Human impact and climate cooling caused range contraction of large mammals in China over the past two millennia

Abstract

Many species have experienced dramatic declines over the past millennia due to the accelerated impact of human activity and climate change, but compelling evidence over such long‐term time scales is rare. China has a unique system archiving historical records of important social, meteorological, agricultural and biological events over the last three millennia. We derived historical species occurrences (0–2000 AD) based on a comprehensive review of literature. To detect the driving forces of range contraction, we used correlation and multiple regression to quantify the linear association between species range indices and climate variables (five temperature series and three precipitation series), as well as a human population size series. We also used a machine learning technique, random forest, to quantify the nonlinear effects of the climate variables and human population size. The southward retreat of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus and the rhinoceroses (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, Rhinoceros unicornis, R. sondaicus) was closely associated with climate cooling and intensified human impact (represented by high population size), and the westward retreat of the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca was associated with intensified human impact. One temperature series and human population size showed interactive effect on range shift of the Asian elephant and the rhinoceroses; the effect of temperature was positive at low population size, but negative at high population size. Our results imply that a higher temperature caused the northward or eastward range shift of the Asian elephant, the rhinoceroses and the giant panda, and currently this trend is impeded by human activities. We also illustrate how human activity and climate act synergistically to cause range contraction.

An endemic rat species complex is evidence of moderate environmental changes in the terrestrial biodiversity centre of China through the late Quaternary

“…The dramatic population contraction and range shift of these large mammals are now the focus of recent research and conservation activities in China and worldwide1617181920. Despite the fierce controversy that has persisted for decades, climate changes and the massive growth in human populations are generally considered to be the major causes of the dramatic population contraction and range shift of large mammals in the past two millennia162122. However, very little attention has been paid to the evolutionary dynamics of endemic small mammals, which play crucial roles in terrestrial ecosystems.…”

Impacts of human activity and climate change on the distribution of snub‐nosed monkeys in China during the past 2000 years

“…It is notable that global temperature change was more strongly correlated with latitudinal shifts in snub‐nosed monkey distribution, than local climate change. This is likely due to the pervasive effect of the global environment on temporary or short‐term changes in resource availability and habitat suitability within a region (Li et al., ). In general, shifts in animal distributions occur in response to both species‐specific physiological thresholds related to temperature and precipitation tolerance as well as the response of plant communities to environmental perturbations (Hoffmann & Parsons, ; Woodward, ).…”

Added value of metabarcoding combined with microscopy for evolutionary studies of mammals

“…It causes range contraction of several large Asian mammals in China (Li et al . ), including the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ), which evolved from mammoths (Krause et al . ; Orlando et al .…”