What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul?

Johnson, Christopher N.; Alroy, John; Beeton, Nicholas J.; Bird, Michael I.; Brook, Barry W.; Cooper, Alan; Gillespie, Richard; Herrando‐Pérez, Salvador; Jacobs, Zenobia; Miller, Gifford H.; Prideaux, Gavin J.; Roberts, Richard G.; Rodríguez-Rey, Marta; Saltré, Frédérik; Turney, Chris S. M.; Bradshaw, Corey J. A.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2399

Cited by 49 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(136 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…An abrupt increase in charcoal lags Sporormiella decline by ~100 years, and evidence for grasses and sclerophyll vegetation lags Sporormiella decline by ~300‐400 years (Johnson et al, ; Rule et al, ). The charcoal‐rich levels can be explained by natural lightning‐induced biomass burning as a result of fuel buildup triggered by herbivore extinction (Johnson et al, ; Rule et al, ). Off the southern coast of Western Australia, marine core MD03‐2614G records a sharp decline in Sporormiella in the 45‐ to 43‐ka interval, relative to values recorded back to 140 ka (Figures and ; van der Kaars et al, ).…”

Section: Late Quaternary Extinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A role for humans in the extinction of large animals in Australia remains popular (e.g., Brook & Johnson, ; Johnson et al, ; Miller et al, ; Turney et al, ; van der Kaars et al, ), although the arrival of humans in Australia (Sahul) may have predated the LQE at ~40 ka by ~25 kyr (Clarkson et al, ) but the arrival date is not unequivocal (O'Connell et al, ). There is no evidence for a spike in the human population in Australia at the time of the most prominent extinction event at ~40 ka, when the entire Australian human population may not have exceeded a few tens of thousands (Williams, ).…”

Section: Late Quaternary Extinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Role of Geomagnetic Field Intensity in Late Quaternary Evolution of Humans and Large Mammals

Channell

Vigliotti

2019

Reviews of Geophysics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It has long been speculated that biological evolution was influenced by ultraviolet radiation (UVR) reaching the Earth's surface, despite imprecise knowledge of the timing of both UVR flux and evolutionary events. The past strength of Earth's dipole field provides a proxy for UVR flux because of its role in maintaining stratospheric ozone. The timing of Quaternary evolutionary events has become better constrained by fossil finds, improved radiometric dating, use of dung fungi as proxies for herbivore populations, and improved ages for nodes in human phylogeny from human mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes. The demise of Neanderthals at ~41 ka can now be closely tied to the intensity minimum associated with the Laschamp magnetic excursion, and the survival of anatomically modern humans can be attributed to differences in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor that has a key role in the evolutionary response to UVR flux. Fossil occurrences and dung‐fungal proxies in Australia indicate that episodes of Late Quaternary extinction of mammalian megafauna occurred close to the Laschamp and Blake magnetic excursions. Fossil and dung fungal evidence for the age of the Late Quaternary extinction in North America (and Europe) coincide with a prominent decline in geomagnetic field intensity at ~13 ka. Over the last ~200 kyr, phylogeny based on mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes in modern humans yields nodes and bifurcations in evolution corresponding to geomagnetic intensity minima, which supports the proposition that UVR reaching Earth's surface influenced mammalian evolution with the loci of extinction controlled by the geometry of stratospheric ozone depletion.

show abstract

Section: Late Quaternary Extinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Late Quaternary Extinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Geomagnetic Field Intensity in Late Quaternary Evolution of Humans and Large Mammals

Channell

Vigliotti

2019

Reviews of Geophysics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Regarding extinctions and extirpations, research has focused on megafaunal disappearances across Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania during the last glacial maximum (LGM)), with debates surrounding the human agency of such changes (e.g. Johnson et al 2016;Saltré et al 2016). For Pleistocene New Ireland, Steadman et al (1999) noted bird taxa now absent on the Bismarcks and tentatively suggested human-driven extirpation.…”

Section: Transported Landscapes Of the Pacificmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…The cause of megafauna extinctions during the late Pleistocene to Holocene transition has been a topic of controversy, with either human activities or natural climatic shifts proposed, creating a distinct dichotomy1. However, direct evidence for either of these ancient phenomena has been overwhelmingly lacking in most of the tropical Asia-Pacific region2.…”

Section: Large Tortoise Distributions and Extinctions In The Pacificmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient tortoise hunting in the southwest Pacific

Hawkins

Worthy

Bedford

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report the unprecedented Lapita exploitation and subsequent extinction of large megafauna tortoises (?Meiolania damelipi) on tropical islands during the late Holocene over a 281,000 km2 region of the southwest Pacific spanning from the Vanuatu archipelago to Viti Levu in Fiji. Zooarchaeological analyses have identified seven early archaeological sites with the remains of this distinctive hornless tortoise, unlike the Gondwanan horned meiolaniid radiation to the southwest. These large tortoise radiations in the Pacific may have contributed to the rapid dispersal of early mobile Neolithic hunters throughout southwest Melanesia and on to western Polynesia. Subsequent rapid extinctions of these terrestrial herbivorous megafauna are likely to have led to significant changes in ecosystems that help explain changes in current archaeological patterns from Post-Lapita contexts in the region.

show abstract

What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul?

Cited by 49 publications

References 88 publications

The Role of Geomagnetic Field Intensity in Late Quaternary Evolution of Humans and Large Mammals

The Role of Geomagnetic Field Intensity in Late Quaternary Evolution of Humans and Large Mammals

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

Ancient tortoise hunting in the southwest Pacific

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About