The controversy space on Quaternary megafaunal extinctions

Monjeau, J. A.; Araujo, Bernardo B.A.; Abramson, Guillermo; Kuperman, M. N.; Laguna, María Fabiana; Lanata, José Luis

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.022

Cited by 17 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…There are a number of relevant questions about the system that can be addressed in the light of the kind of model we have analyzed, as follows (see Monjeau et al (2015), this issue):…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As concluded in Monjeau et al (2015), the extinction of megafauna due to anthropic or climatic driven effects cannot be absolutely proven in all scenarios due to the lack of field evidences and to the synergy of multiple causes. As Johnson (2002) said, paleontological and archaeological data may not be able to provide conclusive arguments over the causes of megafauna extinctions, at least in the near future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our sister paper in this issue, Monjeau et al (2015) analyzed the "controversy space" of the debate regarding the causes of megafaunal extinctions in the Quaternary. As shown in the literature reviewed, common grounds and focus of discussions were changing throughout time, and notoriously, there is still no consensus about the ultimate cause of extinctions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A reasonable starting point is to separate some of the components of u and to consider them on their own. In Monjeau et al (2015), Fig 1, we separated the controversial space in three types of causal explanations: biological, environmental and anthropic. Here we mirror this classification to build the model parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the roles of hunting and habitat size on the extinction of megafauna

Abramson

Laguna

Kuperman

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

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We study a mechanistic mathematical model of extinction and coexistence in a generic hunter-prey ecosystem. The model represents typical scenarios of human invasion and environmental change, characteristic of the late Pleistocene, concomitant with the extinction of fauna in many regions of the world. As a first approach we focus on a small trophic web of three species, including two herbivores in asymmetric competition, in order to characterize the generic behaviors. Specifically, we use a stochastic dynamical system, allowing the study of the role of fluctuations and spatial correlations. We show that the presence of hunters drives the superior herbivore to extinction even in habitats that would allow coexistence, and even when the pressure of hunting is lower than on the inferior one. The role of system size and fluctuating populations is addressed, showing an ecological meltdown in small systems in the presence of humans. The time to extinction as a function of the system size, as calculated with the model, shows a good agreement with paleontological data. Other findings show the intricate play of the anthropic and environmental factors that may have caused the extinction of megafauna.

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“…There are a number of relevant questions about the system that can be addressed in the light of the kind of model we have analyzed, as follows (see Monjeau et al (2015), this issue):…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

On the roles of hunting and habitat size on the extinction of megafauna

Abramson

Laguna

Kuperman

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

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“…The issue of human antiquity has been developing in Europe since at least the 17th century, but only in the 1860s a certain consensus was reached [1][2][3][4][5]. Extinct mammals and archaeological remains, associated in undisturbed beds, was the main evidence for proving a deep human past [1,[5][6][7]. North America played an active role, mostly during the second half of the 19th century [3,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going back to collections: a study case of the Florentino Ameghino collection housed in the Museo de La Plata (Argentina)

Chichkoyan

2019

Cons. Património

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The historical Florentino Ameghino collection housed in the Museo de La Plata (Argentina) joined the 19th century international discussion about human antiquity. The collection comprises bones with evidences of anthropic modification from alleged Tertiary beds associated with extinct animals. According to the Argentinean naturalist Florentino Ameghino, these evidences proved the early presence of humans in the South America's Southern cone. This analysis rules out the proposed intentionality behind the anthropic traces. Instead, most of the materials were remains of broken bones for marrow extraction. The revision of these historical collections is therefore crucial for obtaining up-to-date information to advance in current researches as methodologies to study them had highly developed in the last century. In this sense, museum collections become an alternative and powerful firsthand tool that preserves our non-renewable record of the past. ResumoA colecção histórica Florentino Ameghino, alojada no Museu de La Plata (Argentina), fez parte da discussão internacional do século XIX sobre a antiguidade humana. A colecção compreende ossos, de alegados estratos do período Terciário associados a animais extintos, com marcas de modificação antrópica. Segundo o naturalista argentino Florentino Ameghino, essas evidências comprovavam a presença precoce de seres humanos no cone sul da América do Sul. Esta análise descarta a intencionalidade dos traços antrópicos. Em vez disso, considera que a maioria dos materiais eram restos de ossos quebrados para extracção de medula óssea. A revisão dessas colecções históricas é, portanto, crucial para obter informações actualizadas que permitam avançar as pesquisas atuais, pois as metodologias para estudá-las foram significativamente desenvolvidas no último século. Nesse sentido, as colecções de museus tornam-se uma alternativa e uma poderosa ferramenta de primeira mão que preserva o nosso registo não renovável do passado. Going back to collections: a study case of the Florentino Ameghino collection housed in the Museo de La Plata (Argentina)De volta às colecções: o caso da colecção Florentino Ameghino do Museu de La Plata (Argentina)

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The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

Ben-Dor

Sirtoli

Barkai

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.

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The controversy space on Quaternary megafaunal extinctions

Cited by 17 publications

References 34 publications

On the roles of hunting and habitat size on the extinction of megafauna

On the roles of hunting and habitat size on the extinction of megafauna

Going back to collections: a study case of the Florentino Ameghino collection housed in the Museo de La Plata (Argentina)

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

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