Transcript Bizarre Beasts and Creepy Creatures Tales of

Bizarre Beasts and Creepy
Creatures
Tales of undiscovered life forms on Planet Earth
Professor Michael Gillings, Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
Biology: Species Diversity
Orchids
Arachnids
How many species do we know about?
Known species:
1.5 million
Unknown species:
8 to 100 million
Birds & Mammals: Most species are known
(~13,000).
Hawaiian Is. birds (EXTINCT)
Lord Howe Is. songbirds (EXTINCT 1920-1924)
Rate of discovery equals rate of extinctions
Thylacine (EXTINCT 1933)
Plants: 250,000 of 270,000 species
Carnivorous Plants
Diatoms
Marine Organisms
Species numbers unknown, but estimated
that less than I in 20 are described
Plankton
Trawling using very fine plankton nets reveals a
world of amazing microscopic life
larval jellyfish
various planktonic forms
More Plankton
diatoms
Pyrocystis
pterapods
Deep Sea Squid
This individual is 4 to 5 meters long
Sea spiders (Pycnogonids)
These are common in temperate zones, but often
overlooked because of their small size. They grow much
larger in the Antarctic
http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/nsf/gallery/gallery11.html
Seaweed? or...
Leafy Sea Dragons are
actually fish. Because they
are highly territorial,
collection can endanger
populations.
Life in the Ocean Deeps
Deep sea exploration has discovered bizarre life forms
clustered around vents that spew out hot sulphurous water
Life in the Ocean Deeps
Black smokers support communities of tube worms, clams and crabs
The Pompeii worm
Alvinella pompejana lives under tremendous pressure at the
bottom of the ocean, in heavy-metal laden water at 80oC
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/deepsea/level-2/creature/worm.html
http://newsletter.dri.edu/2001/fall/closelook.htm
The Vampire Squid
This deep-sea squid inverts its tentacles when
threatened, to reveal heavily spined ridges
Methane Ice Worms
Bizarre worms burrow tunnels into mounds of frozen methane on the
sea floor. They feed on bacteria that eat the methane.
Frozen methane (yellow)
Methane ice worm
http://www.science.psu.edu/iceworms/iceworms.html
More deep water stuff
Teuthowinia: a squid with a big head
Evermanella: a nasty fish
What the ?????
Strange animals lurk in the ocean deeps, where the
pressure is equivalent to having a skyscraper made of
lead sitting on you.
http://people.whitman.edu/~yancey/echinoderms.html
Sacoglossans: the “plantimals”
Placida
Elysia
These sea slugs steal chloroplasts from seaweeds and
use them to photosynthesise
Elysia chlorotica
Plant or Animal?
The sea slug Elysia can
photosynthesise using
chloroplasts it steals from its
algal food source
More “plantimals”
Cassiopea, the upside down
Pteraeolidia, a nudibranch
jellyfish, has algae in its
tentacles
that farms brown algae in
its body
Bacteria: 4,800 of 1 million species
Bergey’s
Manual:
~4,800 species
Teaspoon of
soil: 4,000
species 99%
undescribed
Extremophiles
Organisms that live under conditions of extreme heat, cold, acidity,
Mono Lake: 3 x saltier than
seawater, pH 10.7
Grand Prismatic Spring: boiling
volcanic water
Thermophiles
Hot springs yield novel organisms with valuable properties
Some like it Hot
Pyrococcus abyssi 96oC
Pyrodictium occultum 105oC
Pyrobaculum 100oC
Strain 121: Grows at 121oC (the
current record holder)
Life in the cold
Microbial mats in Antarctic lakes
Bacteria recovered from 3,600 meters
below the surface of Lake Vostok in the
Antarctic interior
Bacteria have been found growing in surface snow at the South Pole,
where the ambient temperature is -12 to -17oC
Life at high radiation doses
Deinococcus radiodurans can tolerate radiation doses 10,000 times
that required to kill humans. It can also survive high UV doses, highly
toxic chemicals and extreme desiccation
Life deep in the Earth
Bacillus infernus from 2.7
km below the surface
Thermus sp. from Witswatersand gold
mine (deepest mine in the world)
It is now clear that life occurs in bedrock, and that such
“intraterrestrials” may account for half of all biomass
Cueva de Villa Luz
1997: Investigations of the Cueva de Villa Luz revealed a complex
ecosystem living in high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide. Metabolism of
sulfur by bacteria supported an array of other life forms. Sulfuric acid
produced by the bacteria accelerated cave formation.
Life Underground: Snottites
http://www.gwtc.net/~pisarowi/pics/agastro.jpg
http://www.gwtc.net/~pisarowi/pics/pisarowicz7.jpg
Bacteria produce polysaccharide slime that drips
from the cave roof: “snottites”
A Nullarbor Cave
Photo: Peter Rogers
Aliens underground: Nullarbor
microbial slime curtains
Photo: Peter Rogers
Entrance to Cocklebiddy cave, Western Australia
Photo: Peter Rogers
Underground Cave Lake
Photo: Peter Rogers
Cave divers (= insane)
Diver amongst slime curtains
Photo: Peter Rogers
Microbial slime curtains
Photo: Peter Rogers
Microbial communities on cave roof
Photo: Peter Rogers
Life on other planets?
Jupiter’s moon Europa; where there is water, there may be life
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/prop_missions.html#europa
http://planetary.org/news/articlearchive/headlines/1998/headln-072398.html