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| Great Australasian Interchange | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 6 2014, 02:37 PM (3,542 Views) | |
| Spugpow | Jun 6 2014, 02:37 PM Post #1 |
Prime Specimen
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Australia is currently on a collision course with Eurasia, and, judging from similar situations in the past, this is bad news for its native fauna. The Great American Interchange was an event precipitated by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama 3 million years ago, in which the Laurasian fauna of North America largely displaced the native animals of the island continent South America. The coming faunal exchange between Australia and Asia has been anticipated by the introduction of non-native species by humans, and generally alien species have outcompeted native ones. But the American interchange wasn't entirely one-sided. A few marsupials, xenarthrans and caviomorph rodents successfully made their way into North America. Similarly, the expansion of native Australian clades like corvids in the past belies the idea that native species always lose. So the question is, assuming humans don't do much more damage than they already have, what is the fauna of Australia going to look like a few million years after colliding with Eurasia? Which native species might survive or even colonize the larger landmass? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Interchange  Edited by Spugpow, Jun 6 2014, 02:39 PM.
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| Martin | Jun 7 2014, 04:01 PM Post #16 |
Prime Specimen
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Basically , wallabies are the deer of Australia , while kangaroos are the antelopes.Anyway , I think they could easily survive competition (they have had no problem with the introduced deer and camels) and the worse they could ever end up in this scenario would be the diversity of pleistocene camelids , which was pretty high btw. |
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| Heteromorph | Jun 7 2014, 08:10 PM Post #17 |
King of Borea
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The Australasian Faunal Interchange, I suspect, will probably be the second-most one-sided of the current supercontinent cycle, exceeded only by that between Antarctica and the other continents. Australia is a small continent, particularly in the north-south axis, with relatively few climate zones. Afro-Eurasia-America, in contrast, extends from the Cape of Good Hope, north through Beringia, and back south to the Tierra del Fuego. Widely varied climate zones give the latter a richly competitive ecosystem that Australia doesn't begin to match. In addition, Australia has been moving northward at the same time that the general Cenozoic cooling trend has been occurring, giving it perhaps the most constant climates of all the continents throughout that time, exacerbating the effect of the narrow range of climate zones. Finally, the Interchange will occur as Australia is moving into the tropics. Rainforest life from Southeast Asia will encounter Australia just as conditions in Australia are shifting to favor rainforest conditions. There will certainly be Australian success stories, but the greatest of these has probably already occurred - the Passerines. For the most part, the Australian fauna's story could be quite sad. |
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| Martin | Jun 8 2014, 10:46 AM Post #18 |
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Prime Specimen
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But don't you think that stuff like opossums and macropodids would survive? |
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| Adman | Jun 8 2014, 11:04 AM Post #19 |
Totally not lamna
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Opossums are a strictly American group. I think you mean possums. |
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Projects and concepts that I have stewing around Extended Pleistocene- An alternate future where man died out, and the megafauna would continue to thrive (may or may not include a bit about certain future sapients) Inverted World- An alternate timeline where an asteroid hit during the Barremian, causing an extinction event before the Maastrichtian. Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and notosuchians make it to the present, along with a host of other animals. Badania- Alien planet that has life at a devonian stage of development, except it exists in the present day. Ido- Alien world where hoppers (derived flightless ballonts) and mouthpart-legged beasts are prevalent. Leto- Life on a moon orbiting a gas giant with an erratic orbit; experiences extremes of hot and cold. The Park- ??? Deeper Impact- a world where the K-Pg extinction wipes out crocodilians, mammals, and birds; squamates, choristoderes, and turtles inherit the earth. World of Equal Opportunity- alternate history where denisovans come across Beringia and interact with native fauna. Much of the Pleistocene fauna survives, and the modern humans that end up crossing into North America do not overhunt the existing animals. 10,000 years later, civilizations exist that are on par with European and Asian societies. The Ditch- Nothing is what if seems.. | |
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| Martin | Jun 8 2014, 11:20 AM Post #20 |
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Prime Specimen
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Yes. |
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| Scrublord | Jun 8 2014, 12:15 PM Post #21 |
Father Pellegrini
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I think there could be a few survivors. Kangaroos--assuming they make it through the current mass extinction--might make it, but probably won't expand far beyond Australia because of competition from other mammals. Neither will the small ones like marsupial "mice", which will face competition with rodents and shrews. So which groups have potential? There are two I'm thinking of. One is the quolls. Quolls are the largest living predatory marsupials, and have already been introduced to New Zealand, where they actually may be killing more native birds than feral cats. If they also migrate into Asia when Australia collides with it, they could do well there as bird hunters. The other group I had in mind is the possums. More specifically, the brush-tailed possum. This is a tree-dwelling omnivorous possum that, like the quoll, has been introduced outside Australia and proven itself to be an adaptable pest even in the presence of placental invasive species. |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Martin | Jun 8 2014, 01:23 PM Post #22 |
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Prime Specimen
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Wallabies also live in New Zealand and share the same niches with the introduced deer.Plus , don't you think that mustelids could fill the quoll's niche? |
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| bloom_boi | Jun 8 2014, 02:17 PM Post #23 |
What The?
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Except invasive mustelids already compete with quolls. |
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"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!" | |
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| Martin | Jun 8 2014, 02:18 PM Post #24 |
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Prime Specimen
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I know , but do they hold the same niches? |
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| Scrublord | Jun 8 2014, 02:58 PM Post #25 |
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Father Pellegrini
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And quolls seem to be holding their own, partly because they're better bird-killers. A weasel can't kill a bird the size of a parrot, but a quoll can. Not to say I WANT them to succeed in the places they've been introduced to, of course. The ecosystems of Australia and New Zealand might be devastated, but they do provide an interesting look at the winners and losers when marsupials, placental mammals, and flightless birds are forced to live side by side. It's like the Jersey Shore of ecology. |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Martin | Jun 8 2014, 03:07 PM Post #26 |
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Prime Specimen
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| Scrublord | Jun 8 2014, 07:32 PM Post #27 |
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Father Pellegrini
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But seriously, what native Australian animals do you all think are most likely to survive the Interchange? |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Velociraptor | Jun 8 2014, 08:07 PM Post #28 |
Reptile
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I think it would probably be about 50/50 with the reptiles, since Australian and Asian reptiles are similar enough that neither group has a significant advantage over the other. |
 Unnamed No K-Pg project: coming whenever, maybe never. I got ideas tho. | |
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| Scrublord | Jun 8 2014, 08:14 PM Post #29 |
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Father Pellegrini
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True. I would imagine monitor lizards, which already have representatives living in Asia, will be able to make it through. In fact in the Neozoic they do exactly that! |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Flisch | Jun 8 2014, 08:15 PM Post #30 |
Superhuman
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Another thing to consider: Marsupials have been outcompeted by placentals everywhere for a number of reasons. Even if cangaroos were able to get a foothold in asia, they will still most likely go extinct in the long run anyway. |
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