Introduced Predators and Avifaunal Extinction in New Zealand

Holdaway, Richard N.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-5202-1_9

Cited by 124 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This is because in all known cases, human colonization was associated with multiple possible impacts on the species that were lost. In New Zealand, for instance, people not only hunted moas, but they also set fires that quickly destroyed massive expanses of forest [62][63][64] and introduced competitors and predators in the form of rats and dogs [6,44,45]. Some combination of hunting, introduced species (including pathogens), and anthropogenic vegetational change caused the losses that are so well documented there.…”

Section: Island Extinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A requiem for North American overkill

Grayson

Meltzer

2003

Journal of Archaeological Science

273

154

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The argument that human hunters were responsible for the extinction of a wide variety of large Pleistocene mammals emerged in western Europe during the 1860s, alongside the recognition that people had coexisted with those mammals. Today, the overkill position is rejected for western Europe but lives on in Australia and North America. The survival of this hypothesis is due almost entirely to Paul Martin, the architect of the first detailed version of it. In North America, archaeologists and paleontologists whose work focuses on the late Pleistocene routinely reject Martin's position for two prime reasons: there is virtually no evidence that supports it, and there is a remarkably broad set of evidence that strongly suggests that it is wrong. In response, Martin asserts that the overkill model predicts a lack of supporting evidence, thus turning the absence of empirical support into support for his beliefs. We suggest that this feature of the overkill position removes the hypothesis from the realm of science and places it squarely in the realm of faith. One may or may not believe in the overkill position, but one should not confuse it with a scientific hypothesis about the nature of the North American past.

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Section: Island Extinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A requiem for North American overkill

Grayson

Meltzer

2003

Journal of Archaeological Science

273

154

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“…New Zealand, "the smallest continent" (Diamond 1990), lost not only its megafauna but also many small (<1000 g) vertebrates (Holdaway 1999a). This mix was unusual; small vertebrates were more likely to go extinct on small islands (Martin & Steadman 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, these small animals were probably not seriously affected by human invasion and activity. Three of the four largest (500-1000 g) birds were waterfowl (Holdaway 1999a). The merganser (Mergus australis), Finsch's duck (Chenonettafinschi), and Scarlett's duck (Malacorhynchus scarletti) were worth eating by people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For all the remaining species, the timing in the late Holocene and apparently synchronous extinctions of the diverse range of phylogenetic lineages suggest that an extrinsic factor was involved, but eliminates disease as a potential cause (Holdaway 1999a). The introduction to New Zealand of a small predatory mammal, the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), at about the time of the extinctions, suggested that predation by R. exulans was a significant factor in the extinction of most, if not all, of the smallest vertebrates that were extinct by the time of European settlement (Holdaway 1999a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The introduction to New Zealand of a small predatory mammal, the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), at about the time of the extinctions, suggested that predation by R. exulans was a significant factor in the extinction of most, if not all, of the smallest vertebrates that were extinct by the time of European settlement (Holdaway 1999a). R. exulans was the only external agent (other than Polynesian settlers) known to prey on small birds and their eggs (e.g., Booth et al 1996) before European colonisation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Establishment and extinction of a population of South Georgian diving petrel(Pelecanoides georgicus)at Mason Bay, Stewart Island, New Zealand, during the late Holocene

Holdaway¹,

Jones

Athfield

2003

Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand

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A population of South Georgian diving petrels (Pelecanoides georgicus) (c. 130 g) became extinct at Mason Bay, on the west coast of Stewart Island, before European settlement. Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) bones with the diving petrel fossils provided an opportunity to determine whether the rats arrived before the petrels went extinct. Fifteen 14 C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ages on purified diving petrel bone gelatin from various parts of Mason Bay clustered unexpectedly in the 14th and 15th centuries AD, and none was older. Bayesian statistical analysis, using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo procedure, gave a 95% probability that the diving petrel colony was founded between 1338 and 1440 AD, lasted 40-310 years, and became extinct between 1475 and 1650 AD. Possible reasons for the late colonisation of Mason Bay by South Georgian diving petrels burrow are discussed. Bayesian analysis of five 14 C AMS determinations on Pacific rat bone gelatin did not exclude the possibility that the Pacific rat arrived before the diving petrel colony was established. However, the enriched 5 13 C of their bone gelatin suggests that the rats had a partially marine diet, and a terrestrial calibration procedure for their AMS ages was probably not appropriate. The Pacific rat is likely to have arrived after the diving petrel colony became established and probably caused the bird's extinction after a short period of coexistence.

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2000

Pattern and Process in Macroecology

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Introduced Predators and Avifaunal Extinction in New Zealand

Cited by 124 publications

References 34 publications

A requiem for North American overkill

A requiem for North American overkill

Establishment and extinction of a population of South Georgian diving petrel(Pelecanoides georgicus)at Mason Bay, Stewart Island, New Zealand, during the late Holocene

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