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So I'm watching Alien Covenenant, and one of the characters just pointed out that planetside, there's no sound nor trace of any animal or insect life.

But, they're walking through an otherwise lush forest.

And that got me thinking....many plants depends upon insects for pollination, and many plants rely upon animal life for better seed dispersal.

Then there's the teeny tiny bugs and grubs that help break down fallen trees, releasing the nutrients contained therein in the overall cycle.

So what how long could that lush forest last without any insect or animal life at all?

I suspect certain species would probably be OK in the short term. But given my understanding of the principles of crop rotation (fixing nutrients and that), would such an event not eventually produce a barren world?

Plants occupied land before animals in the distant past, and plants can grow in pots and greenhouses without animal input, so they can exist independently. Inspect pollinated flowers have only existed as long as flying insects, many plants are descended from lineages older than that.

A lot of the work of decomposition is done by bacteria and fungi. If you exclude them too, it's unlikely plants would last long as decomposition and nitrogen fixing would be almost non existent.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
Plants occupied land before animals in the distant past, and plants can grow in pots and greenhouses without animal input, so they can exist independently. Inspect pollinated flowers have only existed as long as flying insects, many plants are descended from lineages older than that.

A lot of the work of decomposition is done by bacteria and fungi. If you exclude them too, it's unlikely plants would last long as decomposition and nitrogen fixing would be almost non existent.

But the plants needed animals to put them in pots and greenhouses


but plants can get along without animals, fungi explod to spread their seed, and some seeds blow along with the wind.

Depends on if they evolved along side animal life in the first place, and/or how long the flora had to adapt/ the abrupness of the cessation of animal life. Right?

Well the cataclysm only happened a few years prior, I imagine that the forests could survive a few years without any spread of seeds especially as they are already fully grown.

Plus, as people have said, perhaps they evolved without insects to help them along.