The Time of Fire Life: The Afaguzddavenuv
The Time of Fire Life: The Afaguzddavenuv
During the Afaguzddavenuv, Eclek's landmass was united in a single supercontinent. It was a geologically active time, with many geothermal pools that were stable over tens of thousands of years. Little but Cabava could survive. While Quareya was present during this time period, it only existed as microorganisms in the margins of a few of the cooler pools.
The atmosphere during this time was still fairly primitive. Oxygen was scarce, but carbon dioxide from outgassing and hydrogen from the respiration of dzeCabava life were major components of the atmosphere, along with nitrogen.
The only macroscopic biome present during the Afaguzddavenuv was the hot spring. Distributed along the major fault lines, they were dominated by dzeKilawana, a group of distantly related genera of ñåich. Their only herbivores were various amoeboid grazers. While it was not the most interesting time period, there was great diversity--if you knew how to look for it.
Kilawana: A common sight in the geothermal springs of the Afaguzddavenuv onwards, dzeKilawanav were a form of ñåich. Nothing but short, photosynthetic filaments, Kilawana nonetheless became one of the most widespread organisms on the planet. Almost every hot spring at this time had a carpet of dzeKilawanav.
DzeKilawanav utilized a variant of c-phycocyanin, which is stable at extremely high temperatures. In combination with a variety of other pigments which protected them from ultraviolet radiation (Eclek in this time had a much reduced ozone layer), this rendered them dark blue. As with all dzeCabava autotrophs, they absorbed CO2 and H2O, and transpired H2.
The very first dzeKilawanav reproduced asexually. The filament broke apart, and each fragment developed a holdfast wherever random chance happened to take it. Sexual reproduction evolved from the horizontal transmission of genes. Kilawana had always had the ability to exchange genes, having retained it from microbial ancestors, but only had the opportunity to when one fragment came in contact with another.
Several derived dzeKilawana lineages had secondary filaments, which would detach and be dispersed by current. Chance resulted in a group that had haploid filaments. When these haploid filaments came into contact with the haploid filaments from another primary filament, the two haploid fragments would swap genes and become diploid.
Natural selection favored filaments that were smaller and smaller, and pre-existing trichomes were exapted into flagella. Before long, dzeKilawanav were releasing free-swimming gametes through pores that studded the filament. The precise arrangement of the pores could be used to tell the different genera apart. Once fertilized, spores were released through the same pores. Brownian motion would ensure that they traveled at least a little distance from the parent filament.
While this worked well for dispersal within the pool, it made colonization of new geothermal areas an infrequent event. There were periodic floods that could transport the spores, and in this way dzeKilawanav managed to spread across most of the supercontinent. But this took a great deal of time, and as the climate dried towards the middle of the Afaguzddavenuv, all but three genera of Kilawana went extinct: Senyo, Yeyasechetais, and dzePrunutayada. Having previously evolved a filament that could endure brief exposure to the air, these genera developed part of their filament into a fruiting body that extended above the water level. Wind would disperse their spores.
The descendants of Kilawa, along with their grazers, still exist in similar forms along with more derived cousins.
DzeCabava amoeboid grazers: Not a monophyletic group, dzeCabava amoeboid grazers were a group of single-celled organisms a few millimeters in diameter. Most were equipped with a radula that they scraped across dzeKilawana filaments, and they used pseudopods to engulf the resulting fragments. A few had needle-like structures that could pierce the cells of dzeKilawanav and suck up their contents.
As with all dzeCabava heterotrophs, they got their carbon and oxygen from food, and absorbed H2 from their surroundings. They generated CO2 and water as waste products.