Biomes

Future Game
141

Beavers build dams too. Humans just do it bigger. I guess that could be added to the list.

142

Beavers might make big dams but they might not be quite as longlasting as the human ones. And they also can only make them so tall…

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143

True enough. They also make them in a wider variety of places, and with less ecological benefit than beaver dams. Beavers create wetlands, people create electricity.

Should there be a wetland category for “created by an aware creature dam”? Would it still be “anthropogenic” if the same creature became social and continued making the same type of dam in the same sorts of locations? As opposed to the concrete dams made by some sentients.

144

Maybe these could be called “natural dams”?

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145

I guess it’s a question of if “Natural” is more “made with natural materials” or “made by natural forces”? Would a dam created by a rock-slide be separate from one made out of branches by creatures?

146

It would be separate as it wouldn’t have the same structure as a carefully-knitted beaver dam.

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147

So three categories. Naturally Crafted, Artificial, and . . . Geologically Made? Actually, would they be lasting enough for a category? At least some made by a disaster would be temporary, but would some last for generations?

Come to think of it, just about any dam would create either a floodplains or a lake/reservoir. Maybe just “Artificially Created Floodplains/Lake” and let the natural ones all just be floodplains/lakes.

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148

Also was there a biome made for volcanic grounds? Spewing gasses and stuff?

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149

Not yet. I’ve put real effort into Plant Based, Wetland, Anthropogenic, and the overlap of those three, but I haven’t don’t much Geological. I am not sure how to categorize those. Holdridge didn’t take them into account either. They need there own system. Then we need a “how does this system interact with other systems” system.

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150

Which makes the broader patch system much harder to fully comprehend.

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151

With artificial dams, artificial freshwater now looks like this:

Artificial Freshwater Biomes

  • Rivers
    • Canals
      • Waterways
      • Aqueducts
      • Subterranean Waterways
      • Subterranean Aqueducts
    • Freshwater Pipes
    • Sewage System
      • Industrial Sewer
      • Sanitary Sewers
      • Storm Drain
      • Combined Sewage System
    • Artificial Dam Floodplains
  • Lake
    • Reservoir
    • Subterranean Reservoir
    • Artificial Dam Lake
  • Flooded Mines
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152

Also remember that things like fish-raising ponds have existed for a while now, so they’d most likely belong as a biome since society stage already.

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153

Aquatic Ranch is covered in Farmland. Or did you mean a raised off of the ground pond?

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154

No, I meant the regular ponds made in the ground.

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155

Do you think the system that has individually defined cropland types like “Arable Crop Forest” and “Aquatic Deepwater Permanent Grassland” (here) or the (Terrain Type)(Use Type (Subtype/s))((Optional) Second Use Type (Subtype/s)) (here) system of farmland is better?

Also, what areas within a settlement do you think it would make sense to add? I am sure cities will end up with several well defined areas, but how many will an animal care about?

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156

I can guess stores (or other selling places) with food exposed to air could be rather attractive to any critters, especially if they’re small and whatever sapients are around don’t wish to deal with them so much.

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157

I have “Market” already. I guess the rest would vary a lot. Some factories deal in edible product, but not all of them do. Many entertainment areas have food, but not all of them would, plus some are outdoors and some are indoors. Hmm.

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158

Maybe there places could have some sort of a “food” modifier to them if they were specified to contain foods available to local lifeforms?

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159

If going with the subcategory system, should Seaweed be a Garden plant, a Forest plant, or its own unique “Macroalgae” category? “Seaweed Forests” are quite different from terrestrial forests, and while it doesn’t occur on earth, whose to say on alien planets that Trees can’t grow fully underwater. Also, Seaweed is sometimes grown on land.

Also, near as I can tell, Microalgae is grown in a great variety of conditions, with at least as much grown indoors as outdoors. I am not sure it can be called “a” biome. I think “Microalgae Farm” is a catch all for several very different biomes.

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160

Doesn’t seem like the we.ed has to be in the sea at all!

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