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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenjib" data-source="post: 1205876" data-attributes="member: 530">At the macro level, how much is it a closed system?  What are the inputs and outputs and how is a relative equilibrium maintained?  To the extent which it is closed, the system can recycle the energy within itself, so stuff eats stuff that eats other stuff and energy is recycled.In the predominantly hard stone environment I don't see many carbon sinks as it seems every scrap would get scavenged and would be easily recovered by resourceful organisms.  Energy loss from heat radiating outward toward the surface would need to be replaced (thermal vents would do something but would ultimately be far insufficient IMO).  Energy could be brought back down from the surface in several other ways too, such as fauna that live in the caves but hunt in the surface at night (ala bats), the energy from these creatures then eventually being filtered down to the lower depths by deeper creatures who travel to the higher depths to feed on the transitional fauna as well as other organisms utilizing the waste products of the transitionals.  I think this would also not be sufficient input though, so I would favor some kind of magical source of energy to sustain the ecosystem.It seems to me that energy would be a precious commodity and creatures would evolve to be highly efficient.  Maybe some creatures would be able to enter very low-energy states, a torpor, until an energy (aka food) source presents itself.  Others could have highly efficient and diverse digestive systems that allow themselves to eat opportunistically and produce little waste.I think that once the energy finds a way to get down to the depths and replenish what is lost, then the ecosystem can start to work itself out.   I do think that ultimately it needs to be fantastic/magical in nature though.</blockquote>

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