Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[puke]

Biggest cave in the world:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/07/son-doong_n_3873341.html

With a forest, river, plant species never seen before.  Everything you could want, plus monkeys.

Of course it reminds me of the cave tour last year, none of that would be possible without a collapsed roof.  You don't get underground life without sunlight, as even fungi (which dont need light directly) are detritivores and consume decaying matter from plants whom originally needed light.

anyone have some fanciful conjectures on what could power the cave-moss and fungus based ecosystems in a DF world?  besides magic, I mean.

[Imp]

Thanks for sharing the article, the pictures especially are wonderful!

As to what you asked about though, there's lots of real life examples; some have already been discovered and there's a real chance that there are far more real life atypical ecosystems and biochemical pathways to be discovered.  From the ecosystems that surround scalding sulfurous vents both below and above the sea's surface,

http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast13apr_1/
http://www.pnas.org/content/97/24/12961.full
http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Chemotrophy_Along_Seafloor_Hydrothermal_Vents

to the bacteria that live deep, deep within the earth's crust, so deep down that they haven't had a 'fresh' nutrient source for millenia and metabolize crazy chemical or radioactive sources for their life processes,

http://sciencenordic.com/live-bacteria-found-deep-below-seabed
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/subterranean-bacteria-hint-life-mars/
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S16/13/72E53/index.xml?section=newsreleases

We now know of a multiple types of earthly life which does not rely upon solar sources to provide the energy to remain alive.

Of course the ecosystem within the Son Doong cave system is a typical solar-foundation one.

The thing to remember with non-solar based earthly ecosystems is that they are likely to be very hostile to 'life as we know it', either through deprivation (which tends to result in scattered very small life forms) or through exuberant energy releases which tend to make the surrounding areas boiling hot or perilously radioactive (these can support high amounts of specially adapted life forms, such as the deep sea geothermal 'sulfer chimney' vents - but exploring them is a serious challenge for any non-adapted form of life).

Magic would be fancy indeed, but real science is being done on real ecosystems which are very different from what we think of as 'Earth conditions', and we've found 'life on earth' that cannot be explained through a typical grade school education limits in terms of what life means.

[Dorsidwarf]

What? It's just a ca-oh that is a person.


















You have discovered and expansive cavern/glow]

[Eric Blank]

My best guess is that life in the caverns is supported through multiple sources of energy.

1) Chemotrophs, maybe some of the "moss" or smaller fungi can get energy in this manner, or maybe they consume bacteria which can.
2) Detritus from the surface, because sometimes writhing creatures from the deep walk the surface in search of prey. Also, goblins will be shovelling waste into the depths in the next version, and dwarves could help to a lesser extent by moving organic-rich goods into their deep sites.
3) Hydrothermal vents in lakes and magma pipes in volcanically active areas. Maybe the nutrients get around a bit, in more mobile animals that later die.
4) Some of the creatures in the third cavern layer, and imps and magma men in the magma sea, pretty much ARE magical in nature. Fancy magic-food can be a thing.

[Bralbaard]

Since we're discussing amazing cave systems:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Crystals