Impact of Interstellar travel on Ecology

[gchuck]

Has anyone pondered these questions recently, and - if so - what were your conclusions?

Not really thought about it... but, it provides a fairly handy method of explaining the flora/fauna on a great deal of those worlds that have that 'No native life' classification.

Now its not so difficult to explain why that TZ class world is overrun by Kudzu plants.

 

[infojunky]

Has anyone pondered these questions recently, and - if so - what were your conclusions?

Well, yes.

In the back of my head there resides a project of creating the notable produce of a AG rated worlds.

Coupled to that is figuring out what food plants and animals and the like have been spread throughout known space.

 

[warwizard]

Now let us talk about the life that has other than light as it's energy sourse for it's ecosystems. I'm talking about the organisms that exist in our sea floor spreading vents. Enabled by plate techteconics and a sufficient hydrosphere not necessarially liquid, (the magma at the vents can produce micro climate zones of melted ice filled with lots of chemicals for the lifeforms to metabalize). During the late bombardment phase on earth, all life EXCEPT the sea floor vent dwellers were 100% killed off, several times. Life recolonized the world from these vent organisims several times. Aparently inventing molecules that can get light energy to power metabolization is not that hard, though sometimes they get it wrong, (hence the ones using red light). Mars appears to have lost it's plate techtetonics and it's hydrosphere, but that does not mean there are not any living cells surviving in hydrothermic vents deep underground. Grandfather could have sent robots out to place cultures of hydrothermic vent lifeforms on a multitude of planets. And sophonts other than the Droyne could also spread such organisms either on purpose or by accident, as these lifeforms are extreameophiles.

 

[Krikkitone]

Now let us talk about the life that has other than light as it's energy sourse for it's ecosystems. I'm talking about the organisms that exist in our sea floor spreading vents. Enabled by plate techteconics and a sufficient hydrosphere not necessarially liquid, (the magma at the vents can produce micro climate zones of melted ice filled with lots of chemicals for the lifeforms to metabalize). During the late bombardment phase on earth, all life EXCEPT the sea floor vent dwellers were 100% killed off, several times. Life recolonized the world from these vent organisims several times. Aparently inventing molecules that can get light energy to power metabolization is not that hard, though sometimes they get it wrong, (hence the ones using red light). Mars appears to have lost it's plate techtetonics and it's hydrosphere, but that does not mean there are not any living cells surviving in hydrothermic vents deep underground. Grandfather could have sent robots out to place cultures of hydrothermic vent lifeforms on a multitude of planets. And sophonts other than the Droyne could also spread such organisms either on purpose or by accident, as these lifeforms are extreameophiles.

Spreading those ones by accident would be more difficult because they are extremophiles and unlikely to be on a sophonts spaceship by accident. (perhaps some ore shipments might have extremophiles that lived deep underground / underwater…but not as likely). Deliberate, doesn’t seem to be a strong reason for it (unless as part of terraforming). I would guess not super likely.

 

[kilemall]

Spreading those ones by accident would be more difficult because they are extremophiles and unlikely to be on a sophonts spaceship by accident. (perhaps some ore shipments might have extremophiles that lived deep underground / underwater…but not as likely). Deliberate, doesn’t seem to be a strong reason for it (unless as part of terraforming). I would guess not super likely.

SDBs as vent colonizers?

 

[whartung]

SDBs as vent colonizers?

All fun and games, until that big thing with the tentacles comes over and crushes the hull.

 

[kilemall]

All fun and games, until that big thing with the tentacles comes over and crushes the hull.

Ooooh that brings up another possibility of interstellar ecology- weaponized life forms.

Chthorr War creatures are the premium example, but an anti SDB superkraken could be handy. Alien xenomorphs, chamax hordes, the little horror from the movie Life, all very destructive especially if intentionally deployed.

Something more mundane as a crop disease or annoyance species could be a tool in an arsenal of dirty tricks.

At extremes, this sort of weapon might be considered a WMD on the level of nukes per the Imperial Rules of War, or cause an agent to sterilize a planet.

 

[warwizard]

I was thinking about sophonts that think in terms of 10 to 100 million years might be deliberate in spreading life to as many worlds as possible. Perhaps they are lonely and want some new stories?

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Now let us talk about the life that has other than light as it's energy sourse for it's ecosystems.

I think .... We are also getting into the weird stuff: Eukaryota . Or as a hasty generalization, Fungus.
Most fungi species have a form of chitin. Not insect/industrial strength (), but it shields them from chemical destruction better than skin on humans.
Fungus do not breath oxygen or carbon dioxide. They do need oxygen, but to get it excrete chemicals to which break down soil (even sterile soil devoid of organic material) and rock. It can unlock oxygen compounds like iron oxide. So "Free Oxygen" is not a requirement per se.
They need a heat source to continue living but their temperature range is greater. That chitin helps especially on the cold side. Freezing merely makes them dormant up to a some low point and remain so, until the heat source returns. Beyond that range it does burn up, or finally breaks the chitin/cell walls.
Soooo...
@Krikkitone 's island idea still applies, but the requirements for habitation are slightly different.

• Star : Does not matter as long as the planet is in a habitable zone (HZ, maybe HZ+1). Inner Zone should be excluded because the nner Zone levels of heat will destroy fungus.
• Atmospheres: I think... You can set an atmosphere range of 3 thru 9, or mebbe 1 thru 9, Maybe including Exotic and Corrosive. As long as the planet has oxygen that can be extracted, Exotic Atmosphere could be on the menu. Maybe even Corrosive, since that rating I think is based on human tolerances. We don't have chitin and maybe fungal chitin might be sufficiently resistant

 

[warwizard]

Now I feel like we are getting into more of the meat of the matter. Life does not need to be carbon or hydrocarbon based. One can have solar systems with Gas Giants that are having ecological disasters due to lifeforms hitching rides inside the fuel scoops, or plutonian bodies that have He2 lifeforms that operate on scales of millions of years of inactivity for each year of activity (cometary orbits from the oot cloud). Lets see what we can think of!

 

[mike wightman]

Three words.

Sentient slime moulds.

Now some bad news. Carbon is likely the only element that can form the backbone of life, the chemistry you then add to that is what can vary.
Water based, ammonia based, even hydrocarbon based solvent biochemistry is possible.

 

[casquilho]

Carbon is likely the only element that can form the backbone of life, ...

I ask this question not as a challenge, but rather because I honestly do not know. Why Carbon? Why not something else?

 

[coliver988]

Horta are silicon-based and we've only 1 planet, so the definition of what life is seems to me to have a limited set of data. Though there are reasons for the carbon preference from stuff I've read, but again, just like our solar system has given us the idea that all systems should be similar and now we find out ours is actually abnormal...well, life may be the same!

 

[mike wightman]

I ask this question not as a challenge, but rather because I honestly do not know. Why Carbon? Why not something else?

Here are a couple of places to start.

 

[casquilho]

Here are a couple of places to start.

Thank You Mike. Appreciate the reply.

 

[atpollard]

... boy will they feel silly when alien extremeophiles arrive to scan Venus for Intelligent Life based on signals they detected from our system and Venus being the only planet in the Temperature range to support Intelligent Silicon-based life.

 

[mike wightman]

Thank You Mike. Appreciate the reply.

No problem, there was a youtube vid recently about what alien life could be like but I can't find it at the moment.

The usual caveats apply, this is science fiction so there could be a lot of stuff we don't know about different forms of life.

 

[warwizard]

I was aware of the simular but less er diversified chemistry of silicon vs carbon. However this may be a function of temp and pressure.

 

[whartung]

Three words.

Sentient slime moulds.

I'll raise you one.

Here in America, we have products on the stored shelve labeled "Processed American Cheese Food".

Good heavens!

Who the Foxtrot is FEEDING Processed American Cheese? Even worse, if someone is feeding them, someone else is giving booze to those things.

Just wait until those things get uplifted. Then you're in real trouble.

 

[TamsinP]

I'll raise you one.

Here in America, we have products on the stored shelve labeled "Processed American Cheese Food".

Good heavens!

Who the Foxtrot is FEEDING Processed American Cheese? Even worse, if someone is feeding them, someone else is giving booze to those things.

Just wait until those things get uplifted. Then you're in real trouble.

It's worse than that - they're giving cheese food to processed Americans