what would the wildlife be of eurasia and north america if they came together in our lifetime?

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what would be the wildlife of eurasia and north america if they came together in our lifetime?

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@jay459,

mountain ligers

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@jay459,

Ecological instability followed by ecological stability that is brought about by the extinction of some species, because it is in the nature of equilibrium for unilateral superior competitive species to dominate over competitors in the same niche.

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@jay459,

it already happened one big time. It was called "The Columbian exchange". Earthworms werent even native to Eastrn US until brought over in root balls on one of Columbus's voyages.

As the author of 1493 wrote. Columbus, i his 4 voyages, managed to stitch up the drifted continents when Pangea tore apart.
(Not entirely true but its factual sounding hyperbole)

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@farmerman,

There's been so much exchange of both flora and fauna between the two northernmost continents over the past 500 years or so that I doubt whether a joining of the two land-masses would have any appreciable impact on their ecology at all.

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@Lustig Andrei,

true true. We can thank Mr Colombo for that

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@farmerman,

But look at the benefits -- where would Italian cuisine be today without tomatoes? Or a meal at a pub in Dublin without potatoes. And how would the plains tribes of the North American continent been able to fight the European invaders if they hadn't been able to steal some European horses?

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@Lustig Andrei,

not to mention corn, tobacco and chocolate.

The thing I found most interesting is that ALL the earthworms we have in the NE US are imprts or sons of imports. It seems that the glaciers sent all earthworms south in te US andwe never got em back until Columbus sailed the... , you know...

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@Lustig Andrei,

The problem is regarding fauna. Invasive species is seen as a problem. In America there is the burmese python competing with the alligators in the everglades, as well as the invasive northern snake head eliminating native fish species. These are just two examples from the top of my head. I'm sure there are many other cases like these.

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@Enzo,

one of our correspondents says that the stegosaurus disappeared about the time of columbus. He thinks they went to Africa by booking passage on a slave ship

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@farmerman,

Saves on shipping ballast

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@jay459,

They did when homo sapiens crossed the Bearing Straights.

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The pilgrims brought dandelions and they all brought rats.. There are still areas in N. America that are with out worms, but they are encroaching fast, and fisherpeople are asked not to discard them in forests around here. They are ruining the flora.

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@jay459,

jay459 wrote:

what would be the wildlife of eurasia and north america if they came together in our lifetime?

extinct

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@Ceili,

interesting, are there entire areas that require a forest "duff" rather than soil to maintain a healthy plant community (Canadian style)?
I always find it fascinating as to how these incursions (like the earthworms in previously earthworm free areas) start a "chaos-like" string of events that can really **** up an ecosystem.

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what would the wildlife be of eurasia and north america if they came together in our lifetime?

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