[TML] Plants, animals and characters

[Bruce Johnson]

On Apr 5, 2008, at 3:58 AM, Knapp wrote:
> It would be
> interesting to know what percent of the total energy input comes from
> each source.

As far as we know, the overwhelming majority of the energy that enters  
the biome is solar radiation. For all intents and purposes it  
comprises 100% of the energy source.

Bacteria subsisting off of volcanically produced sulfur compounds are  
a relatively tiny proportion of the total biotic mass.

Any macroscopic life on the game level would be limited largely by the  
amount of stellar radiation it gets from the local star. a dark world  
inhabited by volcano-dependent life-forms may be interesting from a  
scientific perspective, but is energy poor, compared to what you get  
from photosynthesis, and is unlikely to be much more than 'stinky  
goop' to use a highly technical biology term.

(Of course, the occasional oddball is good to throw in there: cf "Adv  
13:Signal GK", there's a non-traditional life form (non-organic, uses  
electrical fields for an energy source) that had a very major impact...)

However, go look for some of Issac Asimov's Analog science column  
collections; there were two or three book-length compilations, and  
several of his short works collections have them along with the short  
stories.

He's got several that deal with 'life in weird places' and examines  
replacing carbon with sulfur, ammonia or silicon, for example...I  
cannot lay my hands on the collections i have at the moment, or else  
I'd be able to provide a title.

It MIGHT be in the Ballantine one issued in the 70's with a Whelan  
cover of a guy in a purple skin suit and ray gun squaring off against  
a wizard; the story was a long pelude to a truly horrid pun involving  
Asimov's name. I can get no farther than that; I haven[t laid hands on  
the book in over a decade, I'm sure. Someday I'll live in a house with  
a real library...:-/

--
Bruce Johnson

"No matter where you go, there you are", B. Banzai