The Nature Conservancy has used data from two studies to chart all the routes these creatures are most likely to take as they migrate. Yellow is for reptiles; blue is for birds, and the purple represents mammals.
We have already seen the migration of marine life - fish, marine mammals and seabirds along our east and west coasts. Marine life faces fewer obstacles to migration than terrestrial creatures.
What about insects?
ReplyDeleteWhat about Yankees? ... and Chinese?
ReplyDeleteA..non
.. yes, what of insect migration? Exceptional to see this visualized .. There will be astonishing evolutions as the migrators compete in new territories for food water habitat safety. and to breed..
ReplyDeleteIts important to accept that slowing down desertification.. or miraculously reversing it, will require massive herds of ungulates. Yes, those hoofed creatures governments and big energy companies are so desperate to eradicate! Someday the vestigal mining, stripping and drilling terrains may seem loke a North American chernobyl.. haunted by unsusual creatures or biosystems able to survive without fresh water, arable soil or woodlands. Who knows, migratory reptiles, feral cattle, pelicans.. all resistant to Zika mosquito...
the salamander said... , "slowing down desertification.. or miraculously reversing it, will require massive herds of ungulates."
ReplyDeleteSal is exactly right. To a great extent, the Great Plains of North America were grassed over by roving herds of bison, deer and, farther north, caribou. The action of their hooves compacts soil which helps it retain moisture. Such animals require huge tracts of land which is one of the reasons I think Canada is over populated by humans; we encroach too much on the animals. Unfortunately, humans tend to see the great grass lands as good places to build homes and super markets.
What of the insects? I've not heard they are having difficulty migrating. The fairly rapid spread of everything from West Nile and Zika mosquitoes, deer ticks and pine beetles suggests they'll do just fine.
ReplyDeleteAs for the prairie, I expect that region will revert to grassland. Agricultural interests are rapidly draining the Ogallala aquifer and some farmland is now being returned to cattle and bison grazing with herds moving along routes much as the bison once did naturally.
The big blunder occurred when white settlers moved into this region. It was then in a very moist period and that was taken for normal. Believing that these higher precipitation patterns were the norm, farms sprang up and, with them, towns and eventually cities. Now we learn that this area is susceptible to sustained droughts of 60-years or more duration. The settlers never bargained for that.