Busting Balls
| Busting Balls | ||
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| (Cepahydria spp.) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Colddigger Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/168 | |
| Habitat | Kosemen, Wallace | |
| Size | 5 - 20 cm wide | |
| Primary Mobility | Sessile | |
| Support | cellulose (cell walls) | |
| Diet | photosynthesis | |
| Respiration | passive(stomata) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Asexual Super Fast Asexual Budding, Sexual Very Resistant Spores | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order Suborder Genus Species | Eukaryota Phoenoplastida Phoenophyta (info) Spherophyta (info) Euspherophyta Collospherales Marblephytacineae Cepahydria Cepahydria spp. | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
Busting balls split from their ancestor, specializing for more open or arid environments, such as scrublands and rockies. They have several adaptations that allow them to survive in these dryer brighter environments. One of the adaptations is having their cuticle much thicker, the waxy layer prevents water from escaping their bodies. It has a side effect of preventing water from entering, but on the underside of their body they have pores through the cuticle so that as water from rain drips across them it may be absorbed.
Another adaptation is the development of rhizoids on their underside to keep them lodged into sediment as opposed to simply sticking to surfaces, and alongside these anchoring rhizoids thin wicking tissues enter the soil as well. These are functionally similar to a simple root, unbranched beyond fraying, but capable of drawing water up through itself into the main body. The water that's taken up is drawn into strings of cells acting as xylem that allow easy transfer of water from the soil beneath to the top of the body. During times of drought these wicking tissues are discarded and the entire cuticle is thoroughly sealed to prevent water loss.
Stomata do exist on these, primarily on the underside where humidity is higher, though there are some on the top as well in divots. Many species also develop trichomes along their surfaces, especially around their stomata, to provide shade and windbreak. This further aids in the prevention of dehydration.
The inside of the body of a busting ball is hollow, this structure is maintained both by the thickness of the wall, as well as in larger specimens a reinforcement of the vascular layer during maturation. This hollowness allows the organisms to circumvent the issues of square cube relation when it comes to biomass versus surface area for photosynthesis. The main function of this hollow however is to act as a chamber into which the busting ball can bud. In ancestors, and relatives, that perform their rapid-budding process, the cuticle becomes perforated, and compromised through the act. The newly developing buds may also come to be exposed needlessly to drying air and beating light. By budding into their own hollow the developing young can survive quite comfortably and reach a development capable of sustaining itself on its own. By the time that this occurs the mother busting ball will become rather stuffed, and unceremoniously rupture to release the new flora. In many species these young balls are unanchored to the ground and tumble about aimlessly, knocked around by wind primarily. Eventually they will settle and sink their rhizoids into the ground, and if it's a good spot repeat the process. In other species these new flora fairly immediately anchor themselves around the body of their dying parent, taking advantage of the already determined good environment, and as a collective further pushing out competition. In these species individuals may be spread due to fauna kicking them around.
Those individuals that find themselves under humidity rich circumstances, such as rainy seasons, heavy rainstorms, next to or in pools or springs, will undergo a different process of reproduction. That is, they will perform the act of spore production rather than budding. The lining of their hollow chamber will undergo the production of haploid spores, coating these with multiple layers of highly resistant substances to protect them from the outside world. It will over the course of several days fill with these spores and, like with budding, unceremoniously rupture under the pressure and from these rips in their sides the spores will spill out. The individual spores will disperse, via wind or water and shortly after when exposed to moisture the spores will give way to individual purple cells which seek each other out and form a microscopic ball of cells that fertilize one another. These new diploid cells then release from the cluster and passively drift away from one another in the moisture. They then will begin multiplying to form a new ball of cells that overtime grow to macroscopic size. These macroscopic balls are untethered to the ground and may be moved around and their environment to new locations. Eventually they become large enough to set down rhizoids and begin budding into themselves.