Arabian Oryx

1 year

As a large herbivore able to travel long distances between the desert's scarce water points, the Arabian oryx's disappearance would immediately remove a grazing pressure on the scattered shrubs and grass tufts it fed on along its route, which would grow a little more freely without it.

Hypothesis

10 years

Over a decade, the seeds the oryx carried in its coat and gut while moving between the desert's isolated patches of vegetation would stop traveling those distances; the patches would become more independent from one another, less connected by its movements.

Hypothesis

100 years

Over a century, without the regular passage of this large migratory herbivore, desert vegetation would likely become more fragmented and more locally uniform, each patch evolving more on its own instead of exchanging seeds with others through the oryx.

Hypothesis

1000 years

Over a thousand years, even if other species partly filled this role, they would likely be smaller and more sedentary: the very-long-distance seed-dispersal networks built around the oryx's movements between distant water points would likely never quite be rebuilt the same way.

Hypothesis