Speculating on plant/animal life

[Beef]

Hey guys,

I'm unsure whether this question would be better placed on a science/geography forum, but i know there are a few sciency people here so i'll ask anyway.

I'm just at the very early stage of world-building for a second novel. It's SF set in the Ruhr valley, 500-1000 years into the future. Here, a huge conurbation has formed from what once was Dusseldorf/Dortmund/Duisberg/Essen. While most of my ideas centre around changes in the social structures, I'd also like the physical world to have a sense of strangeness to it as well. I'm trying to populate the place world with interesting stuff, and a major component of this is plant and animal life.

My main world-buildy conundrum centres around the widely projected increase in global temperature. Would this change result in a more tropical, humid Europe, or would it be a scorched out desert? What about the rest of the world? And after that, what sort of changes would we see in the descendants of normal, city dwelling wildlife like the rat and the fox and the pidgeon and whatnot? Would their numbers swell beyond all proportion? Would they evolve to be bigger or smaller? Would other, tropical/desert animals migrate to europe?


I don't want a massively detailed bestiary, just a handful of well developed animals to make cameos in my nightmarish hard-boiled urban-scifi.

Cheers for your thoughts

 

[Brian G Turner]

Are you using any genetic modification in the future? Quite a few authors have made that a natural part of a future environment.

 

[Abernovo]

The models for mid-continental Europe generally show more extremes if the overall temperature rises. So, you could have more snow, and heavier rain, but severe droughts, as well. Severe droughts on a European level, that is. So, crops would be badly affected. I'm not a climatologist, though. It might be worth looking at climate models and deciding which one you want to use.

Five hundred to a thousand years is not enough for proper evolutionary change, so I'd expect many of the animals to stay the same, although lower food resources (if that happened) would result in smaller animals. Better nutrition gives bulkier animals.

You'd get some permanent migration, as you have now. Afro-Eurasia is the world's biggest land mass and animals will travel for water and food. It tends to be a slow process, though. One thing you might consider is an increase in mosquitoes, and therefore malaria. It used to be present in Britain, where it was called ague. If the right carrier species of mozzie makes the move, it could return, so the Ruhr valley would also be at risk.

It also depends upon the human population. If areas became depopulated, plants would soon take over, and animals would follow. Again, it does depend somewhat upon which climate model you want to use.

 

[jastius]

if it is warmer the insects would be huge. like dinner plates..you could eat them like chicken...
you would have run-ins with all those escaped zoo animals.. roaming the country side in herds, but they would go to the river valleys and conglomerate there as the rest would dry up into an almost desert. you would get flash floods and rainstorms that would last three days.. hailstones as big as boulders from the super storms...
they would have to have public storm shelters...
gene engineering would make mushrooms the size of cows and with all the necessary amino acids..(shitake already has them and there is now an effort to create a cheaper larger hybrid) there would be thorn trees with shooter size black berries with alcoholic juice (south american plant they are fooling with)
cats and dogs would be very very small. hamster small. they could have tiny horses and cows the size of a sneaker as show pets.. homes would have a vertical planar address as well as a horizontal one. cars would be leased to you by the government so they are standardized to fit on high speed transit trains linked together so you can get to work in five minutes half a continent away. kitchens are portable and can be unfolded from a desk drawer, formed like a food processer crossed with an easy bake oven programmable like a breadmaker is now.. raw stuff goes in one way, cuisine exits another. all on a single penlight battery, halogen bulb, with what we know as defrost panels set up..
identity searching will be a crime, as the result of the anti nsa meta fact vault come to light, and you will return to the days of having two persons vouch for you will be a guarantee enough of your identity, as making a knowingly false declaration would be a corporal crime..
there are life banks where the rite of puberty is celebrated with the winnowing of ones genetic matter so you are ensured your right to proclivity and need not fear the effects of a sudden radiation storm or other sterilizing accident.
as a result, arranged marriages are the norm, as the two individuals involved need never consummate the contract.

snakes would be everywhere and a lot of other reptiles.. frogs are huge.. to combat the bugs..most people keep a couple..

 

[Beef]

Are you using any genetic modification in the future? Quite a few authors have made that a natural part of a future environment.

I am, but only for the top ~1% humans, and for the food. For the most part, the stuff on the ground is entirely wild.

if it is warmer the insects would be huge. like dinner plates..you could eat them like chicken...

Oh my word, that's terrifying.

gene engineering would make mushrooms the size of cows and with all the necessary amino acids..(shitake already has them and there is now an effort to create a cheaper larger hybrid) there would be thorn trees with shooter size black berries with alcoholic juice (south american plant they are fooling with)

Really? Shitake is full of amino acid? Like protein?

snakes would be everywhere and a lot of other reptiles.. frogs are huge.. to combat the bugs..most people keep a couple..

I like the idea of having frogs all over the place, for some reason.


I was toying with the idea of having mass migration to a few population centres, where there are giant vertical farms, the size of modern skyscrapers in which lots of specially engineered plant food/cultivated meat is grown. All of this super-food would then get into the diet of all the local wildlife, and make them multiply out of control.

The models for mid-continental Europe generally show more extremes if the overall temperature rises. So, you could have more snow, and heavier rain, but severe droughts, as well. Severe droughts on a European level, that is.

I think my story's going to take place over a relatively short period of time, but this seems actually quite cool from a storytelling perspective. I can just conjure snow/rain whenever the story requires it


Cheers peeps

 

[thaddeus6th]

If you wanted to, you could jump the other way, as we're actually overdue for an ice age.

However, one climate change theory (as it were) I've heard is that the jetstream will be pushed further south. This'll make Britain much colder. Not quite sure how big an impact it'll have on Germany, but I imagine it would make it colder, to a lesser extent.

 

[jastius]

Really? Shitake is full of amino acid? Like protein?

yep ..dried shitake is like a superfood
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Mushrooms are nutritious and low in calories: They are a good source of B vitamins, especially niacin and riboflavin, and rank the highest among vegetables for protein content. But because they are low in fat and calories, Western nutritionists mistakenly considered them of no food value (a fresh pound has only about 125 calories). Yet in dried form, mushrooms have almost as much protein as veal and a significant amount of complex carbohydrates called polysaccharides. One of the most valuable mushrooms, both nutritionally and flavor-wise, is Lentinus edodes, commonly called shiitake. [/FONT]
from...
Shiitake Mushroom Nutrition

and portabella mushrooms, the grown mature form of the brown or cremini mushroom not only have the shitake's benefits but has a polysaccharides that can support apoptosis in cells.. inhibiting cancer..

Mushrooms, crimini

in fact the only drawback to mushrooms is that they are a source for uric acid, and may strain diseased kidneys.. other then that, their immune system function, anti inflammatory effect and vitamin and mineral counts are right up there.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Hmm. Can't Shitake mushrooms be grown on logs? I was thinking of buying such for my mother a few Christmases ago.

 

[Bowler1]

I will still will mention the sky scrapers with recycled water, growing food and with completely enclosed Eco systems. The planned buildings of the future. I'd imagine the inside of these buildings would be strictly controlled environments, possibly sterile, but certainly no biting insects - the building would have them for compost! How often someone would go outside would be an interesting question.

However, those outside these wonderful sky scrapers might live a very different life, biting insects and Kermit the frog as just the first unwelcome bed fellows. Would the built up area not be a concrete jungle, would food be scarce or plentiful? These are for you to decide, but large cats and foxes would be quickly taken out in my view. Why would any city accept large animals that could be harmful? Smaller, nipper (speed and teeth) and more little scavengers I suspect, all the better to be more of a pest.

I see a mix of living standards. The rich in enclosed and controlled green spaces that are a joy to live in. The poor in our old housing stock, worn out but still lovingly patched together. Well it's one view, there many more to come I'm sure.

 

[Mirannan]

This depends heavily on events that are so unpredictable they may as well be called random. Such events, as far as wildlife is concerned, tend to be accidental releases of non-native organisms. Such as, for example, parakeets northwest of London; camels in Australia; wallabies in Derbyshire, England (although I believe that colony has pretty well died out); Burmese pythons in Florida.

How about, for example, red pandas in some of Germany's mountain areas? Or raccoons just about anywhere? Or chipmunks competing with squirrels?

 

[Ursa major]

if it is warmer the insects would be huge. like dinner plates..you could eat them like chicken...

I thought the large size of insects in the past was more due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere (up to 35% by volume; currently it's 20.95%, apparently) rather than the temperature.

 

[jastius]

cold kills most of the larvae and over wintering insects in hibernation.. if it is warm continuously then the bugs are bigger. the warmth allows for continuous food asimilation

 

[ralphkern]

Hey,

Heres a bit of a summary site:

Difference Between Adaptation and Evolution | Difference Between | Adaptation vs Evolution

Which tells a bit about the differences between evolution and adaptation which may be of use. For example modern humans are genetically little removed from our forebears 100000 years ago. Even in the 19th century the average life span was around 30 years (globally) now its 60 odd and considerably more in the western world due to medical and dietry improvements.


What may make the daily mail weep is multiculteralism may also change the actualy ethnicity of communities too.

 

[chrispenycate]

cold kills most of the larvae and over wintering insects in hibernation.. if it is warm continuously then the bugs are bigger. the warmth allows for continuous food asimilation

Maximum insect size is largely set by limitations in spiracular respiration (this does not hold for all arthropods) If you got something the size of a dinner plate it would probably be a butterfly, with most of its surface area wing, fragile.

Insects would increase in number, but without some sort of artificial treatment, not in size of individuals. Ants are a long way under the size limit and are doing very nicely as they atr, almost everywhere on the planet, including tropical regions.

You can have millipedes as big as you like, though, or scorpions.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

For oxygen/insects/Carboniferous Era, see Nick Lane's fantastic book Oxygen.

 

[Beef]

This depends heavily on events that are so unpredictable they may as well be called random.

Excellent!

I will still will mention the sky scrapers with recycled water, growing food and with completely enclosed Eco systems. The planned buildings of the future. I'd imagine the inside of these buildings would be strictly controlled environments, possibly sterile, but certainly no biting insects - the building would have them for compost! How often someone would go outside would be an interesting question.

However, those outside these wonderful sky scrapers might live a very different life, biting insects and Kermit the frog as just the first unwelcome bed fellows. Would the built up area not be a concrete jungle, would food be scarce or plentiful?

The rich live in giant floating towers, spaced hundreds of miles apart. I was thinking i'd have a set-piece or two set in abandoned agricultural facilities on the ground. Places that once were controlled environments but had to be abandoned due to the difficulty of keeping them secure. The plant life there could have grown out of control. Maybe some dingy underground place where there are giant mushrooms sprouting everywhere. Maybe these GM crops could have addictive qualities - in order to propogate demand amongst the lower classes - and some of the animals could fiercely compete for what's left.

It's also true in this world (this is quite a grisly thought) that human bodies would be in great supply, since the crime rate would be stratospheric. So scavengers/flesh eating animals might have a supply of food.


This is all getting me inspired anyway guys, thanks a bunch

 

[Bowler1]

Inspiration - I'm delighted that I've got you fired up to write. You go for it, lad.

 

[jastius]

this is from a website where you can sign up and ask scientists questions.. here...
Do tropical regions have bigger insects than colder regions? And if so, why? - Quora

Do tropical regions have bigger insects than colder regions? And if so, why?



Matan Shelomi, Entomologist

Overall, yes. There are many factors that affect insect size. The tropics have higher temperatures, more food, longer/constant growing seasons, etc., all of which affect insect growth. You will find a greater diversity of insects in the tropics, including some giant insects, but also some extremely tiny ones.

Within a species, however, the pattern is not so obvious. Some insect species are larger in colder climates, for example. Some are larger in the tropics. Some are the same size everywhere, or have nonlinear patterns. I happen to have written a paper on this: Where Are We Now? Bergmann’s Rule Sensu Lato in Insects

The biggest and most colorful and cool-looking insects are usually found in the tropics for all sorts of reasons, but these patterns are not universal.

John G. Powers of Cambridge Ontario holds a specimen Goliath beetle which lives in Africa and is one of the heaviest beetles in the world on Friday April 15, 2011 at White Oaks Mall in London.

from: World's biggest insect is so huge it eats carrots - Telegraph
this is a giant weta.. it is indigenous to australia and new zealand

 

[allmywires]

Page 19 of this IPCC report on the projected impact of climate change here should hopefully help. [You've just caught me in the middle of an assignment on carbon capture and storage so I had the link already haha].

 

[Sapheron]

What you've been talking about immediately made me think of Asimov's Caves of Steel. It doesn't really feature any animals or plants, but it might be a good comparison to the general feel of the super cities you're trying to create.