Chapter 594 Gift
Li Qingye, who had been investigating in Southeast Asia for more than a month using a synchronous robot, now came to Latin America.
However, his real body is still in the Pangu Realm.
Bagheira appeared in his small ecosystem.
"Mr. Chairman, the Space Division has issued a Class A document containing a report on the investigation of life on Venus."
Li Qingye's eyes turned, and he took the tablet and said, "Is it about those nitrogen algae?"
"No, it's a new discovery." Bagheira shook his head.
At this time, Li Qingye had already seen the investigation report on the tablet. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Underground creatures? Or advanced creatures like this? Interesting..."
He continued to read carefully.
The creature was temporarily named "Venus Pangolin", and through a series of subsequent explorations and sample captures carried out by the Yungong Base, they discovered a total of 387 new species in the stratum.
Most of them are microorganisms, and there are only 14 species of relatively large multicellular organisms such as the Venus pangolin.
Their ecosystems depend on the abundant geothermal energy on Venus. Without such abundant geothermal energy and the thermal insulation capacity of the atmosphere, they would have no way of obtaining enough energy.
The great explosion of life on Earth started from the geothermal heat of black chimneys on the seabed and flourished from the sun's radiation.
According to research by the Yungong Base and related ecological and biological researchers, the birth of underground life on Venus was most likely caused by underground hot springs.
Although there is no sunlight, the thermal energy on the surface of Venus is very abundant. Although the underground temperature is not high due to the obstruction of the strata, it is precisely this relatively low temperature that makes it possible for life to emerge.
After all, the surface temperature of Venus is 400 to 500 degrees Celsius, which is unbearable for ordinary metals, let alone living things.
In the area 1000 to 1500 meters underground, the temperature is maintained between 33 and 46 degrees Celsius, a temperature that many organisms can withstand.
In the investigation report, investigators also found that Venus pangolins raise crystal ants. Crystal ants feed on sulfur-based fungi. Sulfur-based fungi rely on geothermal heat and animal carcasses and excrement to reproduce, thus forming a relatively complete food chain.
Venus pangolins dig caves in locations with suitable humidity and temperature, and then release some crystal ants and sulfur-based fungi into these caves.
Of course, these caves are not found randomly, but only in areas with rock formations rich in minerals.
Venus pangolins are semi-social creatures, usually living in family units, while crystal ants are colonies of creatures, with a nest of at least tens of thousands of ants.
Because the air pressure on Venus is extremely high, these creatures have evolved bodies that can adapt to the ultra-high pressure.
Li Qingye was more curious about how these creatures breathe.
Investigators were equally curious.
Judging from the samples obtained, bacteria and fungi are all developed from anaerobic bacteria. Oxygen is poisonous to them. They absorb sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and water and use heat energy to produce thermosynthesis, thereby achieving energy conversion.
Although sulfur-based fungi release oxygen, the oxygen they release will absorbed by elemental iron, elemental copper and other elemental active metals in the underground tunnels.
Obviously, the carbon dioxide and oxygen conversion efficiency of sulfur-based fungi is average, not as terrible as the cyanobacteria family, which greatly slows down the oxidation rate of Venus's strata.
Similarly, crystal ants and Venus pangolins do not breathe oxygen, but methane.
There are a large number of anaerobic bacteria in the entire underground world, many of which are methanogenic bacteria, which causes the methane concentration in the strata to reach about 17%.
The underground atmosphere of this ecosystem contains about 72% carbon dioxide, 17% methane, 5% sulfur dioxide, 3% nitrogen dioxide, and the remaining 3% is hydrogen sulfide, oxygen, radon, hydrogen, nitrogen and ammonia.
Li Qingye discovered that the methane-producing bacteria on Venus have a much higher efficiency in converting organic matter into methane than those on Earth, and are even more powerful than the methane bacteria he had modified using genetic recombination technology.
Of course, he also saw some problems, that is, the environments of the two sides were different.
The underground ecosystem of Venus has always been dominated by anaerobic bacteria. Coupled with the high temperature and high pressure all year round, this environment makes it easier for methane bacteria to decompose organic matter and convert it into methane.
The environment of the earth certainly cannot provide too much living space for anaerobic bacteria, as the earth is the territory of aerobic organisms.
Li Qingye sighed: "Nature is really amazing. A single sip or a single bite of water can produce completely different species."
Although the Yungong Base's research on the underground ecosystem of Venus has just begun at this stage, he seems to have anticipated the future.
Sapiens will surely discover similar ecosystems on other planets.
This underground ecosystem may be more common than the surface ecosystem on Earth.
After all, if the environmental conditions of the earth are used as the standard, the so-called habitable zone of the planetary system will be very narrow, and even for the main sequence stars of the planetary system, there are relatively strict restrictions.
But if the underground ecosystem of Venus is used as a standard, then almost all terrestrial planets and large rocky satellites have the potential to give birth to life.
From the perspective of the birth of life, the core elements for the birth of life are temperature, energy, and suitable chemical media.
For a planet like the Earth, which has just the right temperature, abundant water resources, and a strong magnetic field, the conditions are actually relatively harsh.
However, the geological structure of terrestrial planets raises another possibility, that is, groundwater, geothermal energy, and geological protection. These three conditions can be met in many terrestrial planets.
Therefore, Li Qingye can roughly predict that in the Milky Way and among various planetary systems, the probability of the birth of underground civilization is higher than that of surface civilization.
After all, if you look at the current solar system , you will know that there are underground life forms on Venus, Mars, and the Moon, and there are also life forms in the atmosphere of Venus.
The ratio of life on the surface, underground, and in the atmosphere is 1:3:1.
There are other large, rocky moons in the solar system that have not been explored, such as Titan.
From this point of view, the number of planets with underground life may be several times, or even dozens of times, the number of planets with surface life.
Of course, it is more difficult for underground creatures to develop to the level of human civilization than human civilization.
Because it can be understood that underground creatures are protected by thick rock layers, and this rock layer is like the earth's atmosphere and magnetic field.
Underground civilization needs to break through the limitations of the rock layer and become a surface civilization before it can enter the universe.
They have to cross one more level than human civilization to become a first-level civilization that controls a planetary system.
Breaking through the limitations of the rock layer is itself a very dangerous thing. It is like entering outer space. The surface environment is definitely not suitable for long-term living of underground organisms.
Therefore, underground organisms, surface organisms, and atmospheric organisms should all have their own advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on how they develop and their luck.
Luck has played a large part in the development of human civilization to its current stage.
After all, in the history of the evolution of life on Earth, there are many devastating mass extinctions of organisms. Human beings just happened to take advantage of this relatively safe vacuum period and rose rapidly.
If humans lived in the same era as dinosaurs, there is a high probability that they would have died together with the dinosaurs.
Every civilization in the universe is a miracle.
