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11,000 years isn't millions of years, and there are hundreds of native North American species of earthworms. The invasive species are a problem, but detritus a
by Baeocystin 3y ago
11,000 years isn't millions of years, and there are hundreds of native North American species of earthworms. The invasive species are a problem, but detritus accumulation is not something that North American flora evolved with until an eyeblink's worth of evolutionary time.
- FrustratedMonky 3y agoHasn't it been shown that evolution can occur over 1000's of years, but of course over millions it would diverge even further. Can something that was only here 11,000's still qualify as native? It is pretty amazing how things are still evolving. Like the comment below about how the European Worms are still migrating, so the entire ecosystem is still adapting and changing. So we are seeing evolution in progress, and maybe 10,000 years from now, someone will be arguing that the European worms are more 'native', and these new Mars worms brought back from the colonies are really invasive.
- Baeocystin 3y agoEvolution is a continuous process, so yes, there's some degree of change every generation. It is also true that 11,000 years is a very short time on the scale of speciation. It's probably most useful to think of worms coming back in to the soil as another stage of progression, just like the stages of a forest returning after a fire, volcano or the like.