What to Bring to a Colony World

[melannen]

Okay. You, and a bunch of your friends, are going off to colonize an alien planet.

You know that this planet has:

Gravity, heat, light, temporal cycles, elemental resources, and weather that are close enough to Earth's that most reasonably adaptable Earth species can survive and breed there.

A functioning carbohydrate-based planetary ecosystem that does basic things like keep the atmosphere oxygenated and soils fertile and dead things rotting and oceans thawed and all the other cycles rolling, and has been around long enough that much of the geology is fossilized (so there are probably coal and petroleum and carbonite deposits, etc.)

A fairly large landmass with a subtropical/Mediterranean-like climate with warm temperatures year-round, no major extreme weather, and ample seasonal rainfall, where you are planning to settle.

However, the planet's biology is not close enough to Earth's that Earth life can interact with it on any complex level. You can count on being able to use native life for things like fibers and building material and fuel and maybe latex and dyes, but anything you want to eat or use for medicine you'll have to bring with you. Along with pollinators and symbiotic fungi and any other life needed to keep that life going. And you're going to need to be self-sufficient within a year or two of arrival, with a fairly small initial population and very limited technological resources. On the plus side, local diseases, pests, and predators are mostly going to ignore anything Earth-based.

If you could have your pick of all species currently alive anywhere on Earth(and maybe a few that are recently extinct, and maybe a few that need a tiny bit of gene-tinkering first), what among Earth life would you bring with you? I am especially interested for species that aren't currently common food products in Europe/North America.

Comments

[dragonjournal]

1) Butterflies/bees (Probably wasps and/or yellow jackets. Yes, they're the epitome of EVIIIIIIIIIIIL but they're damned good about cross-pollination.)
2) Birds. Mostly small species (wrens, sparrows, robins, humming birds, etc)
3) BATS - damned good for pollination, keep the insect population down AND can be used to help with fertilizer. (Don't judge. Bat guano's good for it!)
4) Horses/goats/sheep - farming herd beasts. Manure, and all that jazz.


I think that's about all I can think of right now, but I'll probably come up with something later.

[melannen]

Hmmm, are you thinking the small birds for pollination, or meat, or general ambiance, or what?

I was thinking of going boring and just bringing Apis mellifera as the main pollinator - a fair number of staple crops are wind-pollinated, and honeybees are so useful in other ways - wax, honey, edible larvae, anti-inflammatories - and so easy to control and propagate - that unless there was a particular crop I really wanted that needed some other pollinator, bees seemed like the best choice.

But, ooh, bats! Bats are awesome. I would love the excuse to have bats as part of the basic colonization set. If you could only bring one bat species, which one would you bring?

Fertilizer shouldn't really be a major issue though - like I mentioned, they're only settling planets that already have functioning nitrogen and phosphorus and carbon cycles that are compatible with Earth biology, so they can get basic fertilizers from the natives.

I'm thinking the ruminant they bring is goats - adaptable, smart, give milk, fiber, meat, and can be used as draught animals - unless someone has a better suggestion. Bring goats, with the hope that they'll be able to semi-domesticate at least a couple of native animals to help out with ploughing and stuff within a few human generations. But then I need to think about fodder crops for the goats...

[jjhunter]

Earthworms!

[melannen]

I think I would only bring earthworms if I wanted to completely nuke the native ecosystem. Ecch. I'm going to end up with invasives one way or another, yeah, but unless I'm missing something, if the planet has a earthworm-equivalent already we won't need to bring one, since most of what they do is soil aeration and simple decomposition, and if it doesn't have an equivalent, then they can really mess up the existing ecosystem, quick. (Oh, my lovely North American forests, and your sad shadow of what you once were.)

[passerine]

I remember in Herland, Ellador mentions that the last domestic animal the Herlanders regularly used was sheep, for the same sort of reasons (dairy animal that is also a source of fiber and meat).

[melannen]

Of course, people have also used horses and ponies for all of those things (riding, draught, milk, meat, fiber, etc.)

They've also used camels, llamas, alpacas, yak, buffalo, and kine for all of those. And I'm sure others, too. (Okay, llamas and alpacas aren't traditionally dairy animals, but you get some milk, and you could probably get them there with a century or so of directed breeding.) Rabbits and chinchillas give meat and wool; dogs give meat, draught, fiber and defense (among other things)...

...so if I have to pick one as the best?

I'm actually leaning against sheep, because they're stupid, and they overgraze, and they need lots of supervision, and the main thing they're good for is creating a wool surplus; if you aren't planning to export wool, or swim in the stuff (which my isolated sub-tropical colony won't be) they don't really seem like the best choice. I could be wrong, though.

[bessemerprocess]

Olive trees!

[melannen]

Ooh, yes, olive trees! Good one! Wind-pollinated, hardy, grow over a wide range, give lots of fruit, and olive oil. (And olives live *forever*, so you can have them plant an olive tree on landing and have it still be there to mark the spot millenia later...)

And I see people have the necessary symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi already worked out, too.

[ex_pippin880]

I'm pretty sure that kangaroos aren't that viable for farming, but emu and camel might be worth looking into. Might want to genetically speed up emu growth a wee bit. I don't know how long it takes camel to mature, though. We mostly started cooking them because they were pests. I'm having difficulty thinking of a better meat-and-fibre animal than sheep for that climate (and thus, grass and stuff).

Aloe vera should grow well. Mango and passionfruit and other standard fruits. Grapes! Sugarcane and cotton, maybe? Wattle, finger lime, Davidson's plum, emu apples, riberry, New Zealand spinach maybe, lemon aspen, mountain pepper, macadamia.

If there's danger of bushfires then I'd pick some eucalypts etc. that come back quickly from fire.

[ex_pippin880]

also I gotta be honest I would feel weird about colonising a world without bringing along some venomous and poisonous critters! It wouldn't be home otherwise.

[melannen]

Oooh, thank you for the Australian options! Some of those will be excellent.

Is wattle widely used for food (or was it in the past)? I know you can eat the seeds, but I had never thought of them as a staple. And emus are definitely a thought.

[ex_pippin880]

Some other stuff too! It also means you can more easily re-enact Monty Python. :D #notthebestpriorities

You'll probably also want a shorthaired farmdog like a blue heeler or a koolie, rather than your classic border collie, due to the heat? I have no idea what breeds US farmers use!

[melannen]

I suspect for dogs they'll go for something generalist to start with, rather than a specialized herding dog - maybe something resembling a pariah dog or a rat terrier or just a mix of dogs from all over the gene pool, so they can get hardy dogs that will do whatever is necessary! The neatest thing about dogs is just how easy they are to breed into whatever you need.

(Most of the farms in my part of the US don't need herding dogs, so for working farm dogs they tend to go for something like a rat terrier or a Carolina yaller dog, often not anything even vaguely like purebred. Or hunting dogs that only do farm-work as a hobby. In the cattle-ranching areas of the West and Southwest, it's usually the Australian breeds, collies, or Australian/collie mixes, depending on how far north you go. ETA: And I have just discovered that the dog Americans call an Aussie dog is not actually an Australian breed. Oh, America. So, Blue Heelers, Aussie dogs which aren't actually Australian, and border collies, then.)

[ex_pippin880]

I guess the idea of a cattle station smaller than Belgium and not needing specialised herders is just too alien for me to imagine. :p

the dog Americans call an Aussie dog is not actually an Australian breed.

Haha, what! *googles* Oh wow, those things have waaaaay too much fur.

[melannen]

See, we American distinguish between a "farm" and a "ranch."

A ranch is approximately the size of Belgium and has cows and/or sheep on it, and has ranch dogs like Aussie dogs.

A farm is a few dozen to a few thousand acres, and has plants, dairy, and/or poultry, usually; sometimes pigs or a few dozen steers. Surely Australia has some farms that *aren't* cattle stations the size of Belgium? In Queensland maybe? :D

[ex_pippin880]

Only in boring places where it actually rains, like south west Western Australia.

[passerine]

Hmm...interesting question.

Do you have a fairly thorough idea of what the colony's plant life is capable of? Because I'm thinking that silkworms (and the mulberry bushes they feed upon) might be a good idea, as well as rubber trees. Also if you need something quick-growing that has multiple applications, hemp is good stuff, though your characters' opinions may vary.

Bananas/plantains could make a good staple foodstuff.

See also the Wiki pages on herbalism and plants used as medicine.

I'm guessing that you'll want a source (or a few sources) of caffeine or other stimulants, some things that ferment well to make alcohol (which has industrial and some medicinal applications beyond simply intoxicating people), a range of pain relief options, etc.

[melannen]

Hemp is definitely on the list, some variety that works both as a fiber and a medicinal!

I was actually thinking about breadfruit - they supply an excellent staple crop (like plantain, but easier), give a semi-usable latex, and have medicinal uses.

I'm debating what to bring as their stimulant of choice. There will be something, yes, but so many choices! Kola, coca, cacao, tea, betel and areca, coffee, guarana ... and those are just the first that come to mind. If you could only pick one, which would you pick?

They're definitely going to bring some yeasts, for alcohol and bread and cheese and yoghurt and so on; I don't know if it would be necessary to bring a crop *just* to ferment, though. And they're going to bring some bacterial strains that produce antibiotics, and maybe a few other useful pharmaceutical-producing bacterial strains. Though I'm not sure what would go into a basic pharmacopeia, and what you would want to get herbally. Also while I can name lots of medicinal herbs that do various things, I'm not sure which I'd pick if I had to pick only a few!

Off the top of my head, I'd want, as the very basics: at least two painkiller choices, a sedative, a febrifuge, an anti-inflammatory, an anti-biotic, an anti-histamine, insulin, birth control, and a general immunosuppressant. But I'm probably forgetting something. Some of those I could cheat and use engineered bacterial strains; some could be multi-purpose. With a limited labor pool, they won't be able to grow everything, so it's going to have to be triage, especially on the medicinals.

They aren't going to have many serious infectious diseases, since they aren't bringing many and they'll have a fairly small population pool for breeding more, but there will be all that results from our various friendly flora, and trauma, and all the ways the human body can attack itself.

[passerine]

Hmm. For medicinals, maybe use the WHO's list of essential medications (wiki version linked here), figure out what herbal/bacterial/etc. equivalents there are and create a very pared-down version from that?

One that I would want to make sure was around if your folks are going to be around a lot of strange flora and fauna is epinephrine of some form. Being able to bring people out of anaphylactic shock = good. :)

Also, this one's a fairly simple chemical with a long history of use rather than a plant-derived medicine, but Magnesium sulfate, aka Epsom salt. VERY important if you're wanting to have basic medical means of dealing with some of the trickier pregnancy complications, and has many other medical uses as well.

What is the situation on this planet for mining, etc.? Can it be usefully done, and should it be? Or will this just completely screw up the local ecology?

[melannen]

Oooh, useful list.

I've actually spent quite a while pondering/researching whether allergies would be more or less of a problem with non-Earth-evolved biota.

Most (type 1) allergies are reactions to specific proteins, and if I'm positing alien biota don't use anything that can pass as Earth protein (which seems reasaonable - you need a carbohydrate-based biota to get free oxygen in the atmosphere on an Earthlike planet, but you don't necessarily need Earth amino acids), then the native biota, it seems like, *shouldn't* trigger allergies in humans.

On the other hand, that could be the equivalent of living in a hyperclean environment, and trigger more immune reactions in the humans. And on the third hand, it's possible that with exposure, human immune systems could learn to react with the alien proteins.

SF as a whole seems to be split on the question, and I've never seen a serious discussion of it by experts.

But, anyway, they'll definitely want some kind of anti-allergy drug - an adrenaline like epinephrine or an H1 antagonist like Benadryl, or both. Unfortunately I am having very little luck finding out how you *make* an H1 antagonist; there's always jewelweed and plantain, I guess.

The idea is that nearly all the planets being colonized have those conditions, so we want a basic kit of the stuff every colony ship carries. Most of them will have reasonably accessible and a good variety of mineral resources, though, and you always do a comprehensive mineral survey early on, while you still have aerial/orbital mapping capabilities. So anything that can be mined is there, and they have the know-how to extract most of it, yes.

[ex_pippin880]

You'd have to modify the bananas to grow in a subtropical area, though.

Try this...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Guinea pigs! They were raised as meat animals, once; they're quite compact.

Re: Try this...

[melannen]

Guinea pigs are awesome! Nature's own compact in-house garbage disposal! I am wondering if they are really useful enough to be worth it, but I think if I decide not to bring poultry, maybe guinea pigs? (Though it would be sad to have no eggs.)

[lea_hazel]

Well, animal husbandry can be difficult and isn't super energy efficient, so I would go with about 90% plant produce. Soy is a must, naturally, but there are a lot of plant sources of partial protein which, when taken together, provide a fairly complete diet. Legumes store well so you can put down reserves, and they're highly nutritious and also filling; I'd go with peas and lentils, and especially fava beans, unless someone on the expedition carries G6PD deficiency and can't digest them.

Emmer is an old, wild and highly robust cultivar of wheat, so I'd bring that too, but it's very important to have multiple sources of carbohydrates. The UN (I think) maintains a list of under-utilized crops, many of which are staple foods that are largely obscure outside of their native culture. That's a great place to pick up on some interesting species you'd never think of otherwise.

I would also place emphasis on wind-pollinated plants, under the assumption that there's limited space/resources, and catering to the specific pollination needs of a lot of flowering plants would be a pain in the ass. Seed dispersal isn't a concern, quite the contrary, you'd want to avoid letting the Earth species run rampant. Insect-eating bats for population control might be a good idea, though. Or else small reptiles or amphibians.

Olives are good, and they age well, but it takes them decades to reach harvestable maturity. You'd need a backup source of oil, like canola or flax. In general, if you want to be self-sufficient in a year or two, your first line of crops need to be perennials that will quickly give a crop without immediately failing and having to be re-sown. In a pseudo-Mediterranean climate, tomatoes and cucumbers are a good choice, but again, variety is important.

Medically, it's hard to be well-prepared. Microorganisms will always adapt more quickly, so probably your best resource would be a team of crackshot workaholic microbiologists. Corticostereoids are a must, though, because of the sheer breadth of autoimmune conditions. I have no idea how they're produced, though.

[nicki]

*agrees with above comment on wheat* A dense, non taxing to produce grain product is necessary. Also, with wheat you get bread and with bread you get bread-mold and then you get antibiotics.

Sheep, relatively small, easily herded, good protein, clothing fiber, lanolin (for dry, cracked, farming in the weather skin and probably for ointments as well), writing material if necessary and good fertilizers.

[melannen]

I'm actually debating both wheat-like grains and sheep.

They're both great if your goal is to have a large surplus of something that's easily commodified - in other words, if you're empire-building - but in terms of trying to build a small, sustainable community (especially in a climate with a long growing season, where having winter stores isn't vital) they have some pretty significant downsides in terms of labor and environmental costs, compared to using things like root vegetables or beans as staple starches.

And you don't need bread for penicillin! I think the strain that eventually worked best in the end was actually from a tomato or something like that. (they will be growing their bacterial medicinals in culture media, I suspect.)

[nicki]

Bah, culture medium is all cheaty. :P

Med climate doesn't grow most fruits and veg all year. It does some winter veg fairly easily (broccoli, brussels sprouts, similar), but tomatoes and the like only through early/mid autumn really. Late winter and early spring (equiv of Jan-March) would be pretty bare.

[supermouse]

Potatoes. They're a brilliant staple crop and good at breaking new ground. They're also not massively invasive.

[melannen]

Tubers of some kind, definitely! Is there a reason you prefer potatoes above yams or taro?

[supermouse]

The climate didn't seem warm enough for yams or taro, and I don't know enough about how yams and taro are cultivated or processed after harvesting, whereas I am moderately confident in the ecology of the potato.

[bliumchik]

Remember that for every animal species you transport, you're going to have to bring its equivalent food chain branch right down to the level where genetic incompatibility is no longer an issue. Depending on your GM capacity you can probably avoid bringing over predators to prevent overpopulation, humanity can always step in in that role if necessary, but bats gotta eat.

That also means vegetable life has to come first, as a bottom feeder, and that brings with it the issue of which native plants you're displacing to make room for stuff your bats can digest. If you're looking for environmental conflict in your story a miscalculation in this area is a good non-epic problem to introduce.

[melannen]

Yes, there is definitely going to be a step of looking at my list and figuring out what I need in order to support the stuff on the list. I tend to prefer to work top-down - okay, I'm bringing guinea fowl, what do they need - rather than ground-up, because every time I bring in another level I'd need to work back down again. (And even many plants need fungi. And many fungi are predators of soil-dwelling worms. And the worms need specific large animals to breed. It's turtles all the way down.)

I'm mostly going to be writing about the period several generations after a colony's well established, so luckily I don't need to work out all the details - just a basic idea of what they might have around, with an ecology that isn't utterly broken.

[lady_ganesh]

Seaweed. Lots of seaweed.

[melannen]

I was wondering why everybody was leaving out the water! ^_^ You don't happen to be an expert on edible seaweeds that grow well in domestication/captivity, do you? Or edible fish and shellfish that can survive only on those seaweeds?

[lady_ganesh]

Alas, I am no good with seaweed beyond knowing I love it and it's IMPORTANT. We did a lot in my one semester of college botany but it was mostly focusing on individual plants rather than systems.