This question came up the other day in conversation, and has me stumped. My assumption is it would be some type of archaebacteria, but I really have no idea. I know that some prehistoric fish and plants have survived the maas extinctions, but I do not know which one has been here the longest? Thanks!!
2007-02-17
05:34:15
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14 answers
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asked by
Hauntedfox
5
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Science & Mathematics
➔ Biology
Thanks for the answers. I am amking the assumption right now that the anaerobic sea vent archaebacteria may be older than the coelecanth.
2007-02-17
05:44:08 ·
update #1
El chistoso- great, fascinating answer. We have some great fossilized stromatolites near Saratoga Springs, NY, which definitely rank as some of the oldest known fossils in the US.
2007-02-17
06:04:54 ·
update #2
A new study has confirmed that the brine and salt crystals in which scientists found a controversial 250-million-year-old bacteria truly form a quarter-billion-year time capsule.
In 2000, scientists resurrected ancient bacteria from the Permain period and dubbed it Virgibacillus sp 2-9-3. Genetic analysis of the organisms showed them to be related to modern species of Bacillus.
Since that discovery, some geologists have argued that the salt crystals in which they were found are not necessarily as old as the surrounding rock, the only direct clue to the age of the salt.
Rather, the critics said, the salt could have been dissolved and reformed over the eons, which means the bacteria could have been trapped at a much later date.
"That was the one argument that got me interested," said Cindy Satterfield, a doctoral geology student at the State University of New York, Binghamton.
Is there a way, she asked, to hone in on the age of the salt crystals directly from the salt and not from the surrounding rocks?
To find out, she and her advisor, Tim Lowenstein, collected and tested hundreds of halite salt samples from the same underground Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., where the ancient bacteria was found five years ago.
They then performed two tests to find out two things: whether the brines still trapped in the salt crystals chemically matched what would be expected of dried-up Permian period sea water, and whether the salt crystals formed at open-air surface temperatures (that is, not underground).
Their results appear in the April issue of the journal Geology.
The first test was to take a head count of major ions in the trapped brines to see if they match what other researchers have determined would be the normal Permian ocean salt composition, which they do.
The second, more critical, test required cooling the salt crystals to about 10° Fahrenheit, so that miniscule vapor bubbles formed inside tiny regions inside the crystals where there was still some uncrystallized brine. Then the crystals were very slowly warmed up just to the point where the bubble was re-absorbed by the brine. That temperature is the same as when the crystal formed.
Of the 53 salt samples from the same wall where Virgibacillus sp 2-9-3 was found, the temperatures ranged from 63° to 81° F — about what would be expected for day and night-time temperatures on the surface near the equator if the salt formed in a shallow briny lake 250 million years ago, Satterfield said.
"This is a variation on a commonly used method," said Kathleen Benison, an associate professor of geology at Central Michigan University.
The method is usually used to find out the formation temperatures of minerals in other kinds of rocks, she said . But it has also been tested for accuracy by studying salt growing today in the briny waters at the bottom of Death Valley, California, she explained.
"When we started our work we didn't really have any question about the age of the (rock) formation," said Russell Vreeland of West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
Vreeland is one of the biologists who made the original Virgibacillus sp 2-9-3 discovery in 2000. Satterfield's work confirms that the brines, and the bacteria, are truly from the deep past.
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It may seem surprising that bacteria can leave fossils at all. However, one particular group of bacteria, the cyanobacteria or "blue-green algae," have left a fossil record that extends far back into the Precambrian - the oldest cyanobacteria-like fossils known are nearly 3.5 billion years old, among the oldest fossils currently known. Cyanobacteria are larger than most bacteria, and may secrete a thick cell wall. More importantly, cyanobacteria may form large layered structures, called stromatolites (if more or less dome-shaped) or oncolites (if round). These structures form as a mat of cyanobacteria grows in an aquatic environment, trapping sediment and sometimes secreting calcium carbonate. When sectioned very thinly, fossil stromatolites may be found to contain exquisitely preserved fossil cyanobacteria and algae.
The picture above is a short chain of cyanobacterial cells, from the Bitter Springs Chert of northern Australia (about 1 billion years old). Very similar cyanobacteria are alive today; in fact, most fossil cyanobacteria can almost be referred to living genera. Compare this fossil cyanobacterium with this picture of the living cyanobacterium Oscillatoria:
(Visit the second link to view the pictures.)
2007-02-17 05:42:37
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answer #1
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answered by elchistoso69 5
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Anaerobic Bacteria that can live in extreme conditions, such as heat vents on the sea floor. Anaerobic means that they do not need oxygen to live, since the first atmosphere on the forimg Earth billions of years ago contained no oxygen. Those bacteria are probably the oldest.
2007-02-17 05:41:00
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answer #2
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answered by Sean 3
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Cyanobacteria are about 3.8 billion years old, and live today with almost no change at all. These are most likely the oldest unchanged lifeforms alive today, which is what you are interested in. They make energy through photosynthesis, and it is theorized that modern chloroplasts in plant cells today evolved from the symbiotic relationship between cyanobacteria and eukaryotes.
2007-02-17 06:06:54
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answer #3
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answered by dmlk2 4
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The hardest part about the microbe bit is the "unchanged" part.
as for animals:
The coelacanth lived 410 million years ago; cockroach, 350 million years ago; horseshoe crab, 250 million years ago; and crocodile, 200 million years ago. The oldest "living fossil" is the lingula, a brachiopod that hasn't changed in the past half billion years.
another good link:
http://www.trivia-library.com/a/life-on-planet-earth-variety-of-microbes-plants-and-animal-species.htm
Edit: I'm still looking this one up, lol! Thanks for the great question, btw... I'm coming up with cynobact. as well...
2007-02-17 05:40:40
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answer #4
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answered by dedum 6
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Earth's oldest , unchanged life form are the
Stromatolites which are the oldest known fossils, dating back more than 3 billion years.
2007-02-22 18:05:02
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answer #5
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answered by curious 2
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If you look at a wood louse you are looking at an animal that has changed dramatically in size but in every other aspect of its basic body shape and physiology is identical to creatures that have existed for hundreds of millions of years. In evolutionary terms it's the ultimate example of a succesful design.
2007-02-17 06:26:20
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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I would also assume its an archae.
In the animal kingdom, I think sharks have been pretty successful, but probably not as much as some insects. I don't know anything about plants.
That's a good topic, I'll have to think about it some more.
2007-02-17 05:45:02
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answer #7
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answered by Red Jed 2
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2016-11-23 15:10:21
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answer #8
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answered by loveall 4
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The horseshoe crab? I think it's a descendant of the trilobite but I'm not certain.
2007-02-17 05:55:30
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answer #9
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answered by Kevin A 6
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hm, they think that those bacteria who live in/around deep sea vents might be really old.. because they don't even use oxygen
i have no idea though.
2007-02-17 05:37:47
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answer #10
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answered by spidermilk666 6
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