The new Evolution Gallery at the Brussels'musum of natural sciences has a section on speculative evolution for the next 50 million years. The organisers call...
1647
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 14, 2009 5:18 pm
... The only parallel is the using of mythological names for futuristic creatures. Or do you mean something else?...
1648
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 14, 2009 5:21 pm
... Can you tell more about it?...
1649
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 14, 2009 5:30 pm
... Try to find an insect able to GET sponges for food. And in any case I think this way is improbable. In other case insects could try this way earlier - in...
1650
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 15, 2009 9:12 am
... Yes, that's what I meant, why dont you tell us about afew of them?...
1651
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 15, 2009 9:15 am
... I'm only really saying, that creatively, an "age of macrobugs" is very appealing. Obviously it would need a very specific bunch of parameters to happen,...
1652
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 16, 2009 9:44 pm
... Tim, I think it is nothing special to tell. I just only use mythical names or local names of some modern animals to name futuristic ones. In Russian...
1653
tonitrosus
Feb 17, 2009 8:26 pm
Hi Pavel, I do not visit here daily, so I found your question whether I could ... Hi Pavel, Not that much, in fact, if you are referring to the exposition...
1654
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 20, 2009 10:54 am
I'm starting this topic on the idea of Universal Panmspermia. What is that, you say? Universal panspermia is the idea of transplanting animal or plant species...
1655
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 20, 2009 11:14 am
... to observe their evolution and radiation into new niches? ... Hmmmmmm... Where is this environment? Is it Earth or any other planet? What are the...
1656
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 21, 2009 11:09 am
... It would probably be a separate planet. The conditions would be a terraformed planet resembling earth, except it would be blank except for soil, fresh and...
1657
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 23, 2009 7:11 am
... What I wish... Just try to think... Try the invertebrate world. I'd like to see giant Tardigrada, non-molting crabs with constantly growing exoskeleton,...
1658
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 23, 2009 8:20 am
... Sounds great! :D What conditions would best suit an invertebrate world?...
1659
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 23, 2009 9:09 am
... Planet is round, and conditions differ because of it. I think the general climate may be warm and humid - small continents and wast shallow water oceans....
1660
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 25, 2009 6:50 am
... So what would inhabit these oceans, crustaceans?...
1661
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 25, 2009 8:45 am
... Soft-bodied ones like molluscs may evolve to large forms, and crustaceans limited by their shells may form smaller pelagic species. They may turn to...
1662
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 26, 2009 7:37 am
... You get to decide that part. Also, very compelling ideas, well done!...
1663
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 26, 2009 11:00 am
So, let's imagine the beginning of the planet terraforming. First bacteria, lichens, fungi and algae are entered the lifeless lanet for primal development of...
1664
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Feb 27, 2009 10:24 am
... This is a great premise :D So, the colonists would be from crustaceans, worms, and Water-bears? What kind of larger animals would evolve from these...
1665
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Feb 27, 2009 11:24 am
... I think first of all the variable pelagic animals like Dixon's silver swimmers. Skeletal forms will have greater advantage to form the macrobionts. Tim,...
1666
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Mar 4, 2009 11:20 am
For Baikal Lake there is an interesting idea - lungless deepwater frog like modern Titikaka frog. It will respire through its folded skin....
1667
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Mar 6, 2009 10:34 am
... I like this idea very much. My main question is, becoming fully aquatic could allow frogs to grow much larger, is this likely?...
1668
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Mar 6, 2009 1:04 pm
... It depends on skin area/body volume ratio. Growing too large such animal may need more oxygen rather than skin area may provide. And food sources, of...
1669
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Mar 8, 2009 6:30 am
... A giant water frog could always evolve spongy or wrinkled skin to expand the surface area....
1670
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Mar 8, 2009 9:28 am
... Tim, the large size is not a problem, but the next question is "Why?". The lake is also oligotrophic, and too large species will have smaller number...
1671
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Mar 9, 2009 8:03 am
... Oh, I'm sorry. I was talking about the idea of a giant water frog in general, I wasnt referring to your lake-dwelling frog at all. What kind of environment...
1672
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Mar 9, 2009 9:40 am
... First of all, it needs a supply of oxygen. It means in warm water containing low amount of dissolved oxygen it can not appear. The exception may be old...
1673
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Mar 18, 2009 8:55 am
Todays subject is asking a question about human anatomy. If humans evolved towards a different size, be it large or small, what modicications would take place...
1674
Pavel I. Volkov
paul_neocene...
Mar 18, 2009 4:55 pm
... I think bipedal construction of the skeleton limits strictly the size increasing - it affects on child birth first of all. I think any dwarf forms may...
1675
Tim Morris
piatnitskysa...
Mar 19, 2009 10:25 am
... That would mean that the future evolution of human species would contain variations on the current range of human heights. We *could* concievably have...
