Life on alien planets probably wouldn't experience day and night – here's how that may change evolution

[Admin]

Organisms on Earth living deep underground or at the bottom of the sea may give us an idea what alien life without a circadian rhythm could be like.

Life on alien planets probably wouldn't experience day and night – here's how that may change evolution : Read more

 

[Questioner]

Bioforms are structures & operations that are distinguishable from context.

The cell is a harbor to shelter its activities from variable external conditions.
There to sustain continuity surrounded by the inconstant.

Without as much variability [day-night cycle] would it reduce the need of bioforms to so sharply distinguish themselves from context?

A certain degree of self focus [narcissism] is useful to self sustenance.

Would organinisms have less self focus in an environment that is less demanding?

Could there be strange [to us] cross 'species' morphology, eb-&-flow of life there?

Evolution is driven by sharp divides [time & space] that demand adaptations or to perish.

Would evolution be less rich & slower without a day night cycle?

 

[fj.torres]

Bioforms are structures & operations that are distinguishable from context.

The cell is a harbor to shelter its activities from variable external conditions.
There to sustain continuity surrounded by the inconstant.

Without as much variability [day-night cycle] would it reduce the need of bioforms to so sharply distinguish themselves from context?

A certain degree of self focus [narcissism] is useful to self sustenance.

Would organinisms have less self focus in an environment that is less demanding?

Could there be strange [to us] cross 'species' morphology, eb-&-flow of life there?

Evolution is driven by sharp divides [time & space] that demand adaptations or to perish.

Would evolution be less rich & slower without a day night cycle?

For that matter, how much change does the environment offer over time?
Too little change and there is no driver for change, too much and the species don't have time to evolve. They just die and the biosphere restarts or it doesn't and the story ends.

Another way Earth is "just right".

 

[Gary Brown]

Even a tidally locked, close-in planet may have "seasons" - and thus variable sunlight and shadow - depending on both tilt (especially varying tilt) about axis and eccentricity of orbit. Eons of even small but regular changes are what enable evolution of whatever may be alive there.

 

[Dave]

In the case of earth the prevailing theory is that a large body collided with us long ago, which in turn formed our moon. This scenario can also occur on other worlds. In our own star system two of the four inner planets have moons. The difference would be marginal when looking at red dwarf stars. There is also a chance that a planet may have a moon or even several moons. In the case of Proxima b the aspect of a moon or several moons significantly increases its chance of having life or even intelligent life. Little is known about the Alpha Centauri star system since it does not transit in the same plane as our star system.

 

[AboveAndBeyond]

M dwarfs have been discounted for some time in being able to evolve advanced lifeforms because they are fully convective stars, leading to the sorts of flares and other activity that would/could erode away the entire atmosphere of a planet in a close (enough) orbit on a timescale which is very short compared to evolutionary timescales.

 

[Dave]

If we are using the earth as a comparison, it may be true that our type of intelligent life would not evolve on M-dwarfs. The advanced species of red dwarf stars may evolve with little difficulty in this type of system. The most powerful force on our world is life itself. It only needs its niche. Is it possible that worlds around red stars could spin faster and have a stronger magnetic field? The answer is yes.