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ForumsThe TavernCreate-an-ecosystem club

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DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

Hello there! One of my favorite hobbies after studying some biology and paleontology I always liked doing the same thing:

Creating a fictional (yet as realistic as it can) ecosystem and evolution.

I am not the best at it, as scientists say "there is always more research to be done about life", I (in the last few years) have (in a way) created three eco systems....

In this club (if you decide to join) you will create a fictional, yet realistic eco system and environment... you can either choose something like determining only some organisms on one sort of land (for example creating a desert and inventing the multiple species in it)

Want to join? Just say so... here is (as I like to do it) how you start:
(note that you can just post your idea for environment and do the rest later)

1. First you need to determine the environment, you can go from normal earthly environments (like sea, desert, jungle, alpine, plain, etc...) to thinking harder about what would happen to life in extreme temperature or creating your own environment. (Note: you can also create more than one if you want and they should change as time and evolution take place) also in this part you SHOULD try to start thinking about your kingdom plantae


2a. Determine the equality of your eco system, how many carnivores? How many herbivores? How many omnivores?

2b. Start thinking about animals, how do they look? How do they react with other animals? Start modeling your species... if you want you can try to draw it...

2c. I never REALLY bother to do much about bacteria, viruses and fungi, if you feel like researching those and creating some for your eco system feel free to do so...


3. start determining how evolution goes, this is (to my opinion) the funnest part, you start thinking, how do the enviorment change affect my eco system? Are there mass extinctions? Biological rivalry? Maybe a species grows sentient, what happens then?


there is a lot more stuff to do, though I will let you decide about it on your own... this project is good for both fun and educational purposes, also I want to see what are other people's ideas....



Have fun, if you have any questions just ask me!
~DV~

  • 54 Replies
DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

nope, but an ant isn't an ant... it grew from the first ancestor of the kingdom animalia, which like all living things grew from the first life form 2 billion years back and was the first carbon based creature...


It's not just an ant... every thing must have evolution...

nesanelf
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nesanelf
560 posts
Nomad

So basically I gotta say how all these species evolved how they came to be?

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

exactly... what you can try doing is saying:

What were the aleksi before they were intelligent?

How did the aleksi get their features?

Did the aleksi migrate from some where?

Things of the such... start by doing only one species and then start doing the same thing for more and more species...


if you feel really capable you can try doing all the species together but that maybe hard...

nesanelf
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nesanelf
560 posts
Nomad

can i do this as a future version of Earth? It'll be easier that way for me.

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

future version of earth?

nesanelf
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nesanelf
560 posts
Nomad

year 3042 D.E. (Devastation Era)

after the tech outrage from 2011 to 2999 the world was run by robots practically. Then...devastation arrived. Blackouts. No electricity. No plasma. No neon power packs. No technology. Now the Aleksi(evolved form of human) and Kaurus(The horse)and the other carbon units who survived the tech-out must learn to survive without tech...like their ancestors the cavemen...

Antri-Evolved and mutated ant to fit and survive in its new habitat
Kaurus-Horse. In 2022 they were declared useless and were sent off in a spaceship. No one knows what exactly happened to them there but they grew intelligent, stronger, and they took over the ship. They traveled to Astral Iia now a prison fortress for criminals and non-communists. over the centuries they evolved even more and they too survived the tech-out.
Aleksi-These were the humans-but not just humans. These were genetically engineered by Julius Khan descendant of Genghis Khan. The genetically engineered army completely obliterated communist ruled Earth. But then they started fighting amongst themselves. And Earth started falling into chaos. But in the tech-out they joined together and made tribes and vowed to get through this together-alive.
Jaurus-The eagle. Before the tech-out the humans learned to expand the atmosphere so the birds can fly off without going extinct from their mini-planes and airbuses and speeders. So the eagles developed a new body to expand the ever growing smaller room to settle. Eventually they were able to breathe without oxygen. They settled on the planet Xenon until a force drove them to return to the dreaded polluted Earth. And they did but immediately after entering the stratosphere the tech-out started.


I gtg now. I'll continue and finish them tommorow. How do you like it?

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
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Nomad

very sci-fi... more like a story than actuall project.... hmmm you can either try to work on future evolution or maybe gather up your writing skills and start writing this down into some kind of story...

nesanelf
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nesanelf
560 posts
Nomad

sorry...i got a little carried away, sorry. So wat should i do??? i SERIOUSLY gtg now though.

Kylelolcat
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Kylelolcat
4,813 posts
Nomad

I think I'll take a crack at an ecosystem...

1. The basic environment would be a desert. There would be very little plant life, and what could takes a unique digestive system to digest the fireproof plantlife. Oh yeah, and the surface is often on fire during the day. During the night, the surface freezes into a sort of glass.

2a. The environment would have very few carnivores or herbivores. Most creatures are really detritivores, drawing nutrients from whatever they can. However, it has been found that many above-ground creatures take some energy from the sun, much like plants.

2b. Many of the animals live underground to avoid the harsh environment. Those that live above ground have green backs that absorb the sun's energy which they supplement with other foods.

2c. Bacteria seems to have two purposes in the Glass Desert: It rotates nutrients into the soil, and it also lives on the backs of some animals. It gets a free ride to spread itself, for only a cost of some of their nutrients they gain from the sun.

3. To be elucidated...

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
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Nomad

very nice! Since it is (as it seems) only the start of life I guess you don't have to do much before you start at evolution...

try to Imagine what happens that starts evolution going... sudden climate change? Meteor collision? Coincidence?

After you solved the question of why and how, you should start thinking about what... to what do they start growing?

The first real evolution on earth was the first carbon based life splitting into archeabacteria, eubacteria and plantae... start organizing them and then you could start solving the mystery of the protiss, then evolving into animalia.

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

Nesanelf yes you can join, wink wink indeed...

Plutonium I am sure this will be an excellent point where you can talk to your buddy but infact If you want to join you have to treat this club seriously...

HahiHa
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HahiHa
8,253 posts
Regent

If I may, I would want to join the club and develop my own ecosystem. I already tried something similar once, a bit bigger with even neighbouring planets and their effects on the sky of the homeplanet etc, though I broke it up before I came to lifeforms...

Anyway, for this ecosystem I choose something arctic, a large plain covered in eternal snow and permafrost, with massive mountains in the north. There is high volcanic activity far underground, at some places there are lava pools formed by upcoming magma chimneys, though because of the extreme cold only the immediate surrounding is heated, leaving not much place for anything to grow or live in this abrupt heat gradient, except some extremophilic unicellulars and some lichen-like organisms spreading on the laid open ground at safe distance from the lava.
Out in the plains, there are also many plants that consist only of roots and dig through the ground, secreting acid to dissolve the ground for ressources.

I think this is a good base to start with; I'll think of more possibilities to squeeze in some life ^^

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

Nice, ecosystem doesn't consist of two genis though :P

Unless of course this is the start of your evolution, Then it can be much better... Any interactions? Any scenarios? Any webs? Any climate changes? Any bacteria? Populations? Communities? Don't answer them all at once, start researching one and the others will have their time to come...

jdoggparty
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jdoggparty
5,860 posts
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Previous Work: I've always wondered, what if there was a whole eosystem of microscopic organisms living high in the sky? This is unlikely, but interesting, so that is my environment.

All the animals start out as herbivores, living off just oxygen itself. As they develop, most of them will become herbivores or scavengers. These creatures will usually eat by coming back down to the surface. There they will find either plants or dead animals. The few carnivores and omnivores will almost never come down to the surface, at least until they are fully grown. The omnivores will survive off of the things that pass through the sky, and will usually stay at a lower altitude than the rest. The carnivores will usually eat some of the unlucky tiny spores in the sky, waiting to develop into an animal. They also will eat the other tiny organisms in the sky.

There are some small fungi and bacteria that mostly survive off of the water in the clouds. Some of these are poisonous, but this is very rare, but powerful, because so many tiny organisms drink from the clouds.

The organisms all start as a herbivore, feeding off oxygen, and are tiny dots, and cannot be seen with any microscope as of now.
The tiny creatures become a bit bigger, and now are seen with only the most powerful microscopes.
Now the animals start splitting up into species.
Herbivores (Blue)
They start out as either a blob with legs or a blob with arms. The arms are super thin, and are not used for much, except for pushing the air.
Once they grow bigger, they either grow wings, or legs and arms. The creatures with wings are very fast, and are hardly ever eaten because they can get away. But with arms and legs the creatures can physically defend themselves a bit better, but against a carnivore usually lose a fight.
***The animals are no longer microscopic after this stage***
The birds with wings grow into small, agile birds, tht are great at flying, and use mostly their beak to grab things.
The birds with legs and arms grow more plump, and develop their legs and wings more. They grab things with their arms, and feed themselves more like humans.
Scavengers (Red)
These creatures start out as blobs. Some of them have a sort of "U" shape, and eat by sucking up the dead creature, and then their body decomposes it with the acids inside it.
The other creatures are an "O" shaped blob. They also eat by sucking up the creature. But as the creature is passing through the gap in their body, the chemicals in the creature attract the essential nutrients to the actual part of their body.
This stage the creatures mostly grow bigger. The "U" now has muscles in the lower part of it's body, so it can fly, and the "O" is now shaped like a star, so it can touch things, and fly a bit better. It cannot grab, but the tiniest of creatures might stick to it's gel-like skin.
***No longer microscopic***
Over time these creatures evolve a lot into this stage. The feet of the original "U" creature are now much more diverse and powerful. It can sometimes grab things, and can fly very fast. It now has eyes and can see, and has a mouth. This creature only eats with it's mouth.
The star creature's limbs are much longer, stronger, flexible, and overall just talented. They can grab almost anything, and are good at defending themselves, but they don't make him much faster. They grow a mouth, which can open as far as the creature wants, like the gap in the original "O" stage. It also now has eyes.
Carnivores (Green)
They start off as a circle with arms basically. They have what you might call hands, but are not great at using them yet.
They now evolve into two groups.
Some of them grow wings, and legs with talons. These creatures are very fast, and usually just kill imediately with their talons.
The other group grow teeth and horns. Unlike the other species, these animals usually tustle for a while before killing and eating an animal. They are not very agile, but once they get a hold of something with their teeth, they will not let go.
***No longer microscopic***
The winged creatures grow more powerful legs, and can now walk. Their wings get bigger and stronger, and they grow arms, that also have talons (forgot to draw talons). But no hands. They still kill very quickly. This animal eats in small portions, but eats about once a day.
The horned creatures grow into more of a body, and less of a blob. They now have powerful wings, a very large mouth, and sharper teeth. They still do not have legs. They eat by scooping harmless animals off of the ground, unlike the last stage, where they would fight for a while because they were slow.
Omnivores (Pink/Purple)
These animals start as a blob with legs, short arms, and hands. They can grab things, and eat by forcing it into their body.
Next, they might grow a mouth and longer arms. They now can eat much easier, and use their arms mostly for fighting the prey, not to eat with. They do not eat plants with their arms, just their mouth.
They might grow wings, and lose their legs. These animals are fast, and usually try to knockout the enemy with high speed flying before eating it. They still use their arms to grab and eat things by pushing it into their gel-like body.
***No longer microscopic***
The animals are very similar now. They grow very powerful wings, and a beak to eat with. One species grows strong arms, the other legs.
The creature with arms are more carnivore than the other. They fight for their prey.
The creatures with legs are very fast, and usually eat their prey in one-bite without the prey even knowing. This creature eats more plants than live creatures though.


A youngling grows up.
A tiny spore is floating through the air, enjoying all the scenery he takes in. Some other tiny creatures are eating, some are eaten. After about a week, the spore starts to grow. His body expands, and he grows muscles. He floats around, constantly slowly growing thanks to the oxygen and the water in the air. Even his body meshes into new shape, so he now is taller. After another week he sprouts his legs out of the extra cells his body just grew. They keep growing and growing, and now he flies around and avoids the scary carnivores. His feet keep getting stronger and stronger, and eventually he grows toes, and stubs of arms. He is even faster now, and can almost grab things with his feet. A few more weeks and his arms are fully grown, and he starts using them for more things, like eating plants. He grows hands, and starts to grow a bit of his fings. He now has very strongs legs, feet, and toes. He is growing thinner towards the top, instead of just a fat blob. His arms are now fully capable of picking things up, fighting off enemies, and helping him fly. His wings are not fully grown, but still give him much better balance.
After a couple weeks, his wings grow and develop, and he is nearly fully grown.

A normal day in the kingdom.
The herbivores stay in large schools. They will go to the clouds to drink water first thing. During that timy the omnivores usually attack. They attack about once a week. 2 out of every 10 herbivores get eaten in these attacks. The omnivores travel in packs, but not as big as the herbivores. Every day they don't attack other creatures, they will descend to the surface for some plant to eat. They eat once a day. The herbivores continue their day descending back to the surface, hoping for no more attacks. But, of course, there are always 1-4 carnivore attacks during this time. Again about 1 out of every 10 get eaten. The herbivores take very small bites, and don't eat much, but they eat twice a day.
The carnivores travel alone or in small packs. They eat once a day from the sky. They also swoop down to the surface and pick up animals once a day. But they will soar back and forth about 5 times.
The scavengers travel in huge packs. If they see a dead carcass, they will fight for it. The don't play fair. They go down to the surface to feast once a week. But on that day they take a long time and eat a lot. The scavengers do not care about each other. But, they also aren't cannibals, and will not eat their own species.


How this planet came up:

It started out as a thick layer of fog in between a star and the ozone of a planet. This planet was nutritious, and eventually a couple of organisms emerged from the soil. They start floating throught the air, and dropping leftover soil into the fog. The fog was so thick the organisms and dirt could not leave the area. It eventually grew stronger and stronger, and sucked in a ton of soil. This soil smashed together, and formed a tiny ball. The organisms were smashed yet again into the soil, but this was a key process. More and more soil built up on the planet, and eventually it slowly started to orbit. The organisms kept stretching and working their way to the surface. Eventually they emerged, and they left behind lots of waste behind them. This waste was critical for the planet. It started created a bunch of roots. The roots got bigger and turned to plants. They came to the surface and fed the organisms. The planet kept growing and growing, and eventually the fog ran out. But because the fog allowed the creatures to float, they have taught themselves how to fly.

DeadlyVelociraptor
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DeadlyVelociraptor
3,415 posts
Nomad

Amazing. Great jon Jdogg, you really thought up the eco-system, now its time to progress even more, try to set up the communities and populations. Then start making a web of life. Connect phylum to phylum, class to class, order to order, family to family... etc. You can stop whenever you want to not get too specific, then move the arrows or webs around, start putting different variables in between and see what happens. This is how evolution progresses....

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