Mars (GM)

Terraforming
Mars has always been seen as a target for colonization, as well as environmental modification on a planetary scale, otherwise known as terraforming. This finally became financially feasible for nations to do after the mining of asteroids became common practice. Large quantities of water were delivered to the red planet via comets; this constant bombardment created enough heat to kickstart weak geological actvity within the planet.However, a calcutation error in the computer systems designed to monitor the comet delivery caused a single highly localized ocean to develop on one side of the planet, as well as a single tectonic fault line through the ocean. The terraformation commitee decided to leave the ocean as it was, relatively shallow, with a resemblance to the Western Interior Seaway of the cretaceous era on Earth.&nbsp

Plans for further terraformation were put on hold, among these the Schiaparelli Project, named after the Italian astronomer from the 19th century who claimed to see canals on the surface of Mars. This project would use nuclear devices to carve a network of canals into Mars' surface to spread the water, but this was scrapped due to the lack of a surplus of water on the planet. Only a few canals were built, one of which became the center for the city of New Venice.

Before life could be introduced into the Martian environment, invasive species carried there on board private mining ships by mistake had already begun to establish the beginnings of an ecology. And earth ecologists were most interested in the fact that these organisms had within a few generations specialized into the Martian settlements, forming what became termed an "urban ecology." This would eventually become the importance of Mars, as a testament to the ephemeral divide between natural and artificial. Eventually the philosophical impact of the Martian urban ecology would lead to the overall gradual removal of the divide from the human psyche.

Ecology
As stated above, the urban ecology phenomenon gave Mars a distinct feel from Earth. What is suprising is that this is the dominant ecology on the red planet, which many foresee becoming an "ecumenopolis," a city that spans the entirety of the planet; this would, however, include a spin on the original concept, by including a closely knit biosphere.

The underground habitats that existed since the first settlers came to Mars in the year 2--- have developed their own ecology, and this has been spread elsewhere by the development of transport tunnels and subways.

The most well known wildlife of sewers is rats, which commonly consume human refuse and food that the rodents steal from trash recepticles and vertical farms. An escaped pet boa constrictor was found living in sewage pipes in a block of flats. It would eventually spawn by viparious reproduction a genetically similar population that learned to focus on rats. Aligators also sustain themselves by consuming the rats.

A type of worm known as the tubifex worm is quite abundant as well. These worms consume bacteria that thrive on contaminants in sewage water, which also picks up Martian sediment in some places. The worms can survive with little oxygen by waving hemoglobin rich tail-ends to exploit all available oxygen, they can also exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen through their thin skin, similar to frogs. They can also survive in areas heavily polluted with organic matter that almost no other species can endure. By forming a protective cyst and lowering its metabolic rate, T. tubifex can survive drought and food shortage. Encystment may also function in the dispersal of the worm.

There is also the Martian Underground mosquito, the first indiginous species of animal to be recorded. Similar to a case study from the early 21st century of a unique mosquito that evolved to dwell in the underrground tunnels of London, consuming only the blood of humans who would wait for the sub, the Martian mosquito has become the basis for a fairly large piece of the Martian ecology, providing a source of food for animals higher up on the food chain, mostly spiders.