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posted by chromas on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the NOAA dept.

Phys.org:

[C]onservation biologists often use species' evolutionary history – their phylogeny – to identify groups of species to save."

This idea is based on the assumption that preserving phylogenetic diversity among species preserves more functional diversity than selecting species to preserve by chance. Functional diversity is important, Pearse says, because it drives ecosystem health and productivity.

"Yet measuring the effectiveness of functional diversity is difficult," he says. "So using phylogenetic diversity as a surrogate for functional diversity has made conservation biology much easier and more effective."

Building an ark to help the Earth weather ecosystem collapse has become a recurrent element of science fiction. How best would one go about it in practice?


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:49AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:49AM (#711502)

    It should float...because of global sea rise. And it should be very large. About 140m long by 23m wide and 14m high.

    It should be made out of wood, one of the oldest and best boat building materials... Preferably cypress wood. And it should be covered inside and out with tar to make it waterproof. It should have decks so that all the lifeforms can be cryogenically and genetically preserved and organized in their own rooms. The organisms will require much oxygen. A half meter gap around the top should do. And don't forget the roof or an entrance door on the side.

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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday July 24 2018, @02:28AM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @02:28AM (#711526)

    I like the way you think A/C, do you think two of each animal will be enough?

    It sounds like enough to me.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @04:33AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @04:33AM (#711572)

      I'd think two would be sufficient for some animals, but for the rest, I'd bring about 7 breeding pair.

      Good - steak
      Bad - bacon

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 24 2018, @02:36AM (5 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @02:36AM (#711530)

    Cryogenically preserved, there's an awesome plan. Let's build something dependent on about a billion pieces of interdependent infrastructure, and then hope that it works for 100,000 years into the future. Power outage, backup generator failed too? Too bad, so sad. Dead is dead, it only takes one thaw to completely ruin the frozen hamburger or ice cream, whaddaya think that's gonna do for brainz?

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    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:33PM (4 children)

      by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:33PM (#711680)

      Not much, since the brains were already completely destroyed by the freezing process. You can mostly freeze seeds, with their incredibly low water content, and animal gametes, zygotes, and even young enough embryos so long as they're small enough - by the time their big enough to see though, good luck freezing them fast enough to avoid cell-destroying water crystallization. Maybe someday.

      But hey, whatever method you use, it doesn't need to last 100,000 years - 1000 should be more than enough for civilization to have been wiped out by ecosystem collapse, or at least recognize what a serious mistake they made as they teeter on the brink.

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 24 2018, @01:46PM (3 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @01:46PM (#711712)

        The cryo-nerds have some theories about controlling the crystallization process so that a large crystal forms more or less all at once, with minimal "fault lines" (I hear that and I think: that's how you do a lobotomy, with a planar disruption, but... I'm not a potential customer anyway.)

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        • (Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Tuesday July 24 2018, @03:30PM (2 children)

          by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @03:30PM (#711753)

          My understanding is that *any* crystallization is a major problem - water crystals are considerably larger than the water that they form from, as well as being prone to growing sharp spikes - both of which do a good job of rupturing the cells you're trying to preserve. The trick for most cryogenics is to cool the water so quickly that it becomes a glass rather than crystallizing. The second trick is to thaw it out quickly enough that the super-cooled water doesn't have a chance to freeze as it warms up.

          • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 24 2018, @05:30PM

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @05:30PM (#711787)

            O.K. - sorry, it was the glassification I was remembering. Just for fun I investigated cryonics once back in 2003 after I saw a job opening in West Palm Beach at a cryonics company... at the time it was a: do not walk, RUN away from this opportunity - as fast and as far as possible, but entertaining to read about nonetheless. I doubt that the field has advanced tremendously in the last 15 years.

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          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @11:41PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @11:41PM (#712034)

            link [bu.edu] (PDF)

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @04:37AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @04:37AM (#711573)

    Fotrunately we already have one pre-built by serious Biblical scholars: https://arkencounter.com/ [arkencounter.com]

    It's life size and a perfect replica of the One True Ark. It doesn't float. Obviously in the old days they used alien ancient pyramid secrets to float giant wooden boats that we just can't do anymore. Things we so much better in those days.