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| Great Australasian Interchange | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 6 2014, 02:37 PM (3,541 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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| Scrublord | Jun 8 2014, 08:26 PM Post #31 |
Father Pellegrini
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That's true. But then again opossums survived in placental-dominated South America, so not all marsupials are equal in that regard. What Australian marsupials might have that staying power? |
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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, 08:54 PM Post #32 |
Prime Specimen
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Should we make a poll about this?Still , even though in the long run macropods would get outcompeted , they could very well survive.If the world is lush , than both artiodactyls and macropods would both have enough food and if the world is drier , than they could survive as desert animal.They could even be mountain animals.Phalangerids (real possums) though , I think would have the same success as their new world , didelphid cousins. |
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| Scrublord | Jun 8 2014, 08:59 PM Post #33 |
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Father Pellegrini
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I don't think this is really poll material. It's just an interesting subject to talk about. |
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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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| Heteromorph | Jun 9 2014, 11:51 AM Post #34 |
King of Borea
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Among marsupials, I like the possums' and quolls' chances. Macropods' traits are most adaptive vis-a-vis placental competitors in dry, open areas, and such areas won't be common where Australia and Asia meet. Their odds aren't good, in my opinion. Monotremes - possibly reduced to a single species of echidna and the platypus after the current extinction pulse, might make it, and might expand north, but I'm not sure. Australian lizards probably have a decent chance, although those adapted to the drier climates of the majority of Australia could face a stiff challenge from mainland species better adapted to wetter habitats. |
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| Zorcuspine | Jun 9 2014, 02:14 PM Post #35 |
Enjoying our azure blue world
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There are plenty of rainforest dwelling macropods |
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| Flisch | Jun 9 2014, 02:36 PM Post #36 |
Superhuman
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Due to the absence of placental competition, yes. |
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| Heteromorph | Jun 9 2014, 02:39 PM Post #37 |
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King of Borea
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Don't misunderstand, I am fully aware that there are forest-dwelling macropods. My point is that the macropods' way of doing things isn't particularly adaptive versus placentals' outside of dry, open habitats. |
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| Vultur-10 | Jun 9 2014, 11:27 PM Post #38 |
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Yeah, to some degree we're getting "supercontinent-like" effects with human transfer of species between continents (though not on quite the same scale, as a relatively small number get transferred). |
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| Vultur-10 | Jun 9 2014, 11:30 PM Post #39 |
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I've read (on the Tetrapod Zoology blog, IIRC) that it's now thought a lot of the large South American marsupials, borhyaenids and stuff, were extinct before the interchange really got going. So it may not be simple competition. |
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| DNArchitect | Jun 20 2014, 10:08 AM Post #40 |
Last Descendant of the Post-Nuclear Aberrants
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I don't know the climate or geology of the future, but if Australia's approach to the equator is heralded by land-bridges, there could be opportunities for some marsupial species to make forays into Southeast Asia as a way to drive marsupials to adapting towards a more competitive environment by isolating migrated populations. |
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| MitchBeard | Jul 19 2014, 03:32 AM Post #41 |
proud gondwanan
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See marsupials have this great thing where they can have multiple offspring on the go in different stages of development at one time. Kangaroos take this to the extreme, where when times are good they can have one joey living outside the pouch but still suckling and otherwise being cared for, one much more underdeveloped joey living solely inside the pouch, and one embryo under suspended development that has not been born yet waiting for space to be freed up in the pouch. This means that Australian marsupials, especially kangaroos, have a pretty massive advantage in marginal or often disturbed environments. They can bounce back from a period of drought or other massive disturbance much faster than a placental animal of the same size could. Kangaroos also have the most efficient locomotion over long distances of any terrestrial mammal on the planet. And y'all think they're NOT going to move out of Australia and be a massive success story? Get out of my face. |
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| JaggerTheDog | Jul 19 2014, 07:28 AM Post #42 |
I will kill you whilst you sleep
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I thought humans have the most efficient locomotion over long distances of any animal. Kangaroos anyways would be extinct in long-term, even if they do survive the sixth mass extinction they would be competed by ungulates (once the interchange happens), tree kangaroos would be competed by arboreal placentals (such as primates). Even though they can sustain multiple embryos at a time it wouldn't really be an advantage cause droughts are almost non-existent. Plus common disturbances in Sunda include storms, and earthquakes, which happen (at least for the storms) rarely in Australia. |
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| LittleLazyLass | Jul 19 2014, 07:31 AM Post #43 |
Proud quilt in a bag
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Is there a reason to think that planetals will come out on top? There's not much to go off of here, as Vultur-10 pointed out. |
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| JaggerTheDog | Jul 19 2014, 07:40 AM Post #44 |
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I will kill you whilst you sleep
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Well after all, they are out competed in every continent except in Aussie land, if placentals arrived there before the radiation of marsupials happened then everything will change. It would be an interesting concept, instead of marsupials, xenarthans (or other placental species) dominate niches. |
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| Hananas59 | Jul 19 2014, 07:53 AM Post #45 |
Traveller of the imagination
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Well my question is too why they never are depicted as species that would do good on other continents. IMO placentals , especially animals like kangaroos , wallabies and platypus , would do good on the Asian continent , even if its just on some islands or coastal land. And if there were to be an extinction event in the time that Australia is moving northwards maybe most ungulates would be weakened and kangaroos could have a number of individuals that is migrating slowly and on their way they outcompete ungulates. It's true not all marsupials are fitted for mainland living yet some would be migrating for sure when Australia moves closer to Indonesia and New guinea |
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