Species distribution modeling reveals the ecological niche of extinct megafauna from South America

Araújo, Thaísa; Machado, Helena; Mothé, Dimila; Avilla, Leonardo dos Santos

doi:10.1017/qua.2021.24

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…It was developed along the Permian suture of the Patagonia terrane with Western Gondwana (Ramos, 1984 ; Suárez et al., 2019 ), which may have acted as a kind of environmental barrier that seems to have had some influence on the distribution of M. ruber . Studies focused on South American megafauna, for example, have already reported the nonoccurrence of certain species below this latitude (Araújo et al., 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forecasting climate change impacts on neotropical Myotis: Insights from ecological niche models for conservation strategies

de Oliveira,

Novaes,

Weber

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Myotis originated during the Oligocene in Eurasia and has become one of the most diverse bat genera, with over 140 species. In the case of neotropical Myotis, there is a high degree of phenotypic conservatism. This means that the taxonomic and geographic limits of several species are not well understood, which constrains detailed studies on their ecology and evolution and how to effectively protect these species. Similar to other organisms, bats may respond to climate change by moving to different areas, adapting to new conditions, or going extinct. Ecological niche models have become established as an efficient and widely used method for interpolating (and sometimes extrapolating) species' distributions and offer an effective tool for identifying species conservation requirements and forecasting how global environmental changes may affect species distribution. How species respond to climate change is a key point for understanding their vulnerability and designing effective conservation strategies in the future. Thus, here, we assessed the impacts of climate change on the past and future distributions of two phylogenetically related species, Myotis ruber and Myotis keaysi. The results showed that the species are influenced by changes in temperature, and for M. ruber, precipitation also becomes important. Furthermore, M. ruber appears to have been more flexible to decreases in temperature that occurred in the past, which allowed it to expand its areas of environmental suitability, unlike M. keaysi, which decreased and concentrated these areas. However, despite a drastic decrease in the spatial area of environmental suitability of these species in the future, there are areas of potential climate stability that have been maintained since the Pleistocene, indicating where conservation efforts need to be concentrated in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forecasting climate change impacts on neotropical Myotis: Insights from ecological niche models for conservation strategies

de Oliveira,

Novaes,

Weber

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In this regard as it applies to the PPM, it would be instructive to reconsider approaches on the vulnerability to and causes and timing of extinction (e.g., Lessa & Fariña, 1996;Lessa et al, 1997;Cione et al, 2003Cione et al, , 2009Cione et al, , 2011Prado et al, 2015) in light of the keystone megafauna definition, and those on paleoecology (e.g., Fariña, 1996;Prevosti & Vizcaíno, 2006;Fariña et al 2014) in light of functional and apex megafauna. Paleoecology and extinction can be related topics and treated in the same article (e.g., Vizcaíno et al, 2012), or the research can be focused on other issues such as the fossil record (e.g., Marshall et al, 1984;Prado et al, 2021), biogeography or species distribution modeling (e.g., Varela et al, 2018;Araújo et al, 2021). In these cases, clarification of the criteria on which the term megafauna is based is warranted.…”

Section: The Concept Of Megafaunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Desafíos Conceptuales Para La Reconstrucción Paleoecológica De La Megafauna Pampeana Y Las Consecuencias De Su Extinción

Vizcaı́no

Bargo

Toledo

et al. 2023

PEAPA

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The Pleistocene Pampean Megafauna (PPM) may be considered as the assemblage consisting mainly of large mammals (i.e., bodymass ≥ 45 kg) that inhabited what is currently considered the Pampean Region during the Pleistocene and became extinct near the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. This contribution addresses several conceptual issues that may guide future efforts in its reconstruction and to consider potential consequences of its extinction. First, we approach the concept of megafauna by urging its explicit definition and contextualization in every investigation as a means of avoiding conceptual ambiguity. Second, we call attention to the risks of succumbing too readily to the temptation of employing a simplistic approach that assumes that extinct taxa had virtually the same biological requirements as those of their extant counterparts. We claim that within the PPM the abundance of taxa distantly related to or markedly distinct morphologically from their living counterparts poses significant challenges for understanding their paleobiology. Paleobiological interpretations need not be rigidly phylogenetically restricted, and phylogenetically based interpretations require critical assessment before their application. Third, we consider the paleoecology of the PPM from a metabolic perspective: as it was clearly dominated by allegedly hypometabolic megaherbivores (xenarthrans), there is no clear counterpart among living faunas. Fourth, we call attention to the fact that the loss of the PPM may have left in its wake an enduring but little-recognized legacy on the functioning of the contemporary ecosystem of the Pampean Region. Extinction of the PPM opened an enormous ecological chasm in the herbivore guild during the Holocene that persisted for about 6000 years, until it was filled, at least in part, by herds of cattle introduced since the sixteenth century.

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“…Indeed, it has been argued that the loss of prey species led to large predators going extinct in the Late Pleistocene [26,27]. Although the arrival of modern humans and/or climate change have been identified as the most likely ultimate causes of megafauna extinctions in the Late Pleistocene, vegetation change associated with human arrival and/or climate change has been identified as a pathway through which these ultimate causes could have triggered extinctions (i.e., via bottom-up trophic cascades) [28–31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sahul’s megafauna were vulnerable to plant-community changes due to their position in the trophic network

Llewelyn

Strona

McDowell

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Extinctions stemming from environmental change often trigger trophic cascades and coextinctions. However, it remains unclear whether trophic cascades were a large contributor to the megafauna extinctions that swept across several continents in the Late Pleistocene. The pathways to megafauna extinctions are particularly unclear for Sahul (landmass comprising Australia and New Guinea), where extinctions happened earlier than on other continents. We investigated the role of bottom-up trophic cascades in Late Pleistocene Sahul by constructing pre-extinction (~ 80 ka) trophic network models of the vertebrate community of Naracoorte, south-eastern Australia. These models allowed us to predict vertebrate species’ vulnerability to cascading extinctions based on their position in the network. We tested whether the observed extinctions could be explained by bottom-up cascades, or if they should be attributed to other external causes. Species that disappeared from the community were more vulnerable, overall, to bottom-up cascades than were species that survived. The position of extinct species in the network – having few or no predators – also suggests they might have been particularly vulnerable to a new predator. These results provide quantitative evidence that trophic cascades and naivety to predators could have contributed to the megafauna extinction event in Sahul.

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Species distribution modeling reveals the ecological niche of extinct megafauna from South America

Cited by 7 publications

References 54 publications

Forecasting climate change impacts on neotropical Myotis: Insights from ecological niche models for conservation strategies

Forecasting climate change impacts on neotropical Myotis: Insights from ecological niche models for conservation strategies

Desafíos Conceptuales Para La Reconstrucción Paleoecológica De La Megafauna Pampeana Y Las Consecuencias De Su Extinción

Sahul’s megafauna were vulnerable to plant-community changes due to their position in the trophic network

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