File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
So /an/,

What would happen if every animal (save domesticated animals, such as beef cattle) were wiped off the earth?
>> Anonymous
very bad things
>> Anonymous
plants would grow rampant for a little while until they used up more carbon dioxide than the remaining oxygen-breathing life could provide. Then they would mostly die off of aspyxiation. Then there would be less oxygen for us to breathe, etc etc. until we all die.

Alternatively, we would re-settle into some semblance of balance after a couple hundred years and live in a dramatically empty, nearly lifeless earth.
>> Anonymous
It depends on how you define 'animal'. If you're talking about vertebrates only, then some ecosystems would alter dramatically, and over growth would be rampant. This would be a major fire problem even in areas where fire wasn't a problem before. Generally speaking, though, unless you're directly dependent on hunter/gathering, people would stumble through into some sort of survival mode. If you include *all* animals, meaning insects, everyone is completely and utterly screwed. The only pollination would be wind pollination and since the vast majority of plant species are insect pollinated, the vegetation of the entire would would commence an immediate and drastic dieback and we are *screwed*. And very, very dead.

Um...and don't listen to <<271540
>> Anonymous
>>271546

....unless you lived near the coast. Fish, Squid, etc. are nutritious and have far more biomass than land animals used for food (poultry, beef, pork, etc.). There are also many kinds of aquatic plants, seaweeds, etc. which would be largely unaffected by what happens on land, and these can be used for food. Also, while there would be a huge blow to crop harvests, many of those crops will remain viable.
>> Anonymous
>>271552

Fish and squid are animals and would die under this hypothetical situation.
>> Anonymous
>>271552

Well, not nessesarily, especially if you're talking about the coasts. The vast majority of coastal ecosystems have a massive dependence on nutrient run off, and then you have esturine species, or species that come into esturine places to breed. With any massive change in coastal ecosystems there would come a massive change in undersea coastal ecosystems and that would eventually reverberate around the world. Also, there would be massive changes in reef systems if you remove all of the fauna. Some plant/alagal species will go beserk without the constant grazing of vertebrates, and again, that would lead to drastic ecosystem change. Maybe in the deep ocean there won't be a huge amount of change, especially if you're talking about smaller species that feed directly on nutrients, but as soon as you move away from single cell organisims into verterates or invertebrates, things get very, very complicated. Generally speaking, I think that your average ecosystem could stand to loose a small number of larger species, but once you start taking away the smaller beasties, drastic things happen. Again it all comes down to your definition of 'animal'. It's okay saying, "People will be fine if they live on the coast," but you're forgetting that squid and fish are wild animals. The problem is that all animals EXCEPT domestic ones would disappear. Hence, by definition, NO FISHIES.

Possibly, if a small amount of people live on the coast near edible algal matts gone rampant in the absence of other grazers they can surivive, but frankly, not very well in the long run.
>> Anonymous
If OP isn't including insects, they'd take over with no predators to keep them in check. But then I'm sure that people would start harvesting them for food as well.
>> Anonymous
I've heard it said that if all vertebrates on earth disappeared tomorrow, very few of the invertebrates would actually notice.
>> Anonymous
If the birds dies, there should be a 3km cloud of insects recovering the earth within 1 years, you can imagine the next.
>> Anonymous
I FUCKING LOVE THAT IMAGE.
>> Anonymous
pigs would end up replacing everything
>> Anonymous
>>271675

That's a little insulting to the dumbfuck who asked the question, don't you think?
>> Anonymous
>>271694

This is 4chan. You take the lowest common denominator and sodomise it.
>> Anonymous
OP here;
I'll clarify. When I say all animals, I mean every single one, from insects to whales. However it'd be interesting to theorize different scenarios...such as, if only vertebrates died out, or if only invertebrates died, etc. Take it as you will. It's a pretty open question. I'm interested in all responses and scenarios.
>> Anonymous
>>271518

What would happen? I would cry like a little girl, and then when i know that such a life would be empty and shitty, i'd go on a human killing spree, because we are the only species capable of producing that effect.
>> Anonymous
Okay, OP: If you include insects as non-domesticated animals then the shortest answer is: everything left is screwed.

Essentially it comes down to pollination. As stated above the vast majority of plants have evolved with insects as their vehical of pollination. If you look up the comparison between wind pollinated species and animal pollinated species, the difference is heuge; the vast majority of the plants in the world today are pollinated by critters. Basically, everything would eventually grind to a halt. Wind pollinated species would once again dominate the earth but the earth itself will be altered beyond comparison to anything living past or present. Everything except ferns will die. Some fungi (which are technically neither plant or animal) will flourish and take advantage of the situation and go nuts. Other fungis, particularly the ones living in close symbiosis with insect pollinated plants, will quietly go extinct.

Simply put, pollination makes the ecosystem go around. Humans and their pet beasties may survive for a while and hand pollination will briefly become the rage as humans try to save their crops but sooner rather than later they will starve to death.

It's an apocolypse without the bombs, really.