The Pellet Drop

[Tsar Hoikas]

I just reread my notes (from over a year ago--I can't believe it's been that long). In short, I determined that the pellets do not actually nurture the algae; rather, they behave as a hormone that causes a burst of light. This means that nutrient levels aren't the problem--there are other ecological and environmental factors (that I have written down in my notes and am opting to not share) that are preventing the algae from behaving as they did pre-fall.

[Acorn]

to drop or not to drop - that is the question

[janaba]

That is right, Acorn ... Adam's statement leaves the question if that more or less strong
burst of light does any harm to the algae and thus just artificially lightens or brightens
the lake and thus the cavern while at the same time slowly destroying its source ...

[Wamduskasapa]

Hmmmmmmm - maybe we need to feed this biological entity something else

[Karkadann]

How bout some Chile dogs

[Wamduskasapa]

The only problem with that is Zandi would show up and scarf them

[dtierce]

Do we have any clue whether the algae was glowing as desired before the D'ni moved in? Did the D'ni do something special to make it glow in the first place or was it already glowing? IIRC we've been told that the glow is currently suppressed by contamination from events of the fall, but any contamination should have separated or been metabolized by now. If it hasn't, then efforts should be directed toward eliminating that problem first.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I just think we don't quite understand the problem. I don't know of any other cavern on earth with algae glowing the way we expect this to do. Is the algae alien to earth?

Maybe some aspiring writer should open an age which already has glowing algae and import at least a sample of what we need for laboratory testing... find out what makes functioning algae work.

David Tierce

[Wamduskasapa]

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I just think we don't quite understand the problem. I don't know of any other cavern on earth with algae glowing the way we expect this to do. Is the algae alien to earth?
David Tierce

There is a Cave that was discovered in 1887 on the North Island of New Zealand. The Cave is called Waitomo Glowworm Caves and is known for its population of glowworms and glowing fungi. It is an underground wonderland with several small underwater lakes.

The walls of the caves are covered with a variety of fungi including the cave flower that is actually a mushroom. The most common animals in the caves are insects. This includes albino cave ants, giant crickets, and of course the glowworms. This cave glows very brightly, to the point that flash bulbs are not needed (even though they are forbidden because their light will destroy the fungus)(sound familiar)

[Wamduskasapa]

Without the fungus the gloworms die and vice versa. Maybe this plague that destroyed the Dni also killed off a creature and its secretions that the algae would feed off of

[Acorn]

I reckon that, now I've tested that the pellet drop scorer works, I won't drop any more pellets other than in Bahro caves. This is my view based on the available evidence and my application of the precautionary principle. But if others reach a different conclusion and want to carry on dropping pellets, that's up to them, and I have no problem with that!