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Bizarre Beasts and Creepy Creatures

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.

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Bizarre Beasts and Creepy Creatures

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  1. Bizarre Beasts and Creepy Creatures Tales of undiscovered life forms on Planet Earth Professor Michael Gillings, Biological Sciences, Macquarie University

  2. Biology: Species Diversity Orchids Arachnids

  3. How many species do we know about? Known species: 1.5 million Unknown species: 8 to 100 million

  4. 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

  5. Thylacine (EXTINCT 1933)

  6. Plants: 250,000 of 270,000 species Carnivorous Plants Diatoms

  7. Marine Organisms Species numbers unknown, but estimated that less than I in 20 are described

  8. Plankton Trawling using very fine plankton nets reveals a world of amazing microscopic life larval jellyfish various planktonic forms

  9. More Plankton diatoms Pyrocystis pterapods

  10. Deep Sea Squid This individual is 4 to 5 meters long

  11. 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

  12. Seaweed? or... Leafy Sea Dragons are actually fish. Because they are highly territorial, collection can endanger populations.

  13. Life in the Ocean Deeps Deep sea exploration has discovered bizarre life forms clustered around vents that spew out hot sulphurous water

  14. Life in the Ocean Deeps Black smokers support communities of tube worms, clams and crabs

  15. 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

  16. The Vampire Squid This deep-sea squid inverts its tentacles when threatened, to reveal heavily spined ridges

  17. 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

  18. More deep water stuff Teuthowinia: a squid with a big head Evermanella: a nasty fish

  19. 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

  20. Sacoglossans: the “plantimals” Elysia Placida These sea slugs steal chloroplasts from seaweeds and use them to photosynthesise

  21. Elysia chlorotica Plant or Animal?The sea slug Elysia can photosynthesise using chloroplasts it steals from its algal food source

  22. More “plantimals” Cassiopea, the upside down jellyfish, has algae in its tentacles Pteraeolidia, a nudibranch that farms brown algae in its body

  23. Bacteria: 4,800 of 1 million species Teaspoon of soil: 4,000 species 99% undescribed Bergey’s Manual: ~4,800 species

  24. 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

  25. Thermophiles Hot springs yield novel organisms with valuable properties

  26. Some like it Hot Pyrobaculum 100oC Pyrococcus abyssi 96oC Strain 121: Grows at 121oC (the current record holder) Pyrodictium occultum 105oC

  27. Life in the cold Bacteria recovered from 3,600 meters below the surface of Lake Vostok in the Antarctic interior Microbial mats in Antarctic lakes Bacteria have been found growing in surface snow at the South Pole, where the ambient temperature is -12 to -17oC

  28. 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

  29. Life deep in the Earth Thermus sp. from Witswatersand gold mine (deepest mine in the world) Bacillus infernus from 2.7 km below the surface It is now clear that life occurs in bedrock, and that such “intraterrestrials” may account for half of all biomass

  30. 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.

  31. 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”

  32. A Nullarbor Cave Photo: Peter Rogers

  33. Aliens underground: Nullarbor microbial slime curtains Entrance to Cocklebiddy cave, Western Australia Photo: Peter Rogers

  34. Underground Cave Lake Photo: Peter Rogers

  35. Cave divers (= insane) Photo: Peter Rogers

  36. Diver amongst slime curtains Photo: Peter Rogers

  37. Microbial slime curtains Photo: Peter Rogers

  38. Microbial communities on cave roof Photo: Peter Rogers

  39. 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

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