Discover Top Posts Tagged with #arvuna

Firebase Hydra / Former Quarian Colony

Arvuna, Aysur (Artwork)

[AGRICULTURE] Hierarchy Scientists Engineer Arvunan Arthropodal Pests as a Pollination Solution on Palaven

Cipritine Associated Press [PALAVEN] - The struggle to pollinate struggling crops on Palaven has seen an unlikely solution in Arvuna. A small moon in the Caleston Rift, Arvuna is widely known for its swarms of venomous arthropods called “ray beetles,” which make their homes in the tropical band and are commonly regarded by its residents as pests. Two unique aspects to their biology have nonetheless made them the subject of interest to Hierarchy science teams looking to repair the planet’s devastated ecology: a metallic carapace, not unlike the one that shields turians from Trebia’s heat and radiation, and a shockingly malleable genome. “They’re fascinating creatures in many respects. Hardy and simple,” said Calleus Fenix, project lead of the Hierarchy Agricultural Recovery Mission, “and for our purposes, that’s exactly what we need. As much as we would have preferred avoiding introducing alien life to the planet’s ecosystem, there’s not much of one left right now. Our greatest previous agent of pollination, the petalfly, is quite nearly extinct. On the other hand, the Arvunan ray beetle shares many of the same characteristics. Its exoskeleton can easily fend off the background radiation, and telling it what to do is incredibly simple, with a bit of tampering”. These genetically modified ray beetles are expected to be utilized inside Palaven’s agricultural redevelopment zones.