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Author Topic:   Did life start only once?
Dr Adequate
Member (Idle past 315 days)
Posts: 16113
Joined: 07-20-2006


Message 7 of 13 (457689)
02-24-2008 9:25 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by Explorer
02-24-2008 8:02 PM


Well... seems to me the most logical reason why we don’t see another line of evolution is that it would be extremely hard for an up comer to win or compete over something that already have taken its place on the planet.
You'd think. After all, the first thing life would do on arising from the "organic soup" would be to reproduce ... by eating all the soup.
First come, first served.
However . wouldn’t it be possible for emerging life to become parasitic on our line of evolution? Are there any possible candidates for such an “attack”?
Viruses? Depends on whether they're alive or not ... and on how they originated.
Shortly , I thought of this.. long time ago I read that there are some things that don’t qualify fully as life-forms but bear a close resemblance.
Well, there are viruses, beta prions, RNA species ... none of them can metabolize, and beta prions can't evolve either.
Whether or not they're life depends entirely on your definition of life.

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Dr Adequate
Member (Idle past 315 days)
Posts: 16113
Joined: 07-20-2006


Message 10 of 13 (457864)
02-26-2008 12:01 AM
Reply to: Message 9 by Blue Jay
02-25-2008 4:58 PM


. Birds evolved during a time when the skies were filled with already well-adapted pterosaurs. Bats evolved during a time when the skies were filled with already well-adapted birds.
Yes, but they weren't in direct competition. Flight in itself does not constitute a niche.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 9 by Blue Jay, posted 02-25-2008 4:58 PM Blue Jay has not replied

  
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