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Questions that don't need their own topics vol.2; New and fresh
Topic Started: Jan 4 2018, 11:18 AM (26,845 Views)
Tartarus
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On burrowers and sand swimmers on high gravity worlds, I think they should still manage. Things would be a bit more difficult for them but not impossible.
Say, for example, you have some world that has complex life and gravity 1.5 times greater than Earth. For a sand swimming creature on such a world the sand would weigh 1.5 times more than on Earth, so it would be a bit more difficult to move through than on Earth, and thus may put some more limitations on what sort of creatures can do this, but I reckon it could still be done. As for burrow making creatures, there would be a somewhat higher risk of burrow collapse in the higher gravity, but not necessarily enough to prevent burrows from existing at all.
Edited by Tartarus, Jun 20 2018, 07:18 PM.
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Crescendo
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So I've became very interested in the concept of Carcinisation in evolutionary biology and have realized this is a great way to explain convergent evolution in spec projects.

Does it make sense for there to be other similar concepts like talpnisation (mole body plan) and caninisation (canid body plan) to take hold for common body plans?

Furthermore, maybe we should define a specific grouping of "convergent body plan hotspots" for spec wherein we can categorize what are overdone tropes and what are predictable outcomes due to environmental pressures.
Edited by Crescendo, Jun 21 2018, 09:39 AM.
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GreatAuk
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What could a flightless bat or pterosaur look like?
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Talenkauen
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GreatAuk
Jun 21 2018, 09:43 AM
What could a flightless bat or pterosaur look like?

I second this question. I've been trying to use anurognathids as a project base, and I wanted to know how well they'd adapt to terrestrial life.
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Uncanny Gemstar
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Anurognathids are very poor at ground movement most likely considering how basal they are and how much membrane they have, as compared to azhdarchids who were the best adapted pterosaurs for ground movement. I assume that morphologically they wouldn't need to change much besides reducing or losing membrane and reducing or losing the wing finger. They are already designed and capable of walking on their wings, so there most likely wouldnt be much change necessary to become wholly terrestrial. Of course I'm no expert and someone more knowledgeable than me should likely confirm or deny anything I've said here.
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lamna
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What happened to the "prosauropods"? For a time they seemed a really successful group, but they just seem to dwindle away by the middle of the Jurassic. Lots of sauropods got really big at this time, but that doesn't explain it. Evolution doesn't work that way, the smaller bipedal forms wouldn't have just disappeared.

Did ornithischians replace them? Or did they just fill the niches left absent by the "prosauropods"?
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Fazaner
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lamna
Jun 22 2018, 10:43 AM
What happened to the "prosauropods"? For a time they seemed a really successful group, but they just seem to dwindle away by the middle of the Jurassic. Lots of sauropods got really big at this time, but that doesn't explain it. Evolution doesn't work that way, the smaller bipedal forms wouldn't have just disappeared.

Did ornithischians replace them? Or did they just fill the niches left absent by the "prosauropods"?
Maybe it was do to combination of ornithischian competition and increase of theropod diversity, i think that Morrison ecosystem might be a good exsample.
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LittleLazyLass
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Well, they disappear in the mid-Jurassic (they were doing great at the start of the period), which is probably the most poorly sampled and generally mysterious time in the entire Mezosoic. So it's a bit of a hard question. I'll ask around, though.

edit: First response I got is basically that they were sandwiched by competition, which makes sense. Larger, more derived sauropods were better adapted and came in a larger range of sizes, and were competing everywhere from low, ground-level browsing to extremely high browsing. Meanwhile, faster, chewing, adaptable ornithischians came up and were also better adapted. Prosauropods didn't really came in very small sizes, just mid to large sizes, so these larger relatives and smaller more distant relatives locked them out from both sides.
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Ceratosauridslover89
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What was the Ancestor of the Ceratosaurus? I can't find it despite looking everywhere. I originally thought Proceratosaurus but then I read that it's more related to Tyrannosaurs than Ceratosaurs.

As a Second Question, Out of all Triassic Dinosaurs, which has the most potential of becoming Dominant Ceratosaurus-like predators and Dominant Parasaurolophus-like Herbivores? (They both are like the said Species but not completely alike)
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GreatAuk
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What evolutionary paths could the Saltwater Crocodile take in the future? Is it likely they will become endangered?
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CaledonianWarrior96
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GreatAuk
Jun 24 2018, 12:53 PM
What evolutionary paths could the Saltwater Crocodile take in the future? Is it likely they will become endangered?
They were previously hunted extensively in the past to concerning numbers but due to conservation efforts and hunting protocols put in place by the Australian government they've rebounded to much higher numbers and currently aren't considered to be at severe risk of extinction. There's still threats like expanding human habitat but overall salties are doing pretty well.

The saltie is pretty much already adept to how it lives and even in an altered future ecology after the HEE going on now they probably wouldn't change much from now. I could see them becoming more pelagic given their high saline tolerance so maybe they could become like mosasaur-like or marine crocodylomorph-like animals (provided females can still move onto land to lay eggs, like sea turtles). Other than that I can't think of anything else they could evolve into. I'm inclined to say terrestrial forms but I feel like monitor lizards or the freshwater crocodile would beat them into becoming terrestrial megafauna in Australia (ignoring competition with mammals and birds). But you never know. As long as you can explain how they evolved into whatever animal you have ideas for I'm sure it could be plausible and likely to happen
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Mynameisnotdave23
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How do antiarch jaws work?
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Mynameisnotdave23
Jun 25 2018, 01:06 PM
How do antiarch jaws work?
Depending on the species, they either had standard vertebrate jaws or a simple oral siphon.
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Bob-The-Seagull-King
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Heyall, so I've been getting an above-typical (for the general populace) understanding of cell biology from my classes, and I'd like to ask a few questions about that sort stuff for a potential project where I try and create more original and *alien* life by basing it off a different basic cell structure than just presuming an earth-like animal cell.

So my first question is about respiration. From what I know the ETC stage of respiration only uses hydrogen and oxygen to form the ATP energy, I've also been told that a significant portion of the energy from respiration comes from this stage of respiration. I'm wondering if it were theoretically possible for an organism to, using the same process for splitting water into H and O that plant cells use, synthesize that energy ONLY using water as the fuel instead of breaking down glucose into pyruvate and hydrogen.

The second question is about the structure of cell membranes. Our cells use a phospholipid bi layer as the basis for the cell membrane, which is wobbly and can change its shape. I'm wondering if the shape of the 'tails' of these phospholipids can only be in the shape we currently have them in, or if it would be somewhat as possible for us to have evolved with these 'tails' in a different shape. Additionally, I'm wondering if there would be something simple that could serve to bond these together so that their structure is more solid (not in the sense of a cell wall around the membrane, I mean the membrane itself is not as malleable).

I've probably said a few wrong things because I've only done a year or so of Bio, so lmao sorry about that.
Edited by Bob-The-Seagull-King, Jun 26 2018, 09:52 PM.
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Hola La
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sorry for #OOT question
does speculative evolution have discord server ?
I would like to join to that server.
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