கம்சிலோவின் உயிரின கணக்கு

Fascinating graph of Life on Earth - this blog in English 

கடல்வாழ் உயிரினமும் நிலவாழ் உயிரினமும் பல விதம் வேறுபட்டவை. உருவத்தில் மட்டுமல்ல, எடையிலும் அவை பிரம்மாண்டமாக வேறுபட்டவை! எடையா?

தாவரங்களுக்கும் விலங்குகளுக்கும் உள்ள வேற்றுமையும் நாம் யாவரும் அறிந்ததே. இந்த ஒப்பீட்டிலும், எடை வேற்றுமை வியப்பானது!

ஒட்டுமொத்த உயிரினங்களின் எடையை எப்படி அளக்கமுடியும்? கருத்து கணிப்பு போல் இதுவும் புள்ளிவிவரங்களை ஆராய்ந்து கணக்கிடும் விவரம். சராசரியாக ஒரு சதுர மீட்டரில், ஒரு சதுர கிலோமீட்டரில் எத்தனை உயிரினங்கள் உள்ளன, அவற்றின் தனிப்பட்ட எடை என்ன, இதனால் ஒரு சதுர கி.மி.யில் அவற்றின் எடை என்ன, இந்தந்த பிரதேசத்தில், நாட்டில், நிலப்பரப்பில், நீர்பரப்பில் என்று கணித்து வகுக்கும் அளவுகள்.

“உயிர்மண்டலத்தின் பரிணாம வளர்ச்சி” (Evolution of the Biosphere), என்னும் நூலை எம்.எம்.கம்சிலோவ் (MM Kamshilov) ருஷிய மொழியில் எழுதி, ஆங்கிலத்தில் மின்னா ப்ரோட்ஸ்கயா (Minna Brodskaya) மொழிபெயர்த்ததை, சில வருடங்களுக்கு முன் படிக்க நேர்ந்தது. மீர் அச்சகம், மாஸ்கோ, 1972 வெளியீடு. டைனாசர் காலம் சென்று பாலுண்ணி காலம் தோன்றி, மனித இனம் பூமியை ஆண்டுவருவது நம் கர்வம் கொண்ட கற்பனை. உயிரினம் மலையெனில் மனித இனம் அதில் ஒரு மடு. ஏன் விலங்கினமே மடு தான்.

உண்மையில், மரங்களே பூமியின் மிகப்பரவலான உயிரினம். பூமியில் முக்கால் பரப்பு கடலும் கால் பரப்பு நிலமும் இருப்பதால், உயிரினங்களும் அதே விகிதாச்சாரத்தில் இருக்கலாம் என்பதே நமக்கு இயல்பாக தோன்றும். இனங்களின் எண்ணிக்கையில் (வகைகளில்) தாவரங்களை விட விலங்குகளே அதிகம். ஜே.பி.எஸ்.ஹால்டேன் என்ற உயிரியில் வல்லுனர் தீவீர நாத்திகவாதி. அவரிடம் ஒரு நிருபர், “கடவுள் இருந்தால் அவரை நீங்கள் எப்படி வர்ணிப்பீர்கள்?” என்று வினவ, “கடவுள் இருந்தால் அவர் அளவற்ற வண்டு பிரியர்,” என்றார் ஹால்டேன். நாற்பதாயிரம் வண்டினங்கள் உள்ளன. மற்ற எல்லா இனங்களை விட, இனவகையில் மிக்க வாழ்வது வண்டு இனமே. .

இதோ கம்சிலோவின் கணக்கு!

நிலம்வாழ் உயிரினம்

எடை	தாவர இனம்	விலங்கினமும் நுண்ணுயிரும்
டன் * 10^12	2.4	0.02
விகிதாச்சாரம்	99.2	0.8

கடல்வாழ் உயிரினம்

எடை	தாவர இனம்	விலங்கினமும் நுண்ணுயிரும்
டன் * 10^12	0.0002	0.003
விகிதாச்சாரம்	6.3	93.7

எண்ணிக்கையில் விலங்கினமும் நுண்ணுயிரும் அதிகமாக இருப்பினும், பெரும் மரங்கள் உயிரினத்தில் தொண்ணூறு சதவிகிதம் என்பது, வியப்பை அல்ல, எனக்கு பிரமிப்பை ஊட்டுகிறது.

Botanical Gardens

I have lectured on Astronomy, History, Sculpture, Sanskrit, Tamil etc in the last few years, sharing with the public what I have learned. But two great fields I have discovered and delighted in are Economics and Biology. I have not lectured on these topics, but reviewed Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Iain McDiarmid’s  Darwin’s Armada. These interests were kindled by books recommended by two different cousins.

Economics and Biology

In 2000, my cousin Deepa Varadarajan, now a Professor of Law in Atlanta, recommended The Worldy Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner, a wonderful overview of the field of Economics, from the European perspective beginning with Adam Smith and continuing with Malthus, Ricardo, Marx, Veblen, Keynes. I read Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree, which also parallely gave me a practical, current overview of econmics as it was unfolding – and which I never gleaned from daily news.

My other cousin, Mukthevi Ramanujam, a biologist, now living in Bangalore, gave me a book, in 2004,  Independent Birth of Organisms, by Periannan Senapathy, when briefly working for the latter’s genomics company. This book proposed an alternative to one aspect of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. While I am skeptical of its premise and arguments, it was a wonderful primer on genetics, DNA, evolution etc. Ramanujam (whose nickname is Govind, within the family), also loaned me Nick Lane’s Power Sex Suicide, which explained mitochondria, cell physics and chemistry and a number of things that have held my fascination. This enhanced the curiosity and fascination about biology, provoked by Jared Diamond’s book Guns Germs and Steel.

One of the special pleasures I had been aching for during in the last few years, was to visit the Burgess Shale in Canada, the Amazon rainforest, and islands of Ternate where Wallace wandered, his wonders to evoke. During this current US visit, my science yatra, I was at least hoping to visit Yellowstone and Seuqoia National Parks. The Burgess Shale must wait another trip, as must the latter two, but, the Natural History Museum in Washington awaits.

Windmill at Golden Gate park

Golden Gate Park

Visiting another cousin, Vivek Sriram, in San Francisco, I realized that he lived two streets away from the Golden Gate park (he jogs there frequently) and walking through it last Friday, I discovered a Botanical Gardens, with a guided tour on Saturday. My random observations provoked my brother Jayaraman’s curiosity, so with Frank Caggiano, we took the Saturday tour.

Our docent was Coley, an extraordinarily informed and informative lady, with an avid passion for the botany of the park. There was only one other person on the tour, a San Francisco native, who said his father worked in India. He seemed to be a regular at the park.

Coley told us the design and history of the park, its founding, and then about the Botanical Garden, which is a small section of the large Park. Some of the gardens were designed with rocks from dismantled Spanish castles, which were shipped to San Francisco!

Coley - the Lady in Blue

Stones from a Spanish Castle 

I had earlier visited the JC Bose Botanical Gardens in Calcutta, and wandered around the gardens of the Theosophical society, and even went to a couple of tours in Madras, guided by Nizhal; of the Kotturpuram Tree Park and some trees of the Kalakshetra campus. All this besides the wonderful and frequent insights from Prof Swaminathan, the most avid plant aficionado, I know personally.

San Franciso has a mediterranean climate, which means it can sustain Mediterranean vegetation from both the northern and southern hemispheres. It gets cold and foggy often, but rarely frosty, which means that even tropical plants like palms and bananas grow here. The San Francisco Botanical Garden has several themed parks, segmented by geographic region, such as Australia, South America, Asian cloud forests, California redwood, and the most bizarre, South African.

Regional Gardens at SFBG

Board explaining Australian species

Australian bottle brush tree

In addition, there were three other interesting garden segments:

1.      a Fragrant garden, full of herbs, spices, and other culinary aromatic plants;

2.      a Rhododendron garden;

               and most fascinatingly

3.      a garden of Ancient Plants

This last is a wonder – I was hoping to see such a display at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and perhaps the Kew Gardens in London. 

When Oxygen Polluted the Earth

The Earth’s atmospheric and climatic conditions have dramatically altered over the last 4.5 billion years, during various geological epochs. That is part of evolution. Life played a major part in influencing this atmospheric evolution. Cyanogens changed the atmosphere of the world from methane to oxygen, driving archaea into rare habitats.

Two Evolutionary Explosions

Besides, for the first 4 billion years there was nothing much by way of plant or animal life on earth; mostly bacteria, fungi and protists. It is only after the Cambrian explosion about 500 million years ago that life on Earth became such a rich and delightful diversity. But, wait! Scientists estimate that the Permian extinction killed of 96% of all species on earth! Now, how would a gardener or a biologist bring to life what has been extinct for over 300 million years? What survived the Permian event, the severest of five major extinction events?

Also, the plants most familiar to us – flowering plants - are also the most recent branch of the Plant Kingdom. They evolved 150 million years ago. The sudden evolution of Flowering Plants rivaled the Cambrian Explosion. “Flowers are an abominable mystery,” rued Darwin, and they continue to be an abominable mystery.

The biologist JBS Haldane wondered why God, if he existed, had such an inordinate fondness of beetles, that he created forty thousand species of them, more than any other genus in the animal kingdom. God seems to have an equally inordinate fondness for flowering plants, as they dominate the Plant Kingdom.

They also drive our idea of plants, in the first place. Mosses and Liverworts are plants, but most of the general public would be loath to see them in a botanical garden. There are also a variety of sea plants, but we rarely see an aquarium of sea plants, whereas every city seems to have an aquarium for sea animals. But I was not too disappointed on this count; Land plants dominate the Plant Kingdom, even more than Flowering Plants. Incidentally, the single most amazing statistic of biology, is the extent of this domination.

I have wandered more randomly over this essay, than I physically wandered in the Garden. Let us see what wonders Atlanta holds for us. Just seeing the amborella would be a major highlight.

I recommend Craig Savage’s Biology lectures for those who want a more ordered and fascinating overview of the Kingdom of Life. 

Typical redwood - massive

Weird redwood, branches growing downwards

Bizarre plants from South African cape region

Antarctic plants?

Palm tree that used bad shampoo

Botanical boom microphone 

Black Lotus!!

Pineapple Palm 

Red Angel Trumpet

Organized Diversity

Omelet flower :-)

Evolutionary time line of plants

Plaque explaining Geological eras

The Ferns thatwere common before Flowers evolved

Aesthetically sculpted sign

Entrance to Japanese Tea garden at Golden Gate Park

Related Websites

1. Craig Savage video lectures on Plants

2. The roots of Plant Intelligence - TED lecture

3. Flowers : Darwin's Abominable Mystery

4. Nick Lane video - Origins of Complex Life
5. Independent Birth of Organisms, by Periannan Senapathy
6. Amborella - Origin of Flowers?
7. Smt Radhika Parthasarathy's Summary of my book review of Darwin's Armada

Related Essays on my Blog

1. Astounding Statistic - Domination of Land Plants
2. Plant Diversity
3. Plant fossils near Madras
4. SymbioGenesis - Lynn Margulis' Supplement to Theory of Evolution
5. கப்பலோடிய ஆங்கிலேயர்

Cretaceous Flora Fossils near Madras

I visited Gunduperumbedu village near Sriperumbudur last friday, with Gaman Palem and his friend. There were lots of chipped stones on the ground scattered around a pond, and near a graveyard. It seemed they have dug up the soil around these parts for building roads, tanks etc and these stones are deposited all over the place.

I had gone there after reading an old report in the Hindu that plant fossils were embedded in these stones. Our friend in Ahmedabad, Ramjee Nagarajan, helped by sending a document, ‘An Integrated Inquiry of Early Cretaceous Flora, Palar Basin, India,’ published in the journal Phytomorphology, which was interesting, but difficult to follow, since I was ignorant of geology, both practical and theoretical.

After visiting the wrong Gunduperumbedu - there are two, Medu மேடு (Upper) and Pallam பள்ளம் (Lower), the latter with the fossils, we stumbled upon these. Usually old fossils are buried deep under the earth and cannot be seen above the surface. In Dholavira, one of the ASI staff told us that the archaeologists don't pick up and study any pottery on the surface, as it may be recent. They only study things buried under ground. That is for a scale of a few thousand years.

Gunduperumbedu - scattered stones on mound

Close up of stones

The paper talked of Cretaceous Flora, which is the geological period, when flowering plants evolved, about 150 million years ago. But the preamble mentioned pre-angiospermic flora and plant megafossils!

And it also mentioned that the Palar basin had:

1.    Archaean deposit - more than 2 billion years ago, before there was cholorophyll or plants,

2.    PreCambrian layer. The Cambrian “explosion”, 500mya, was the single largest evolutionary event. There were only three phyla before it, and there are 42 afterwards. It saw the largest increase in the number of animal species. PreCambrian fossils are extremely rare.

3.    Permian layers. The end of the Permian period saw the greatest extinction ever: 96% of all species became extinct.

TimeLine of Multicellular Life, showing different eras 

I dont know if there are actually any excavations that deep or any fossils in that area that old, or merely geological evidence. We certainly did not see any megafossils. Last year, I was planning to visit the Burgess Shale in Canada & perhaps Ediacaran sites in Australia to see pre-Cambrian sites. In Gujarat, I - ok, we - missed out on the dinosaur fossil site in Balasinore. This is a fossil park protected by Geological Survey of  India.  A large collection of dinosaur eggs was recently discovered in Ariyalur.

The locals told us that people from Pondicherry and Madras come on weekends and take away stones and fossils by the sackful. It is a pity there is no archaeological expedition here. There was once an exhibition in a local school. Local youth scan for fossils and offer them for sale. One person gave Gaman  a stone with a plant fossil and another with a shell, possibly molluscan, fossil. Gaman became excited, believed that it was starter’s luck and it paid off – we found a few afterwards. I decided to search in the shade, and even that strategy paid off. I got one.

Perhaps a Molluscan Fossil - Oyster

Plant fossil

But these are few and far between, and probably not of significant use for serious research. Some of the technical papers mention exploration around borewells, probably because researchers here don’t have budgets or equipment or expertise for excavations. I wanted to post this yesterday, May 21, on Mary Anning's birth anniversary - after seeing her honored with a Google doodle.  Her story is fascinatingly similar to our experience, with far fewer dangers. Her discoveries were accidental, when a landslide uncovered fossils. She pursued the search for fossils, made it into a commercial enterprise, came into contact with experts, and so on. The locals are doing this as a minor commercial enterprise, but land development may overrun this site. Fortunately, the Sriperumbudur bed is a vast area and the Palar basin is even larger.

References
1. ‘An Integrated Inquiry of Early Cretaceous Flora, Palar Basin, India,’ published in the journal Phytomorphology, A. Rajanikanth, Anil Agarwal, A. Stephen (stephanos.crown@gmail.com)
2. Mary Anning, Wikipedia page
3. A blog on dino eggs
4. The timeline map of Life - I dont remember what video I captured if from - either a series by Craig Savage or a lecture by Nick Lane. Both are excellent.

Postscript July 15, 2016 
In this article, published in the Hindu in 2014, Mr Singanejam Sambandan, Director of the Geological Survey of India, Chennai, has observed that the fossils belong to the Upper Gondwana period, 250 MYA, not Cretaceous 150 MYA, as noted in the title of the first listed reference paper by Rajanikantha, Agarwal, Stephen.

Plant Evolution and Diversity

This chart or graph of Plant diversity, I just stumbled upon on a talk about Amborella and the Origin of Flowers, is worth viewing patiently. For the not too scientifically inclined, it can be a delight to just look at the relationship and proximities of different species and how different they are from our daily experience and interactions with them. For example, notice that Tea is closely related to Blueberries; Beets to Cacti; and Coffee, Olives and Tomatoes are on the same branch, while Pineapple preceded Grasses, which include most cereals like Rice and Wheat! 

How, but scientifically would we link Mustard and Papayas, and note that they are more closely related to Grapes than to other spices or Fruits, like Gingers and their cousins, Bananas. 

I wonder how much symbiogenesis plays a role in this branching.

Fascinating graph of life

How does life on land differ from life in the oceans? Answer: Dramatically!!

How do plants differ from animals and micro organisms, by the number and mass of species? Even more dramatically! Incredible, in fact.

This is one of the most bizarre graphs I have seen, from a book "Evolution of the Biosphere", by MM Kamshilov, translated from Russian to English by Minna Brodskaya. Mir Publishers, Moscow, 1972.

Life on Land

Matter	Green Plants	Animals and Micro organisms
Tons * 10^12	2.4	0.02
Percentage	99.2	0.8

Life in Oceans

Matter	Green Plants	Animals and Micro organisms
Tons * 10^12	0.0002	0.003
Percentage	6.3	93.7

Post script: This is my first HTML hack on my blog, to include the table.