual diploid "plant" and male-female haploid "animals." It might be better to think of the "plants" as the actual species, and the "animals" as multicellular independently active sperm-and-egg. That's basically what they amount to. Probably the most basal members of this kingdom were something like a photosynthetic sponge, which shoots its gametes into the ocean. Rather than just hope the right gametes find each other, they evolved gametes that actively sought each other out, sometimes searching for days. During which time the gametes needed to periodically restock their biochemicals for metabolism. The actual, original inspiration for these aliens was sitting in my botany class listening to a lecture on the life cycle of mosses. |
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| Saxophlutist | Aug 5 2008, 04:38 PM Post #6 |
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Maybe the ecosystems could have different organism's life cycle out of sync? For example species #1 could become sessile for part of the year, while other organisms are still in the mobile phase. Species #1 could be the foundation of the ecosystem while the haploids could be the "fauna". Then when the other organisms go into the diploid phase they will build the ecosystem up even further, Species #1 will be mobile now. Come to think of it, it's also a great way for species to avoid competition with one another, allowing more more species in one space. |
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| Reedstilt | Aug 5 2008, 05:08 PM Post #7 |
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That's actually a really great idea, and creates a very interesting scenario in which at certain times you have one ecosystem and at others you have a completely different one, appearing without an apparent source. For example, there could be an area with a dry season/rainy season cycle. In some organisms their diploid phase is specialized for the dry season and their haploid phase for the wet season, in others its the other way around. Or perhaps species that overwinter in one form, and spend the more hospitable seasons in another form (assuming this planet even has seasons to such a degree.) |
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| Saxophlutist | Aug 5 2008, 05:32 PM Post #8 |
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Thanks! The alternating generations thing is actually really cool! And also, over time, the two sessile generations would grow over eachother, creating larger structures, possibly creating large biogenic structures somewhat resembling the Pinnacle Ranges of Snaiad. (Snaiad is another world building project if you don't know) |
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| Sliver Slave | Aug 5 2008, 07:19 PM Post #9 |
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I'm going back to basics.
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This is actually one of the more imaginative ideas for a planet I have heard of. Very creative. |
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Something is upsetting the ostriches. Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| Saxophlutist | Aug 6 2008, 04:50 PM Post #10 |
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I hope to see further elaborations of this planet. Are there any plans for any drawings? |
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| Reedstilt | Aug 6 2008, 07:20 PM Post #11 |
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I have some sketches of the Barometz themsleves, but I'm not sure if that's the final version of these guys or not. Might end up changing them drastically once I start pointing some actual thought into this. When I get a chance to scan them, I'll be sure to show them here. |
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