Is intelligent life inevitable? Paleobiological perspective from the Neotropical rainforest. Andrés Cárdenas & Carlos Jaramillo

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1 Is intelligent life inevitable? Paleobiological perspective from the Neotropical rainforest Andrés Cárdenas & Carlos Jaramillo

2 Is there life outside Earth?

3 Time (Ma) A *? earliest biogenic carbon * earliest bacteria B * earliest photosynthetic bacteria * first green algae (eukaryotes) first metazoans * first skeletons * C D Furnes et al. 2004

4 Neanderthal modern age (kyr) Taken and modified from Stringer 2002

5 What is an intelligent species? Interstellar communication

6 What is the likelihood of discovering life outside Earth? What is the likelihood of discovering life on an Earth- like planet outside of the solar system? What is the likelihood of discovering intelligent life outside of the solar system?

7 The Drake Equation N = Probability of finding intelligent life beyond our solar system N = N * f p n e f l f i f c L N * = number of stars in the Milky way f p = fraction of stars that have planets around them n e = fraction of planets capable of sustaining life f l = fraction of planets in ne where life evolves f i = fraction of planets where intelligent life evolves f c = fraction of f i that try to communicate L = length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space

8 Probability of life evolving = N * f p n e f l 200 billionx0.20x0.10x0.50 = 2 billion of planets with life in Milky Way

9 Probability of finding intelligent life beyond our solar system N = (N * f p n e f l )f i f c L 2 billionx x1x = planets with intelligent life capable of communication and alive during our civilization

10 Is intelligent life an inevitable outcome of any given evolutionary process?

11 ...Almost any planet with life, in my view, will produce living creatures we would recognize as parallel in form and function to our own biota....but first, life must arise, and we have no idea how rare an event that might be.

12 ...If complex consciousness has evolved but once...how can anyone defend the inevitability of its convergent evolution?

13 What is a Neotropical rainforest? High MAP > 1.8 m/yr High MAT > 18 C Small seasonal variation T < 7 C Angiosperms > 90%

14 A C B G H MN (two leaf types) [SI Append far identified to extant tax Neotropical aroid Montrich subtribe Euterpeinae (19). tinctive genera: the pant 58 Ma Stenochlaena, a common c swamps; the cosmopolitan tropical fern common in fr To compare the familial/o Cerrejo n megaflora with E F D forests, we selected 72 oflg a comparative modern data S5)]. The small size of the m spatial scale of the parau blages (21) and the minimu I J K above thep ground also simu Q remains in leaf litter and fo Gentry s sites from highe zones. For each modern si speciesoand individuals belo fossils, wewing et al tabulated the pro pairs of modern sites [SI Appendix (see Table S5)]. Calculating Table S5)]. Thus, in

15 Carbonemys cofrinii Titanoboa cerrejonensis

16 TIME

17 Post- extinction interval M. Extinction interval Background

18 Jaramillo et al. 2006

19 composition along the stratigraphic profile. (C) Pollen and spore stan diversity using the range-through method and eliminating edge effec single-occurrence species. Note the increase in diversity at the onset o PETM. (D) PETM-restricted taxa (blue) are more diverse than Paleo m extinction origination Early Eocene PETM L. Paleocene per-capita rate Fig. 4. Per capita rates of origination and extinction per 200,000 years (the time span of the PETM) in Mar 2X. The per capita extinction rate (red) shows a slight increase in extinction during Jaramillo et al. 2010

20 How temperature has influenced the long- term evolutionary process on the Neotropical rainforest?

21 Species- area effect

Temperature C 35 30 50 S Bariloche LH 25 20 15 Rio Turbio 65 S 65 S 80

22 Paleocene Eocene 10 N 10 N 5 S Cerrejon Mar2x Regadera BA3 BH15 Medina 5 S Regadera BA3 Mar2x Medina 20 S 20 S Salta 35 S 35 S 50 S PL Chubut Temperature C S Bariloche LH Rio Turbio 65 S 65 S 80 W 70 W 60 W 50 W 40 W 30 W 20 W 10 W 80 W 70 W 60 W 50 W 40 W 30 W 20 W

23 Energy- supply hypothesis species richness 0 molecular evolution 0.19 energy 0.16 Taken and modified from Davies et al. 2004

24 Species- area effect X Energy- supply hypothesis X

25 Biotic interactions hypothesis I J K P = O Q

27 + δt + BI strength

28 Is intelligent life an inevitable outcome of any given evolutionary process?

Extraterrestrial Life Group Discussion

Extraterrestrial Life Group Discussion Group Assignment Meet with the other members of your group. Assign group roles. Print names below. Your name must appear below in order to receive credit. Recorder