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My story takes place thousands of years in the Earth's future after a climate apocalypse. It centers around Alaska and western Canada, but the climate in that region has transformed to more closely resemble modern day Central America.

There is a lot of focus on the natural world. Specific descriptions of plants and animals are crucial to my story, so I'm having trouble pinning down what kinds of plants and animals can feasibly exist in this setting. I'd love to be able to include some big cats and primates and other plants and animals from Central or South America, but I feel like even with a gradual warming of the climate, the huge desert region in between the jungles of southern Mexico and the forests of Northern California would be an unpassable boundary for most species.

The time frame isn't set in stone, but we're talking at least 2,000 years after a major climate related mass extinction, probably no more than 5,000 years. So what can I get away with? Are there certain plants or animals that are more conceivably capable of making that kind of migration without human intervention?

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    $\begingroup$ (a) Over the course of thousands of years, pretty much anything can happen. (b) If Alaska has the climate of Central America, then Central America is a nearly uninhabitable desert. Animals were pushed both north and south a long, long time ago. (c) When it comes to climate change, what destroys habitat and animals is speed. Change that occurs too quickly (years vs. centuries) doesn't give anything time enough to move. If climate changes gently (centuries vs. years) then animals easily move and adapt. Plants less so - but they do. A more accurate answer requires a chart of temperatures by year. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Nov 1, 2022 at 22:28
  • $\begingroup$ BTW, the odds of climate change alone causing what you're describing are pretty long. Yes, as heat increases all the ice melts, etc. But evaporation increases, too. Unless you slow the evaporation (e.g., the ocean is covered in plastic pollution) or the sun grows hotter (unlikely), your end result isn't likely. Don't let that stop you. I'm just pointing it out. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Nov 1, 2022 at 22:29
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    $\begingroup$ Your talking about climate change over an extended period of time changing the character of the region's both above and below a huge desert region extant at the start of the process but worry that this dessert will block migration of animals from one to the other .. why? .. what makes you think (or alternatively why do you need) the character of the region that is currently desert will (to) remain desert during the entirety of this period of change? .. without more detail it seems a little implausible that it would 🤗 $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Nov 2, 2022 at 0:11
  • $\begingroup$ That pretty much all answers my question, thanks! $\endgroup$
    – DemonLung
    Nov 2, 2022 at 2:49

1 Answer 1

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Mangrove corridor

enter image description here

Prioritizing mangrove conservation across Mexico to facilitate 2020 NDC ambition

With sea level rise came the depopulation of much of coastal mexico. The mangroves took it back. And with global warming the mangroves moved north. The Pacific coast is an unbroken mangrove forest all the way to San Francisco.

Not all fauna can use the mangrove corridor to move north. But a lot of them can.

mangroves

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/october/mexican-mangrove-forests-offer-glimpse-into-lost-world.html

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    $\begingroup$ I'm liking me this mangrove corridor. $\endgroup$
    – DemonLung
    Nov 2, 2022 at 2:37

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