Back in episode 49, I mentioned the Great American Interchange, which took place three million years ago when North America and South America collided and were connected by the isthmus of Panama. However, I largely glossed over it as it was only of tangential relevance to the topic of the Wallace Line. So, today, let's correct that oversight and explore the Great American Interchange...

Sources for this episode:

Domingo, L., Tomassini, R. L., Montalvo, C. I., Sanz-Pérez, D. and Alberdi, M. T. (2020), The Great American Biotic Interchange revisited: a new perspective from the stable isotope record of Argentine Pampas fossil mammals, Scientific Reports 10(1): 1608.
Marshall, L. G., Webb, S. D., Sepkoski, J. J. and Raup, D. M. (1982), Mammalian Evolution and the Great American Interchange, Science 215(4538): 1351-1357.
Weir, J. T., Bermingham, E. and Schluter, D. (2009), The Great American Biotic Interchange in birds, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(51): 21737-21742.
Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Great American Interchange (online) [Accessed 15/06/2021 and 13/08/2021].
Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), δ13C (online) [Accessed 10/08/2021].
Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), δ18O (online) [Accessed 10/08/2021].

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