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| Questions that don't need their own topics vol.2; New and fresh | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 4 2018, 11:18 AM (26,865 Views) | |
| ZoologicalBotanist | May 1 2018, 11:37 AM Post #496 |
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Mixotrophic Sea Slug
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Two questions: 1.) Would a planet be able to have a helium/oxygen atmosphere (a gas giant specifically)? 2.) What major changes would need to happen with cellular respiration for life to exist on some planet, assuming oxygen is still a required for cellular respiration? Edited by ZoologicalBotanist, May 1 2018, 11:38 AM.
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| CaledonianWarrior96 | May 1 2018, 01:20 PM Post #497 |
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An Awesome Reptile
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Do we have any ideas how large crocodilians could get if they were to become terrestrial? |
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| ZoologicalBotanist | May 1 2018, 01:31 PM Post #498 |
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Mixotrophic Sea Slug
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There were fully terrestrial crocodiles that existed. A primary example is the genus Mekosuchus, which reached 2 meters long at the maximum and lived in the South Pacific islands until the arrival of humans. The sizes these real life species reached might be a good guide for how large they can get. |
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| LittleLazyLass | May 1 2018, 01:53 PM Post #499 |
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Proud quilt in a bag
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Well, the sprawling limbs and low metabolism could get in the way. If they experienced a sort of reversion to something more like earlier pseudosuchians, that could raise the limit quite a bit. |
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| CaledonianWarrior96 | May 1 2018, 03:51 PM Post #500 |
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An Awesome Reptile
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Ok, let's assume they've developed erect limbs beneath their bodies and endothermy; how greatly does this increase their body size if given the right conditions? |
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| Russwallac | May 1 2018, 04:13 PM Post #501 |
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"Ta-da!"
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Meet Barinasuchus:![]() It's a giant sebesuchian from the Eocene. All we have is the end of the snout, but it's two feet long, so the animal was clearly quite large. |
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| Terraraptor411 | May 1 2018, 07:28 PM Post #502 |
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Troodontid
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Firstly thank you whachamacallit2 for answering my questions on the islands. New question. If 90% of earths seawater was permanently removed, how would this change the Earths hydrosphere and water cycle? I should specify the 90% is entirely removed, not converted to ice or water vapor. |
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| Russwallac | May 2 2018, 12:53 PM Post #503 |
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"Ta-da!"
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1. Oxygen is highly reactive, so unless there's something producing it (i.e. life), it's not going to make up any sort of significant portion of a planet's atmosphere. 2. I'm afraid I don't understand the question. |
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| ZoologicalBotanist | May 2 2018, 01:04 PM Post #504 |
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Mixotrophic Sea Slug
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I think autocorrect or sleep deprivation attacked that last one. I ment to say what changes, if any, might have to happen in cellular respiration on a planet with a helium/oxygen atmosphere. IIRC, we use nitrogen in cellular respiration, so not having nitrogen as a major component in the atmosphere seems like it would affect things a little. Of course, plants need carbon dioxide instead of oxygen, and its only 1% of the atmosphere, so nitrogen might not have to be as prevalent in the atmosphere on the planet from question 1 and it is on Earth. |
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| Tartarus | May 2 2018, 07:50 PM Post #505 |
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Prime Specimen
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Actually, nitrogen does not seem to play any role in cellular respiration. The fact that we live in a mostly nitrogen atmosphere means breathing it in does not have any harmful effect on us but neither does it have any real use in our respiration. On breathing nitrogen-free air, if I recall correctly, the early Apollo astronauts and I think perhaps some other historical astronauts too breathed a pure oxygen air in their spacecraft. The trick was to keep said oxygen at a sufficiently low pressure that it didn't have toxic effects on them. Not sure if this is still used by any astronauts today or if it was phased out in favour of air that wasn't purely oxygen, but nevertheless it does show that we can indeed breath nitrogen-free air without any serious issues. Edited by Tartarus, May 2 2018, 07:52 PM.
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| Russwallac | May 3 2018, 08:07 AM Post #506 |
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"Ta-da!"
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing_gas This might be helpful. |
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| ZoologicalBotanist | May 3 2018, 08:58 AM Post #507 |
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Mixotrophic Sea Slug
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Thanks! This will be a big help. Also, according to the article, an oxygen/helium mixture is theoretically an acceptable breathing gas, being a mixture of oxygen and a non-reactive gas. I don't think we would use it though, due to the... side effects. Edited by ZoologicalBotanist, May 3 2018, 09:10 AM.
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| Terraraptor411 | May 3 2018, 11:51 AM Post #508 |
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Troodontid
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Also, besides feral horses, are any Perissodactyls in a fair spot to survive the Holocene extinction? As far as I know all rhinos, tapirs, and wild horses/zebras are endangered or threatened, or their habitat is as massive risk. |
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| Cool_Hippo43 | May 3 2018, 04:18 PM Post #509 |
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Hippo
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hum,ok I was thinking about the emperor sea strider ... he has mouths on his feet right? then he is totally different from any other animal (both terrestrial and Darwinian) ... his digestive system consists of two mouths on his legs (I do not idea of how he defecates ... perhaps by the same hole that entered). so I think, how did such a thing evolve, how do you develop such a system? I thought something like a kind of jellyfish-like it has is like a wheel with tentacles, each one being a filterer, which then evolved into a mouth and this thing after a long, long time became such an animal ... or several very simple beings that have a normal digestive system (mouth and anus) that join together colonially, but then end up merging into a single animal ... and would have like mammals to develop a limbless body plane, like a snake? I know this is kind of hard because of vertebrae and things like that, but is it really impossible? Edited by Cool_Hippo43, May 3 2018, 05:31 PM.
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| Akurian452 | May 3 2018, 06:19 PM Post #510 |
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Adult
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@Cool_Hippo43 I think that certain mustelids like weasels or ferrets would be the most likely candidates for evolving into snake-like mammals. |
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