Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 376 - 375: Biological Extinction Crisis (Three more updates!)

Chapter 376: Chapter 375: Biological Extinction Crisis (Three more updates!)

Zhang Yuan carefully observed this so-called tree heart; it had some hollow sieve tubes in the middle, and its overall density was much lower than that of steel.

Yamamoto said something alarming, "These tree hearts are excellent material for the Riley Civilization, providing housing and food... but they are also a major crisis that could destroy the entire ecological chain!"

He scraped off a little bit of wood debris with a knife and lit it with a lighter.

Immediately, the burning created a wisp of faint smoke.

Zhang Yuan covered his nose, smelling a pungent odor similar to that of burning plastic, and pondered deeply.

Everyone had smelled the scent.

"It really does smell like plastic."

"What is plastic?"

Zhang Yuan explained, "It’s a type of high-polymer material derived from petroleum, very cheap, and was widely used by Earth Civilization. However, after the exhaustion of petroleum, it was no longer viable, and we had to switch to using renewable materials on a large scale."

Yamamoto pressed a button again, "Did everyone smell that? This type of tree heart is a natural high-polymer material, with a chemical composition somewhat similar to the plastics widely used on our Earth, which means it is a very stable chemical substance."

The screen showed an image of a geographer from Earth, who had found a fossil deposit in a plain: a large organic mine with reserves of up to 300 million tons!

"The composition of this organic mine is almost entirely made of World Tree hearts. Because they have been buried underground for a long time, they have become something similar to coal. They are even better than coal, and have a higher calorific value."

Some quick-thinking biologists had already realized why Professor Yamamoto Ichiro believed that this planet was on the verge of a major biological extinction event!

Why?

"Because these tree hearts... are impossible for the local microorganisms to decompose! Hence, they accumulated in large amounts."

Zhang Yuan was so startled that he was almost at a loss for words. Humans could actually witness... a biological extinction!

The so-called "World Tree" of the Riley people, undoubtedly, was an outstanding species on this planet, providing the Riley people with food and also shelter.

Due to its strong adaptability, traces of the "World Tree" could be found in almost every corner of the planet.

However, because the World Tree’s "tree heart" had evolved too advanced, the native microorganisms were completely unable to decompose this highly stable material.

The vast organic mineral veins discovered by humans on the plains were formed from the forests where other fibers rotted away, leaving only the tree hearts accumulated and sedimented underground.

Why does this lead to a major biological extinction?

The reason is simple: the planet’s carbon cycle had been disrupted.

Under normal conditions of aerobic respiration, consumers inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, while producers take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, thus completing the carbon cycle.

But now, a large amount of carbon elements had turned into tree hearts buried underground, leading to a gradual decrease in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Plants without enough carbon dioxide to die off in large numbers, followed by a massive die-off of animals.

The carbon dioxide concentration of this planet was roughly 0.5 percent, and after millions or tens of millions of years, it could decrease by 60-80 percent. At that point, plants would struggle to propagate, resulting in a truly lethal impact.

A biologist seated below asked, "Is there actually a substance that native microbes can’t decompose? Professor Yamamoto, are you certain your scientific verification is correct?"

An expert who personally handled the geological investigation explained, "We’ve discovered in soils around the world, effective components of the tree heart... Although these substances are high-molecular-weight organics that can become small fragments due to physical forces, even these fragments decompose extremely slowly, and can exist stably for thousands, or even tens of thousands of years. This indicates that the decomposers of this planet indeed cannot effectively decompose the World Tree’s heart."

"It’s like plastic, in a way; small plastic particles, although not toxic, will not decompose if buried underground for a long time. And the effective components of the tree heart are even more stable than plastic, existing for an even longer period of time."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

This was the origin of the great crisis.

The expert continued, "Ladies and gentlemen. Such environmental sudden changes caused by plant evolution have indeed occurred on Earth before..."

"2.4 billion years ago, there was a ’Great Oxygenation Event’ on Earth. This event altered the mineral composition of Earth and made the subsequent emergence of animals possible."

"It was essentially a surge in the planet’s oxygen content, primarily because of a significant evolution in plants; woody fibers began to form, while fungi that could decompose plant fibers had not yet appeared. This is what caused a dramatic decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration."

"A massive amount of carbon elements were sequestered and deposited underground with the life cycles of plants, leading to the formation of high-quality coal in the Carboniferous Period, which benefited later-born humans."

"The decomposers of Earth back then were not powerful enough. The proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere decreased, while the oxygen proportion surged, reaching the highest atmospheric oxygen content during the late Carboniferous Period. The sudden environmental change, following a mass extinction, led to a biological explosion."

Everyone present understood this explanation.

"And now, Riley Star is in a similar critical phase. As time accumulates, more and more dead World Trees pile up, and more and more tree hearts accumulate."

"This planet has been formed for a very long time, and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not that high, so where does the carbon element come from? After the consumption of atmospheric carbon dioxide, it naturally comes from the carbon within the organisms... Animals live, age, fall ill, and die. As long as the number of dying organisms exceeds that of the newborns, with the breakdown of the worldwide carbon cycle, increasing amounts of carbon elements will be buried underground!"

"With a lack of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, fewer plants will exist, and naturally, fewer animals. Contrarily, the concentration of oxygen will rise.

"The great extinction, just like that, began!"

"Or rather, the mass extinction had already started, only that these Riley people were unaware. After millions of years, with flora and fauna sparse, a large amount of carbon elements would have turned into plastic-like substances... Theoretically, this is the case."

Everyone sat quietly in their seats, pondering, deep in thought.

After the bluntness of the biological extinction was laid bare, the air was filled with a serious and heavy murderous intent.

A murderous intent originating from the planet itself.

Such deadly intent always comes slowly but resolutely.

Even humans, as an interstellar civilization, find it difficult to stop this force from the planet itself.

...

(PS: Without the silly online game comments, I find it lackluster to write! Especially these past few days with the big push, I was overshadowed by the grand red flag, causing my subscription increases to be less than ideal... Ah, such bad luck, but still, here’s a triple update to celebrate!)

(National Day parade was quite spectacular, but I’ll keep my comments to myself. I like nuclear bombs like the DF41 the most; although you can’t use them in war, having them means real security!)