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

[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.