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[Sadrice]

CO2 isn't poisonous, it's lack of oxygen that kills you (in contrast to CO, which is poisonous.  Of course, low oxygen would also be an issue, but the caverns are enormous enough that plenty would flow in from off map, so that couldn't be an issue for a while.

Yeah, there would be low enough energy output that there would be a pretty short food chain, with no more than 4 trophic levels (sludge>fungus>fungivore>carnivore), and even that is stretching past what's really plausible.  Keep in mind that cellulose isn't indestructible.  Vertebrates are no good at breaking it down, but many fungi do it just fine, otherwise plant matter would pile up indefinitely.  Also, fungi don't really produce cellulose, they produce chitin.  Not that that helps vertebrates, who can't digest that either, but presumably cavern fungivores have some serious gut bacteria to do it for them.

[Naryar]

CO2 isn't poisonous, it's lack of oxygen that kills you (in contrast to CO, which is poisonous.  Of course, low oxygen would also be an issue, but the caverns are enormous enough that plenty would flow in from off map, so that couldn't be an issue for a while.

Yeah, there would be low enough energy output that there would be a pretty short food chain, with no more than 4 trophic levels (sludge>fungus>fungivore>carnivore), and even that is stretching past what's really plausible.  Keep in mind that cellulose isn't indestructible.  Vertebrates are no good at breaking it down, but many fungi do it just fine, otherwise plant matter would pile up indefinitely.  Also, fungi don't really produce cellulose, they produce chitin.  Not that that helps vertebrates, who can't digest that either, but presumably cavern fungivores have some serious gut bacteria to do it for them.

What about cave moss ? It's most likely NOT a fungus... but it's supposed to photosynthetize, but there is no light in caverns, not even bioluminescence.

Or maybe it's just a fungus who looks like moss (a plant) and dwarves called it that.

Though the large percentage of fungal life in the caverns make my point minor.

Wait, so the only autotrophs are that cave sludge, which is probably a bacterial carpet or something ? And they are chimioautotrophs, having volcanic heat gradient as electron source and decaying living matter as carbon source ?

[krenshala]

Cave moss? Its probably a lichen, chemically extracting nutrients from the rocks in a similar manner to the surface lichens do.

[WillowLuman]

And the lichens breaking down the rocks, combined with the CO2 from volcanic activity, could provide needed substances.

[Naryar]

Cave moss? Its probably a lichen, chemically extracting nutrients from the rocks in a similar manner to the surface lichens do.

but a lichen is a symbiosis between algae and fungus. And algae need photosynthesis...

[wierd]

Chemically powered.

See for instance, "black smoker" ecosystems.

They get the carbon from co2, and chemical energy from sulfur compounds. They occupy the "green plants" analog role in the ecosystem.

Their sludge carpets are actively parasitized by the cavern fungus' mycelium. (A hairlike network of fibers that make up the true body of complex funga organisms. Mushrooms and the like are the reproductive fruiting bodies.)

Fungus produces nothing, in terms of energy. It steals energy from other sources. Surface fungi usually break down cellulose and chitin and other energy rich, but difficult to decompose organic substances, but are quite content to consume more simple energy rich molecules.

Their role in the ecosystem would be to aggregate energy rich compounds into their fruiting bodies, and to create complex compounds using the stolen energy.

[Sadrice]

Lichen is photosynthetic, I'm guessing mossy fungus. 

Back to the discussion on web shooting, perhaps they do it a little bit like velvet worms?  The liquid contains proteins that link together and shorten when it dries, which happens almost instantly if the victim does something silly like struggling, which stretches the filament thin, speeding evaporation.  They always make me giggle, though.  Web bukkake!

[Rude]

Documentaries with sound effects seems very dishonest to me.

It's pretty much necessary, and nigh universal.  It's very hard to get good quality audio recording in the field.  Fun fact: the planet earth crew carried no audio equipment at all, and added everything in later.

What's really dishonest is using rented animals, which is very common, especially in "wildlife" photography.

I can't accept that it's necessary. And overdubbing isn't necessarily the problem; it's that they overdub with obviously inaccurate sounds. Insects are not made of metal, they shouldn't make *shink* sound effects like sword fighting. If they insist on making Entertainumentaries then they shouldn't sell them as educational. And that they feel compelled to make things more entertaining doesn't speak well for the consumers either...
I could go either way on renting, but if they rent (for example) the spider things from the clip above and put them to fight each other, then that's not too much different from dog fighting or cockfighting (which is fairly recently illegal here)

Lichen is photosynthetic, I'm guessing mossy fungus. 

Back to the discussion on web shooting, perhaps they do it a little bit like velvet worms?  The liquid contains proteins that link together and shorten when it dries, which happens almost instantly if the victim does something silly like struggling, which stretches the filament thin, speeding evaporation.  They always make me giggle, though.  Web bukkake!

Oh. Yeah. That works great, why weren't you here a few days ago.

[Sadrice]

Yeah, the clink clink sound effects weren't necessary at all (though they made me laugh), and insect sound effects in general don't add anything.  Documentaries (and movies and video games...) that make insects click as they move always annoy me.  Insects pretty much never click when they aren't actually trying to.

[WillowLuman]

Damn this game needs velvet worms now! Next animal sponsor drive, BAM! 30 dollars for these. Though no man version.

[wierd]

A giant velvet worm twisted into humanoid form!
Beware its sticky secretions!

[O11O1]

Can dwarves process Velvet Worm Glue into anything?