re: homo sapiens as an introduced species in North America.

According to most research, the homo sapiens species developed between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago.  Their movement out of Central Asia and across the Beringia land bridge is generally dated at 23,000 years ago (though there are outlier estimates ranging from 40,000 to 16,500 years ago).  So, no, they (we) were not "on this continent since humans walked upright" but, yes, we have been here for a long time.  And while that group of humans did not (that we know of) bring honeybees with them, we do know that other species that we consider "native" to the Americas crossed at about the same time, some of which might well have been deliberately carried by those pioneers.

That brings up an interesting epistemological question.  How long does a species have to be someplace before it stops being non-native/introduced/invasive and starts being counted as indigenous?  I am unconvinced by the definitions that boil down to "but humans are different".

Mike Rossander



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