Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands

Steadman, David W.; Martin, Paul S.; MacPhee, R. D. E.; Jull, A. J. T.; McDonald, H. Gregory; Woods, Charles A.; Iturralde‐Vinent, Manuel A.; Hodgins, Gregory W. L.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0502777102

Cited by 192 publications

(159 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…These may have included sloths during the Archaic, whose extinctions seem independent of climatic changes, but not human arrival (Steadman et al 2005). Other signs of human impacts involved the extinction or extirpation of reptile, mammal and bird species (Soto-Centeno & Steadman 2015;.…”

Section: Caribbean Islands In Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

et al. 2017

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SUMMARYIn the face of environmental uncertainty due to anthropogenic climate change, islands are at the front lines of global change, threatened by sea level rise, habitat alteration, extinctions and declining biodiversity. Islands also stand at the forefront of scientific study for understanding the deep history of human ecodynamics and to build sustainable future systems. We summarize the long history of human interactions with Polynesian, Mediterranean, Californian and Caribbean island ecosystems, documenting the effects of various waves of human settlement and socioeconomic systems, from hunter-gatherer-fishers, to agriculturalists, to globalized colonial interests. We identify degradation of island environments resulting from human activities, as well as cases of human management of resources to enhance productivity and create more sustainable systems. These case studies suggest that within a general global pattern of progressive island degradation, there was no single trajectory of human impact, but rather complex effects based on variable island physiographies, human subsistence strategies, population densities, technologies, sociopolitical organization and decision-making.

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Section: Caribbean Islands In Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

et al. 2017

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“…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)(12)(13). However, most studies have been limited to single regions and limited numbers of taxa (e.g., [14][15][16][17][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)(20)(21)].…”

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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.

102

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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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“…The majority (29 genera), including mastodons, saber-toothed cats, and giant ground sloths, became globally extinct at that time, whereas a handful (6 genera) vanished from North America while continuing to persist elsewhere (Table S1). For decades archaeologists and paleontologists have debated the causes of their extinction (1)(2)(3)(4)(5), with explanations including overkill (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11), environmental change (12,13), hyperdisease (14), and an extraterrestrial impact (15)(16)(17). Crucial to the development of explanatory models is the chronology of the extinctions, which some envision as a longterm process occurring throughout the late Pleistocene (18)(19)(20)(21) and others characterize as a synchronous event that wiped out all taxa between 12,000 and 10,000 radiocarbon years B.P.…”

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confidence: 99%

Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals

Faith

Surovell

2009

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

142

108

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The late Pleistocene witnessed the extinction of 35 genera of North American mammals. The last appearance dates of 16 of these genera securely fall between 12,000 and 10,000 radiocarbon years ago (Ϸ13,800 -11,400 calendar years B.P.), although whether the absence of fossil occurrences for the remaining 19 genera from this time interval is the result of sampling error or temporally staggered extinctions is unclear. Analysis of the chronology of extinctions suggests that sampling error can explain the absence of terminal Pleistocene last appearance dates for the remaining 19 genera. The extinction chronology of North American Pleistocene mammals therefore can be characterized as a synchronous event that took place 12,000 -10,000 radiocarbon years B.P. Results favor an extinction mechanism that is capable of wiping out up to 35 genera across a continent in a geologic instant.climate change ͉ extraterrestrial impact ͉ overkill ͉ Quaternary extinctions ͉ radiocarbon dates

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Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands

Cited by 192 publications

References 41 publications

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

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

Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals

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