Rapid Extinction of the Moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes): Model, Test, and Implications

Holdaway, Richard N.; Jacomb, Chris

doi:10.1126/science.287.5461.2250

Cited by 215 publications

(212 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

209

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus, the megafauna are thought to have been vulnerable as a direct result of their large size. However, large size is also generally associated with slow reproduction, and slowly reproducing species are vulnerable to over-harvest because the rate at which a population can replace animals killed by hunters is low (Holdaway & Jacomb 2000;Alroy 2001). Slow reproduction could have predisposed large species to extinction by over-hunting even if hunting was not size-selective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of loss of mammal species during the Late Quaternary ‘megafauna’ extinctions: life history and ecology, but not body size

Johnson

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

238

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extinctions of megafauna species during the Late Quaternary dramatically reduced the global diversity of mammals. There is intense debate over the causes of these extinctions, especially regarding the extent to which humans were involved. Most previous analyses of this question have focused on chronologies of extinction and on the archaeological evidence for human-megafauna interaction. Here, I take an alternative approach: comparison of the biological traits of extinct species with those of survivors. I use this to demonstrate two general features of the selectivity of Late Quaternary mammal extinctions in Australia, Eurasia, the Americas and Madagascar. First, large size was not directly related to risk of extinction; rather, species with slow reproductive rates were at high risk regardless of their body size. This finding rejects the 'blitzkrieg' model of overkill, in which extinctions were completed during brief intervals of selective hunting of large-bodied prey. Second, species that survived despite having low reproductive rates typically occurred in closed habitats and many were arboreal or nocturnal. Such traits would have reduced their exposure to direct interaction with people. Therefore, although this analysis rejects blitzkrieg as a general scenario for the mammal megafauna extinctions, it is consistent with extinctions being due to interaction with human populations.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of loss of mammal species during the Late Quaternary ‘megafauna’ extinctions: life history and ecology, but not body size

Johnson

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

238

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Subsistence hunting by early Polynesians is typically implicated in early extinctions (Worthy 1999;Holdaway & Jacomb 2000), and any surviving taxa are usually interpreted as declining remnants of previously abundant populations. With the advent of ancient DNA techniques, we now have a means to test the timing and severity of species and population declines by directly characterizing temporal changes in genetic diversity (Paxinos et al 2002;Shapiro et al 2004;Leonard et al 2007;Valdiosera et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relict or colonizer? Extinction and range expansion of penguins in southern New Zealand

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent human expansion into the Pacific initiated a dramatic avian extinction crisis, and surviving taxa are typically interpreted as declining remnants of previously abundant populations. As a case in point, New Zealand's endangered yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) is widely considered to have been more abundant and widespread in the past. By contrast, our genetic and morphological analyses of prehistoric, historic and modern penguin samples reveal that this species expanded its range to the New Zealand mainland only in the last few hundred years. This range expansion was apparently facilitated by the extinction of M. antipodes' previously unrecognized sister species following Polynesian settlement in New Zealand. Based on combined genetic and morphological data, we describe this new penguin species, the first known to have suffered human-mediated extinction. The range expansion of M. antipodes so soon after the extinction of its sister species supports a historic paradigmatic shift in New Zealand Polynesian culture. Additionally, such a dynamic biological response to human predation reveals a surprising and less recognized potential for species to have benefited from the extinction of their ecologically similar sister taxa and highlights the complexity of large-scale extinction events.

show abstract

“…One mass extinction theory is that human hunters waged a blitzkrieg against some species, quickly exterminating millions of animals. One such example is the extermination of Moa birds in New Zealand, see Diamond (2000) and Holdaway and Jacomb (2000). It seems that in a matter of a few decades, after the first settlements of Polynesians, all of the estimated 160,000 large flightless Moas disappeared.…”

Section: Spatial Aggregation May Be Bad In Catastrophic Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Role of Spatial Aggregation in the Extinction of a Species

Schinazi

2008

In and Out of Equilibrium 2

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Rapid Extinction of the Moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes): Model, Test, and Implications

Cited by 215 publications

References 13 publications

Determinants of loss of mammal species during the Late Quaternary ‘megafauna’ extinctions: life history and ecology, but not body size

Determinants of loss of mammal species during the Late Quaternary ‘megafauna’ extinctions: life history and ecology, but not body size

Relict or colonizer? Extinction and range expansion of penguins in southern New Zealand

On the Role of Spatial Aggregation in the Extinction of a Species

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About