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Scientists Find Ancient Ecosystem In Israeli Cave
An anonymous reader writes "Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions. The cave, which Hebrew University Professor Amos Frumkin said is 'unique in the world,' had been sealed off from the outside world since its surface is situated under a layer of chalk that is impenetrable to water."
"Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman. How do the scientists know that considering the so called blind scorpion was dead and the others were live. Perhaps eyes looked differently and evolved into what they now expect. For all they know those creatures could have had some motion imaging sensors that were eyes. Anyhow here is a picture of the scorpion. What that article also failed to mention was that all but one scorpion were found alive:
k nown_Prehistoric_Species_Discovered_In_Israel_Cave .html
The invertebrate animals found in the cave - four seawater and freshwater crustaceans and four terrestial species - are related to but different from other, similar life forms known to scientists. The species have been sent to biological experts in both Israel and abroad for further analysis and dating. It is estimated that these species are millions of years old. Also found in the cave were bacteria that serve as the basic food source in the ecosystem.
The animals found there were all discovered live, except for a blind species of scorpion, although Dr. Dimentman is certain that live scorpions will be discovered in further explorations and also probably an animal or animals which feed on the scorpions.
http://www.playfuls.com/news_001136_Previously_Un
Infiltrated dot Net
Chemolithoautotrophs, probably. Microorganisms that are metabolising compounds from the rocks to get their energy, then everything bigger eats the next step smaller below them. Similar to deep-smoker vent communities.
the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
http://www.huji.ac.il/cgi-bin/dovrut/dovrut_search _eng.pl?mesge114907691205976587
It's 2-3 times longer than the wire service story and answers the 'what they're eating' question and others.
As stated in the article it is an Ecosystem. Ecosystems on any scale you look at it are presumably self-sustaining in and of themselves. Just like anywhere else you can have bacteria, fungus, slime molds, etc at the primary level feeding off disolved minerals, then the next step up would be tiny micro-organisms living off the fungus and slime-molds, next step up - insects, small critters feeding off the micro-organisms, etc... so on and so forth.
Crustaceans are the lobster-like critter in the image.
In Mediterranean countries with antiquities everywhere (Israel, Greece, Turkey), all children are taught that if you find any artifact, bones, cave or whatever, you don't touch it and you inform someone so experts can be brought in. It's like "Don't get into strangers' cars!" in other countries -- they have public service announcements about archeology during cartoons.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Virii are pretty much always tailored to bypass the protections of one species. The exceptions (bird flu and possibly HIV) are very rare. Since the new species in this cave have been walled off for millions of years - they are pretty much safe from any modern virus infection.
When it comes to bacteria and parasites, it may be a somewhat different question - since they are genetically much more complex. Still, I'd say it's probably no big deal. That new ecosystem just isn't compatible with ours (for the time being).
I'd wager the primary reason they sealed off the cave is to prevent water and oxygen from escaping from the cave, and contamination from the outside comes in as a distant second.
Yes, I am a biological organism. All rumors to the contrary are just that, rumors.
Do creatures that live in no-light situations evolve to be colourless as colour is not useful without light? Does this show that other creatures in light-available areas develop pigments etc to serve a function based on their environment?
Yes, and yes. Pigmentation in water crustaceans is often a matter of camoflage. Producing these pigments has a metabolic cost as does producing eyes. When they are no longer needed for survival, the very slight pressure to conserve energy overwhelms the now missing pressure to disguise oneself to avoid getting eaten.
This is why nearly all species isolated from light for many, many generations end up blind and colorless. What little color they do have is from the materials they are made from instead of from added pigmentation.
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