Why does everybody always seem to forget about the chemistry of evolution? Think about shells and plates - don't these require complex processes to turn calcium carbonate from the sea into shells on the backs of animals? How did biochemistry fuel the "Oxygen Revolution" and change life on Earth? Wasn't that a mechanism that allowed higher levels of metabolism (Krebs Cycle) and created open niches after life forms unable to adapt were wiped out? Think about the ways in which nitrogen and phosphate also contributed to evolution - they allowed animals to diversify and grow. DNA changes can't be ignored either nor can the switch to heterotrophic feeding. Didn't this allow animals to grow in volume instead of spreading out for yet more surface area? And we haven't even begun to talk about the ways the organisms themselves affect their chemical environment and how that environment then affects the organisms. L-305 seems like a simple chemical equation - control the reactants in the environments and you control the organisms that are produced. To convince the judges to re-colonize you will have to explain the chemical theories of evolution and the "Cambrian Explosion." Ponder some really creative ideas about how you would limit evolution by limiting chemical input. Good luck!
Leads and Sources
Magazines and Articles:
"When Life Exploded," J. Madeleine Nash. Cover Story Time Magazine December 4, 1995.
"On Embryos and Ancestors," Stephen Jay Gould. Natural History 7/98-8/98, p. 20.
"The Evolution of Life on the Earth," Stephen Jay Gould. Scientific American October 1994, p. 85.
"Breathing Room for Early Animals" (Oxygen), Andrew H. Knoll. Nature Vol. 382, July 11, 1996, p. 111.
"The Big Bang of Animal Evolution," Jeffrey Levinton. Scientific American November 1992.
"Hypersea Invasion," Carl Zimmer. Discover October 1995, p. 76.
"The Emergence of Animals," Mark McMenamin, Scientific American April 1987, p. 94.
"Life’s Grand Explosions." (theories on why the Cambrian explosion occurred), Lori Oliwenstein. Discover January 1996, p. 42.
"The Molecular Explosion," Henry Gee. Nature Vol. 373, February 16,1995, p. 558.
Internet Sites:
The Divisions of Precambrian Time
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/precambrian/precambrian.htmlLife of the Vendian
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/vendianlife.htmlLearning About the Vendian Animals
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/critters.htmlOxygen Pulse and the Evolutionary Expansion of the Metazoans
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8200/Oxygenation.htmlCambrian Explosion Website
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html
Books:
The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough. Mark and Dianna McMenamin, 1990, Columbia University Press.
The Crucible of Evolution: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals. Simon Conway Morris, 1998, Oxford University Press.
Biology. N.A. Campbell, 1987, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Co.