- #1
snorkack
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- 477
On Earth, there are no vagile autotrophs.
Microalgae are planctic, but lack ability for complex, active movement.
Bigger plants have propargules that need to move - but only do so passively, not actively.
Many animals are sessile, with vagile larvae - but not autotrophs. Very few, like corals, have symbiosis with algae - don´ t actually carry out photosynthesis with their own cells and genes.
So... what would be biomechanical constraints for an organism whose young actually move actively, with muscles and nerves, and whose adults are sessile autotrophs photosynthesizing with cells and genes that are carried in the young?
What would be the biomechanical constraints for an organism to be actually autotrophic while vagile? A vagile autotroph cannot put down roots... but can actively eat. How much energy can a vagile autotroph catch, and what does a rootless autotroph need to eat?
Microalgae are planctic, but lack ability for complex, active movement.
Bigger plants have propargules that need to move - but only do so passively, not actively.
Many animals are sessile, with vagile larvae - but not autotrophs. Very few, like corals, have symbiosis with algae - don´ t actually carry out photosynthesis with their own cells and genes.
So... what would be biomechanical constraints for an organism whose young actually move actively, with muscles and nerves, and whose adults are sessile autotrophs photosynthesizing with cells and genes that are carried in the young?
What would be the biomechanical constraints for an organism to be actually autotrophic while vagile? A vagile autotroph cannot put down roots... but can actively eat. How much energy can a vagile autotroph catch, and what does a rootless autotroph need to eat?