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"PHB bioplastic coating"
It's not out of the question living things could naturally create plastic (that is, plastic-like polymer) substances. Cellophane bees (genus Colletes) make a substance that resembles cellophane, which is like the material of a plastic bag. With that being said, you'd have to elaborate on why waxes, oils, and waterproof coats wouldn't work, spell out "PHB" and why it works in this case, and make at least a vague mention of how it arose.

"it's surface": Its surface.
"is ancestor": Its ancestor.
"The clusters[...]" This sentence is too long. You'll need to split it.
"numbers, megasporangium": "numbers, with megasporangium".
"it's base": Its base.
How can bark grow in sheets? Is it like paper birches? Or are you simply talking about fissures in the bark?
30 m does seem tall for a tree that grows on beaches, particularly one that's noted to be become stunted when it lives on the beach. You could elaborate on the typical height of Contorted Vollypoms living on beach habitats. I figure the height given in the template would be a population average for an adult Contorted Volleypom, so if the majority of Contorted Volleypoms live on beaches, but beaches make them stunted, the template's given height of 30 m may be too tall. I did a quick search on plausible heights for beach trees of similar environmental tolerances: knowing the data for a beach plum (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/njpmcpg13391.pdf) might help.

PHB was developed in it's ancestor already.

I could just write out the biosynthesis of it so we can see the components that go into it's making. It's not particularly novel other than the polymerization and was directly ripped from an already existing metabolic pathway for creating PHB in real life organisms.

Did the edits, thank you.


Mm, would sheets not be a good term? Pieces? It would be in reference to the fissures, so large unbroken surfaces which is in my experience is a surprise on older trees, smooth bark being common among trees less than 40 years old.

I take template height as max height of a healthy mature individual, rather than an average.

I added their stunted height, they were actually based on shore pine, Pinus contorta sbsp. contorta which I've seen growing directly in the sand dunes above the high tide mark. Very small compared to their forest siblings.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Sep 15 2022, 11:41 AM

In retrospect, I'm not sure if it made sense for its ancestor to use PHB. A quick check suggests only microbes make it in real-life, and use it as a storage molecule. I guess it would need to be discussed whether that needs to be retconned or is an acceptable, subtle piece of whimsy. It's certainly subtler than Flamebacks, which literally emit fire like a Pokemon. (Admittedly, that was Generation 151.)

You could say "pieces of smooth bark", I suppose.

Male Alaskan moose are, on average, 4.6-6.9 feet tall, but one individual shot was 7 feet, 8 inches. It doesn't make sense to list the height of an Alaskan moose at 7 feet, 8 inches, as that was so exceptional. If it is typical for them to be stunted, because the majority live in beach habitats, then surely the average height for the species would be substantially shorter than the maximum.

Technically speaking there are transgenic plants that produce the monomers which are going to be cash crops in the near future.
I think a metabolic pathway that already exists is less whimsical than a black photosystem that doesn't exist at all in nature.

But I also think all speculative evolution projects are whimsy to some degree.

coastal forests can get trees 50 feet tall fairly comfortably when growing in real soil above the water line, or on eroding cliffs.
They're more stunted when colonizing out into dunes or on barren rocky cliffs, but still often bigger than a person. Pines, alders, firs and the like.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Sep 15 2022, 05:39 PM

I think this is distinct enough with the floating sporangium and simpler winter leaf to call for a distinct genus.

So I changed the name.

QUOTE

I think a metabolic pathway that already exists is less whimsical than a black photosystem that doesn't exist at all in nature.

Apparently, black plants are very rare in nature, but not nonexistent. The cultivar (admittedly not natural) of Ophiopogon planiscapus, a grasslike species used in landscaping, might be most comparable to most blackflora. Black beard algae are another example, although they are actually a kind of red algae and so probably photosynthesize using blue light.

I can tell you right now, as a person who interacts with it every day, that ophiopogon uses a green photosystem. Their dark colorations are unrelated to actual light capture.

Nigrescens is just one of many cultivars.

The natural plants which are black, as pointed out in the link, are nonvascular: mosses and liverworts. Ophiopogon is comparable insofar as it is is vascular and has black foliage, even if its photosynthetic pigments are the same as normal green vascular plants. The point of bring this up was not to suggest that any one of these real-life black plants has physiology that can be lifted more-or-less unchanged for blackflora. This lineage is particular, with its elaborated physiology, makes that especially unworkable. I brought it up to suggest that the photo- pigmentation of blackflora isn't so improbable as to be "whimsy", such as in the manner of aliens that use large seeds as natural wheels.

Ah, I see.

Also if you look those non vascular plants up you'll notice they're rather green.

This post has been edited by colddigger: Oct 19 2022, 12:18 PM

Edited support and thermoregulation

I'm curious how does the PHB coating affect leaf eating browsers? Would it be toxic or pass through or need some special adaptations to be broken down? Should there be an accompanying PHB digestive bacteria for a browser that fed on volleypom leaves?

It's pretty nontoxic, but you would need gut microbes to break it down.

I was intending on making microbes to slowly deal with the accumulated leaf litter remains.



This post has been edited by colddigger: Nov 23 2022, 08:21 AM

Approval Checklist:

Art:
Art Present?:y
Art clear?:y
Gen number?:y
All limbs shown?:y
Reasonably Comparable to Ancestor?:y
Realistic additions?:y

Name:
Binomial Taxonomic Name?:y
Creator?:y

Ancestor:
Listed?:y
What changes?:
External?: Smaller, Smooth bark
Internal?: air pockets in megaspores
Behavioral/Mental?:
Are Changes Realistic?: y
New Genus Needed?: y

Habitat:
Type?: 2 (temperate, subpolar)
Flavor?: 3 (Woodlands, Plains, Beaches)
Connected?: y
Wildcard?:


Size:
Same as Ancestor?:n
Within range?:y
Exception?: Island dwarfism

Support:
Same as Ancestor?:y
Does It Fit Habitat?:y
Reasonable changes (if any)?: y
Other?:

Diet:
Same as Ancestor?: y
Transition Rule?:
Reasonable changes (if any)?:

Respiration:
Same as Ancestor?:y
Does It Fit Habitat?:y
Reasonable changes (if any)?:
Other?:

Thermoregulation:
Same as Ancestor?:y
Does It Fit Habitat?:y
Reasonable changes (if any)?:
Other?: Heliothermy, word of the day

Reproduction:
Same as Ancestor?:y
Does It Fit Habitat?:y
Reasonable changes (if any)?:
Other?:

Description:
Length?: Decent
Capitalized correctly?: Y
Replace/Split from ancestor?: split
Other?:

Opinion: Approved

A potential candidate for the island adventure challenge

This post has been edited by Jarlaxle: Nov 26 2022, 04:42 PM

@colddigger:

Some minor feedback:

“Trichomes are commonly found in varying degrees similarly, and for similar reason, to its ancestor.” You’ll need to briefly summarize that: it seems to be an infraction under the Standalone Read rule. (https://sagan4.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=1) Since trichomes seem distinctive and physiologically important, it’s worth specifying. However, the description is sufficiently detailed that the “most other characteristics are fairly similar” part at the end may not need to be elaborated upon.

“It’s ancestor”->”its ancestor”.
I’m not sure if “heliothermy” is worth specifying as separate from “ectothermy”.

Otherwise, it looks fit for approval.

Thirded Approval