Megafaunal extinction in the late Quaternary and the global overkill hypothesis

Wroe, Stephen; Field, Judith; Fullagar, Richard; Jermin, Lars S.

doi:10.1080/03115510408619286

Cited by 157 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 214 publications

(170 reference statements)

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“…High rates of immigration and/or origination may explain the extraordinary diversity of the former (Wroe et al 2004a). Not only is it probable that immigration directly elevated carnivore diversity in Plio-Pleistocene America, but also immigrant lineages themselves may have undergone explosive radiation into 'empty' niche spaces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The efficacy of the low-productivity hypothesis is difficult to examine directly because it is difficult to separate soil nutrient levels from other factors, notably isolation and phylogenetic constraint (Wroe et al 2004a). Direct comparison with arbitrarily defined regions within larger landmasses is problematic, because it does not account for island effects (Rosenzweig 1992;Wroe et al 2004a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Direct comparison with arbitrarily defined regions within larger landmasses is problematic, because it does not account for island effects (Rosenzweig 1992;Wroe et al 2004a). However, although Australia now stands alone among inhabited continents in being isolated and dominated by marsupial carnivores, until the placental invasions of the great American biotic interchange (GABI) ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the rarity of big fierce carnivores and primacy of isolation and area: tracking large mammalian carnivore diversity on two isolated continents

Wroe

Argot²,

Dickman

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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The hypothesis that low productivity has uniquely constrained Australia's large mammalian carnivore diversity, and by inference the biota in general, has become an influential backdrop to interpretations of ecology on the island continent. Whether low productivity has been primary impacts broadly on our understanding of mammalian biogeography, but investigation is complicated by two uniquely Australian features: isolation and the dominance of marsupials. However, until the great American biotic interchange (GABI), South America was also isolated and dominated by pouched carnivores. Here, we examine the low-productivity hypothesis empirically, by comparing large mammalian carnivore diversities in Australia and South America over the past 25 Myr. We find that pre-GABI diversity in Australia was generally comparable to or higher than diversity in South America. Post-GABI, South American diversity rose dramatically, pointing to isolation and phylogenetic constraint as primary influences. Landmass area is another important factor. Comparisons of diversity among the world's seven largest inhabited landmasses show that large mammalian hypercarnivore diversity in Australia approached levels predicted on the basis of landmass area in Late Pleistocene-Recent times, but large omnivore diversity was low. Large marsupial omnivores also appear to have been rare in South America. Isolation and competition with large terrestrial birds and cryptic omnivore taxa may have been more significant constraints in this respect. Relatively high diversity has been achieved in Late Quaternary America, possibly as a result of 'artificially' high immigration or origination rates, whereas that in contemporaneous Africa has been surprisingly poor. We conclude that isolation and landmass area, rather than productivity, are the primary constraints on large mammalian carnivore diversity. Our results quantify the rarity of large hypercarnivorous mammals worldwide.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the rarity of big fierce carnivores and primacy of isolation and area: tracking large mammalian carnivore diversity on two isolated continents

Wroe

Argot²,

Dickman

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…1) in Sahul were the consequence of human activity have generated particularly robust debate. Polarized views have emerged to account for the mode and timing of these events (2,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). A paucity of empirical data; shortfalls in radiometric dating; and, until recently, a limited appreciation of the paleoenvironmental record (7,12) have placed considerable constraints on the ability to resolve "who or what" was responsible for these extinctions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea)

Wroe

Field

Archer

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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153

122

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Around 88 large vertebrate taxa disappeared from Sahul sometime during the Pleistocene, with the majority of losses (54 taxa) clearly taking place within the last 400,000 years. The largest was the 2.8-ton browsing Diprotodon optatum, whereas the ∼100-to 130-kg marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, the world's most specialized mammalian carnivore, and Varanus priscus, the largest lizard known, were formidable predators. Explanations for these extinctions have centered on climatic change or human activities. Here, we review the evidence and arguments for both. Human involvement in the disappearance of some species remains possible but unproven. Mounting evidence points to the loss of most species before the peopling of Sahul (circa 50-45 ka) and a significant role for climate change in the disappearance of the continent's megafauna. megafauna extinction | Pleistocene extinctions | archaeology | human colonization | faunal turnover

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“…Climatic change, and overhunting, habitat alteration, or the introduction of a novel disease by recently arrived people have been put forward as competing, and sometimes interacting, explanations (3). In addition to its enormous paleontological significance, this debate has drawn wide interest for its relevance to the relationship of humans with nature and to our understanding of the current anthropogenic extinction episode (4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

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confidence: 99%

Quantitative global analysis of the role of climate and people in explaining late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions

Prescott

Williams

Balmford

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

104

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The late Quaternary period saw the rapid extinction of the majority of the world's terrestrial megafauna. The cause of these dramatic losses, especially the relative importance of climatic change and the impacts of newly arrived people, remains highly controversial, with geographically restricted analyses generating conflicting conclusions. By analyzing the distribution and timing of all megafaunal extinctions in relation to climatic variables and human arrival on five landmasses, we demonstrate that the observed pattern of extinctions is best explained by models that combine both human arrival and climatic variables. Our conclusions are robust to uncertainties in climate data and in the dates of megafaunal extinctions and human arrival on different landmasses, and strongly suggest that these extinctions were driven by both anthropogenic and climatic factors.M ost of the terrestrial megafauna present 100,000 years (100 ky) ago are now extinct (1). The extinctions were geologically rapid, and almost all occurred in the past 50 ky, but their exact timing varied among different parts of the world (2). Climatic change, and overhunting, habitat alteration, or the introduction of a novel disease by recently arrived people have been put forward as competing, and sometimes interacting, explanations (3). In addition to its enormous paleontological significance, this debate has drawn wide interest for its relevance to the relationship of humans with nature and to our understanding of the current anthropogenic extinction episode (4-8).Attempts to explain megafaunal extinctions have, in addition to examining the effect of factors such as size and reproductive rate on extinction probability (9, 10), often focused on matching them in space and time with either climatic change or human arrival (11-13). However, most studies have been limited to single regions and limited numbers of taxa (e.g., 14-18), and have been beset by uncertainties in the accurate dating of human and/or megafaunal remains [e.g., the Cuddie Springs site in Australia (19-21)]. We believe that the problem is better approached by considering several landmasses simultaneously and dealing explicitly with uncertainty.We did this by analyzing the relationship, across different areas and time periods, between variation in extinction rate and variations in human arrival and climatic conditions. Specifically, we compiled a dataset of human arrival (Table 1) and megafaunal extinction dates (Table S1) from the literature. We used the Antarctic Dome C core (22) as our main source of information on climatic variability; this dataset is the most complete among available time series and is well correlated with other time series at the scale used for our analysis (Tables S2-S4). We used generalized linear models (GLMs) with a binomial error structure and a logit link function to explore the role of human arrival (classified as either just arrived or not) and climatic variables in predicting the probability of extinction for a given landmass and time period (quantified as ...

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Megafaunal extinction in the late Quaternary and the global overkill hypothesis

Cited by 157 publications

References 214 publications

On the rarity of big fierce carnivores and primacy of isolation and area: tracking large mammalian carnivore diversity on two isolated continents

On the rarity of big fierce carnivores and primacy of isolation and area: tracking large mammalian carnivore diversity on two isolated continents

Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea)

Quantitative global analysis of the role of climate and people in explaining late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions

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