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> we've cut those forests to have fields & pastures There are actually many who think that pre-industrial heavy forestation is an artifact of early humans kill
by bpodgursky 4y ago
> we've cut those forests to have fields & pastures
There are actually many who think that pre-industrial heavy forestation is an artifact of early humans killing off all the giant herbivores (mammoths, sloths, mastadons), and that the "default" state of much of the northen hemisphere is steppe/grasslands.
- Nasrudith 4y agoI've heard the opposite happened, namely that the reason why Africa is so Savanah is because of mastery of fire and a 'prisoners dilemma' of arson vs rival bands. Of course this is all second hand. I suppose weirdly both could be true at once if the mass killings came before fire did.
- myshpa 4y agoI'd like to read more, if you have sources. But I doubt that mammalian herbivores ever had the potential to permanently deforest vast areas. Few decades ago some farmers in africa lobbied for killing tens of thousands of elephants for their supposed destructive effects on vegetation. Since then we've learned that even with all thair trampling and gobbling their positive effects on flora outweight any perceived negatives.
- bpodgursky 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_steppe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_steppe
- myshpa 4y agoThanks for the link. Still not fan of the human predation hypothesis for the decline of mammoth steppe (not that human predation is not responsible for megafauna extinction), but I'll read more and we'll see. I've been wrong before.