Assesssing the role of humans in Greater Antillean land vertebrate extinctions: new insights from Cuba

Abstract

The Caribbean archipelago is a hotspot of biodiversity characterized by a high rate of extinction. Recent studies have examined these losses, but the causes of the Antillean Late Quaternary vertebrate extinctions, and especially the role of humans, are still unclear. Current results provide support for climate-related and human-induced extinctions, but often downplaying other complex bio-ecological factors that are difficult to model or to detect from the fossil and archaeological record. Here, we discuss Caribbean vertebrate extinctions and the potential role of humans derived from new and existing fossil and archaeological data from Cuba. Our results indicate that losses of Cuba’s native fauna occurred in three waves: one during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, a second during the middle Holocene, and a third one during the last 2 ka, coinciding with the arrival of agroceramists and the early Europeans. The coexistence of now-extinct species with multiple cultural groups in Cuba for over 4 ka implies that Cuban indigenous non-ceramic cultures exerted far fewer extinction pressures to native fauna than the later agroceramists and Europeans that followed. This suggests a determinant value to increased technological sophistication and demographics as the most plausible effective extinction drivers.

Six centuries of adaptation to a challenging island environment: AMS 14C dating and stable isotopic analysis of pre-Columbian human remains from the Bahamian archipelago reveal dietary trends

“…The degree to which the islands were transformed by early human presence is currently a matter of active debate, but it may have been considerable (Baisre, 2010;Orihuela et al, 2020). Hutias (Geocapromys ingrahami) -a medium size rodent -were endemic to some Bahamian islands but not others, including TCI, to which they were translocated as a food animal (LeFebvre et al, 2019a;2019b;Oswald et al, 2020).…”

Collagen Sequence Analysis Reveals Evolutionary History of Extinct West Indies Nesophontes (Island-Shrews)

“…The specimens analyzed here were excavated from Cueva de la Caja, Mayabeque Province (also known as “Cueva de los Nesofontes”; dated to between 1,290±30 BP and 1,418±20 BP; see Orihuela, Pérez Orozco, et al. 2020 ) and Cueva del Gato Jíbaro, Matanzas Province (dated to 860±30 BP; Orihuela, Viñola, et al. 2020 ), northwestern Cuba with permission from the Comisión Nacional de Monumentos, and the Registro Nacional de Bienes Culturales, Cuba.…”

“…2020 ), northwestern Cuba with permission from the Comisión Nacional de Monumentos, and the Registro Nacional de Bienes Culturales, Cuba. A scapula specimen of Solenodon cubanus was also recovered from a superficial layer of Cueva de la Caja and dated to 650±15 BP ( Orihuela, Viñola, et al. 2020 ).…”

Predation on murid rodents by the Giant Trope, Tropidophis melanurus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), with comments on predation of mammals by snakes of the genus Tropidophis

“…Therefore, the propensity of T. melanurus to consume small non-volant mammals could be explained by co-evolution with mammalian prey that is similar in body size and general habits to the introduced murids. In the Greater Antillean region, such mammalian prey presumably included "island shrews" of the genus Nesophontes (Eulipotyphla: Nesophontidae), small, terrestrial, and most likely nocturnal semi-burrowers (e.g., Silva et al 2007;Borroto-Páez 2011;Orihuela 2014;Buckley et al 2020;Orihuela et al 2020), and small "spiny rats" of the genus Boromys (Rodentia: Echimyidae) (e.g., Silva et al 2007;Arredondo Antúnez 2011;Borroto-Páez 2011). Both groups included species no larger than a Black Rat (e.g., Silva et al 2007;Arredondo Antúnez 2011;Borroto-Páez 2011).…”

“…Both groups included species no larger than a Black Rat (e.g., Silva et al 2007;Arredondo Antúnez 2011;Borroto-Páez 2011). These mammals are common in the subfossil record of the region and are thought to have survived until close to or even after the first European arrival in the region in 1492 (MacPhee et al 1999;Díaz-Franco 2004;Silva et al 2007;Cooke et al 2017;Orihuela et al 2020). For predators of small, nocturnal, non-volant mammals, murids presumably serve as replacements for Nesophontes and Boromys, as indicated by abundant records from subfossil owl-pellets (for reviews see MacPhee et al 1999;Díaz-Franco 2004;Silva et al 2007;Borroto-Páez 2011;Cooke et al 2017;Orihuela et al 2020).…”