| Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web. While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous. Join our community today! |
| Oxygen, thermal limits, and insect gigantism | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Jul 31 2017, 12:55 PM (273 Views) | |
| IIGSY | Jul 31 2017, 12:55 PM Post #1 |
|
A huntsman spider that wastes time on the internet because it has nothing better to do
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0022610 |
|
Projects Punga: A terraformed world with no vertebrates Last one crawling: The last arthropod ARTH-6810: A world without vertebrates (It's ded, but you can still read I guess) Potential ideas- Swamp world: A world covered in lakes, with the largest being caspian sized. Nematozoic: After a mass extinction of ultimate proportions, a single species of nematode is the only surviving animal. Tri-devonian: A devonian like ecosystem with holocene species on three different continents. Quotes Phylogeny of the arthropods and some related groups In honor of the greatest clade of all time More pictures Other cool things All African countries can fit into Brazil
| |
![]() |
|
| TAXESbutNano | Jul 31 2017, 12:59 PM Post #2 |
|
I'm going back to basics.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
TLDR; Large size may evolve in arthropods as a resistance to oxygen poisoning, and arthropods with aquatic stages are more vulnerable to said oxygen poisoning. |
![]() |
|
| kusanagi | Jul 31 2017, 01:10 PM Post #3 |
|
Adolescent
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Did arthropleurids have an aquatic stage then? |
![]() |
|
| HangingThief | Jul 31 2017, 01:15 PM Post #4 |
![]()
ghoulish
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Assuming they were generally terrestrial, no. Probably not. Personally I don't buy the idea that oxygen levels are a constraint on arthropod size. If they needed to grow bigger, they would develop a more active respiratory system. |
|
Hey. | |
![]() |
|
| Nyarlathotep | Jul 31 2017, 01:59 PM Post #5 |
![]()
The Creeping Chaos
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
There's also the case of Jaekelopterus, the largest known arthropod of all time, which lived in the early Devonian when oxygen levels were lower than they are today. I think lack of competition from vertebrates helped them in that context. |
![]() |
|
| Joe99 | Aug 2 2017, 11:56 PM Post #6 |
|
Zygote
![]()
|
i feel like all the large athropod growth that happened during the time was more due to niche partitoning over just more oxygen |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Science Central · Next Topic » |
























7:26 PM Jul 10