1
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Fordham DA, Brown SC, Canteri E, Austin JJ, Lomolino MV, Haythorne S, Armstrong E, Bocherens H, Manica A, Rey-Iglesia A, Rahbek C, Nogués-Bravo D, Lorenzen ED. 52,000 years of woolly rhinoceros population dynamics reveal extinction mechanisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2316419121. [PMID: 38830089 PMCID: PMC11181021 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2316419121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The extinction of the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) at the onset of the Holocene remains an enigma, with conflicting evidence regarding its cause and spatiotemporal dynamics. This partly reflects challenges in determining demographic responses of late Quaternary megafauna to climatic and anthropogenic causal drivers with available genetic and paleontological techniques. Here, we show that elucidating mechanisms of ancient extinctions can benefit from a detailed understanding of fine-scale metapopulation dynamics, operating over many millennia. Using an abundant fossil record, ancient DNA, and high-resolution simulation models, we untangle the ecological mechanisms and causal drivers that are likely to have been integral in the decline and later extinction of the woolly rhinoceros. Our 52,000-y reconstruction of distribution-wide metapopulation dynamics supports a pathway to extinction that began long before the Holocene, when the combination of cooling temperatures and low but sustained hunting by humans trapped woolly rhinoceroses in suboptimal habitats along the southern edge of their range. Modeling indicates that this ecological trap intensified after the end of the last ice age, preventing colonization of newly formed suitable habitats, weakening stabilizing metapopulation processes, triggering the extinction of the woolly rhinoceros in the early Holocene. Our findings suggest that fragmentation and resultant metapopulation dynamics should be explicitly considered in explanations of late Quaternary megafauna extinctions, sending a clarion call to the fragility of the remaining large-bodied grazers restricted to disjunct fragments of poor-quality habitat due to anthropogenic environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien A. Fordham
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, AdelaideSA, 5005, Australia
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø2100, Denmark
- Center for Global Mountain Biodiversity, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø2100, Denmark
| | - Stuart C. Brown
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, AdelaideSA, 5005, Australia
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K1350, Denmark
| | - Elisabetta Canteri
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, AdelaideSA, 5005, Australia
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø2100, Denmark
| | - Jeremy J. Austin
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, AdelaideSA, 5005, Australia
| | - Mark V. Lomolino
- Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, College of Environmental Science, Syracuse, NY13210
| | - Sean Haythorne
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, AdelaideSA, 5005, Australia
- Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC3010, Australia
| | - Edward Armstrong
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FI-00014, Finland
| | - Hervé Bocherens
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Tübingen72074, Germany
- Department of Geosciences, Biogeology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen72074, Germany
| | - Andrea Manica
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, CB23EJCambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Alba Rey-Iglesia
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K1350, Denmark
| | - Carsten Rahbek
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø2100, Denmark
- Center for Global Mountain Biodiversity, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø2100, Denmark
- Institute of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M5230, Denmark
| | - David Nogués-Bravo
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø2100, Denmark
| | - Eline D. Lorenzen
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K1350, Denmark
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2
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Salles T, Joannes-Boyau R, Moffat I, Husson L, Lorcery M. Physiography, foraging mobility, and the first peopling of Sahul. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3430. [PMID: 38653772 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The route and speed of migration into Sahul by Homo sapiens remain a major research question in archaeology. Here, we introduce an approach which models the impact of the physical environment on human mobility by combining time-evolving landscapes with Lévy walk foraging patterns, this latter accounting for a combination of short-distance steps and occasional longer moves that hunter-gatherers likely utilised for efficient exploration of new environments. Our results suggest a wave of dispersal radiating across Sahul following riverine corridors and coastlines. Estimated migration speeds, based on archaeological sites and predicted travelled distances, fall within previously reported range from Sahul and other regions. From our mechanistic movement simulations, we then analyse the likelihood of archaeological sites and highlight areas in Australia that hold archaeological potential. Our approach complements existing methods and provides interesting perspectives on the Pleistocene archaeology of Sahul that could be applied to other regions around the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tristan Salles
- School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia
| | - Ian Moffat
- Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Laurent Husson
- ISTerre, CNRS, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Manon Lorcery
- School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- ISTerre, CNRS, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France
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3
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Williams JW, Spanbauer TL, Heintzman PD, Blois J, Capo E, Goring SJ, Monchamp ME, Parducci L, Von Eggers JM. Strengthening global-change science by integrating aeDNA with paleoecoinformatics. Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:946-960. [PMID: 37230884 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.04.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA) data are close to enabling insights into past global-scale biodiversity dynamics at unprecedented taxonomic extent and resolution. However, achieving this potential requires solutions that bridge bioinformatics and paleoecoinformatics. Essential needs include support for dynamic taxonomic inferences, dynamic age inferences, and precise stratigraphic depth. Moreover, aeDNA data are complex and heterogeneous, generated by dispersed researcher networks, with methods advancing rapidly. Hence, expert community governance and curation are essential to building high-value data resources. Immediate recommendations include uploading metabarcoding-based taxonomic inventories into paleoecoinformatic resources, building linkages among open bioinformatic and paleoecoinformatic data resources, harmonizing aeDNA processing workflows, and expanding community data governance. These advances will enable transformative insights into global-scale biodiversity dynamics during large environmental and anthropogenic changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W Williams
- Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53704, USA.
| | - Trisha L Spanbauer
- Department of Environmental Science and Lake Erie Center, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
| | - Peter D Heintzman
- The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-10691, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jessica Blois
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California -Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA
| | - Eric Capo
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Linnaeus väg 4-6, 907 36 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Simon J Goring
- Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53704, USA
| | | | - Laura Parducci
- Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy; Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jordan M Von Eggers
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
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4
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Prideaux GJ, Warburton NM. A review of the late Cenozoic genus Bohra (Diprotodontia: Macropodidae) and the evolution of tree-kangaroos. Zootaxa 2023; 5299:1-95. [PMID: 37518576 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5299.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Tree-kangaroos of the genus Dendrolagus occupy forest habitats of New Guinea and extreme northeastern Australia, but their evolutionary history is poorly known. Descriptions in the 2000s of near-complete Pleistocene skeletons belonging to larger-bodied species in the now-extinct genus Bohra broadened our understanding of morphological variation in the group and have since helped us to identify unassigned fossils in museum collections, as well as to reassign species previously placed in other genera. Here we describe these fossils and analyse tree-kangaroo systematics via comparative osteology. Including B. planei sp. nov., B. bandharr comb. nov. and B. bila comb. nov., we recognise the existence of at least seven late Cenozoic species of Bohra, with a maximum of three in any one assemblage. All tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagina subtribe nov.) exhibit skeletal adaptations reflective of greater joint flexibility and manoeuvrability, particularly in the hindlimb, compared with other macropodids. The Pliocene species of Bohra retained the stepped calcaneocuboid articulation characteristic of ground-dwelling macropodids, but this became smoothed to allow greater hindfoot rotation in the later species of Bohra and in Dendrolagus. Tree-kangaroo diversification may have been tied to the expansion of forest habitats in the early Pliocene. Following the onset of late Pliocene aridity, some tree-kangaroo species took advantage of the consequent spread of more open habitats, becoming among the largest late Cenozoic tree-dwellers on the continent. Arboreal Old World primates and late Quaternary lemurs may be the closest ecological analogues to the species of Bohra.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin J Prideaux
- College of Science & Engineering; Flinders University; Bedford Park; South Australia 5042; Australia.
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5
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Carmelet‐Rescan D, Morgan‐Richards M, Pattabiraman N, Trewick SA. Time-calibrated phylogeny and ecological niche models indicate Pliocene aridification drove intraspecific diversification of brushtail possums in Australia. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9633. [PMID: 36540081 PMCID: PMC9755819 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Major aridification events in Australia during the Pliocene may have had significant impact on the distribution and structure of widespread species. To explore the potential impact of Pliocene and Pleistocene climate oscillations, we estimated the timing of population fragmentation and past connectivity of the currently isolated but morphologically similar subspecies of the widespread brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). We use ecological niche modeling (ENM) with the current fragmented distribution of brushtail possums to estimate the environmental envelope of this marsupial. We projected the ENM on models of past climatic conditions in Australia to infer the potential distribution of brushtail possums over 6 million years. D-loop haplotypes were used to describe population structure. From shotgun sequencing, we assembled whole mitochondrial DNA genomes and estimated the timing of intraspecific divergence. Our projections of ENMs suggest current possum populations were unlikely to have been in contact during the Pleistocene. Although lowered sea level during glacial periods enabled connection with habitat in Tasmania, climate fluctuation during this time would not have facilitated gene flow over much of Australia. The most recent common ancestor of sampled intraspecific diversity dates to the early Pliocene when continental aridification caused significant changes to Australian ecology and Trichosurus vulpecula distribution was likely fragmented. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the subspecies T. v. hypoleucus (koomal; southwest), T. v. arnhemensis (langkurr; north), and T. v. vulpecula (bilda; southeast) correspond to distinct mitochondrial lineages. Despite little phenotypic differentiation, Trichosurus vulpecula populations probably experienced little gene flow with one another since the Pliocene, supporting the recognition of several subspecies and explaining their adaptations to the regional plant assemblages on which they feed.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Carmelet‐Rescan
- Wildlife and Ecology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Mary Morgan‐Richards
- Wildlife and Ecology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Nimeshika Pattabiraman
- Wildlife and Ecology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Steven A. Trewick
- Wildlife and Ecology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
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6
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Chinsamy A, Handley WD, Worthy TH. Osteohistology of
Dromornis stirtoni
(Aves: Dromornithidae) and the biological implications of the bone histology of the Australian mihirung birds. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ar.25047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anusuya Chinsamy
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Warren D. Handley
- Palaeontology Group, College of Science and Engineering Flinders University Adelaide South Australia Australia
| | - Trevor H. Worthy
- Palaeontology Group, College of Science and Engineering Flinders University Adelaide South Australia Australia
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7
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Liu J, Burgess KS, Ge X. Species pool size and rainfall account for the relationship between biodiversity and biomass production in natural forests of China. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8838. [PMID: 35475188 PMCID: PMC9022444 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2021] [Revised: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The strength of biodiversity–biomass production relationships increases with increasing environmental stress and time. However, we know little about the effects of abiotic (e.g., climate) and biotic (e.g., species pool and community composition) factors on this trend. Whether variation in biomass production is best explained by phylogenetic diversity metrics or traditional measures of species richness also remains elusive. We compiled estimates of community composition and biomass production for tree species in 111 permanent quadrats spanning three natural forests (tropical, subtropical, and temperate) in China. Based on ~10 years of data, we compared temperature, rainfall, species pool size, and community composition in each forest each year. We estimated species richness and phylogenetic diversity in each quadrat each year; the latter metric was based on the sum of branch lengths of a phylogeny that connects species in each quadrat each year. Using generalized linear mixed‐effect models, we found that top‐ranked models included the interaction between forest and biodiversity and the interaction between forest and year for both biodiversity metrics. Variation in biomass production was best explained by phylogenetic diversity; biomass production generally increased with phylogenetic diversity, and the relationship was stronger in subtropical and temperate forests. Increasing species pool size, temperature, and rainfall and decreasing inter‐quadrat dissimilarity range shifted the relationship between biomass production and phylogenetic diversity from positive to neutral. When considered alone, species pool size had the strongest influence on biomass production, while species pool size, rainfall, and their interaction with phylogenetic diversity constituted the top‐ranked model. Our study highlights the importance of species pool size and rainfall on the relationship between phylogenetic diversity and biomass production in natural forest ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia‐Jia Liu
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China
| | - Kevin S. Burgess
- Department of Biology Columbus State University, University System of Georgia Columbus Georgia USA
| | - Xue‐Jun Ge
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China
- Center of Conservation Biology Core Botanical Gardens Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China
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8
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May JH, May S, Marx S, Cohen T, Schuster M, Sims A. Towards understanding desert shorelines - coastal landforms and dynamics around ephemeral Lake Eyre North, South Australia. T ROY SOC SOUTH AUST 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/03721426.2022.2050506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jan-Hendrik May
- School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - S.M. May
- Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - S.K. Marx
- GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - T.J. Cohen
- GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - M. Schuster
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Terre et Environnement de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - A. Sims
- School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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9
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Maurin KJL, Smissen RD, Lusk CH. A dated phylogeny shows Plio-Pleistocene climates spurred evolution of antibrowsing defences in the New Zealand flora. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 233:546-554. [PMID: 34610149 PMCID: PMC9298021 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Some plant traits may be legacies of coevolution with extinct megafauna. One example is the convergent evolution of 'divaricate' cage architectures in many New Zealand lineages, interpreted as a response to recently extinct flightless avian browsers whose ancestors arrived during the Paleogene period. Although experiments have confirmed that divaricate habit deters extant browsers, its abundance on frosty, droughty sites appears consistent with an earlier interpretation as a response to cold, dry Plio-Pleistocene climates. We used 45 protein-coding sequences from plastid genomes to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the divaricate habit in extant New Zealand lineages. Our dated phylogeny of 215 species included 91% of New Zealand eudicot divaricate species. We show that 86% of extant divaricate plants diverged from non-divaricate sisters within the last 5 Ma, implicating Plio-Pleistocene climates in the proliferation of cage architectures in New Zealand. Our results, combined with other recent findings, are consistent with the synthetic hypothesis that the browser-deterrent effect of cage architectures was strongly selected only when Plio-Pleistocene climatic constraints prevented woody plants from growing quickly out of reach of browsers. This is consistent with the abundance of cage architectures in other regions where plant growth is restricted by aridity or short frost-free periods.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rob D. Smissen
- Allan HerbariumManaaki Whenua – Landcare ResearchLincoln7640New Zealand
| | - Christopher H. Lusk
- Environmental Research InstituteThe University of WaikatoHamilton3240New Zealand
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10
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Karp AT, Faith JT, Marlon JR, Staver AC. Global response of fire activity to late Quaternary grazer extinctions. Science 2021; 374:1145-1148. [PMID: 34822271 DOI: 10.1126/science.abj1580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
[Figure: see text].
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison T Karp
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.,Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.,Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | | | - A Carla Staver
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.,Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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11
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Abstract
Cooper et al. (Research Articles, 19 February 2021, p. 811) propose that a weakening geomagnetic field prior to the Laschamps Excursion explains megafaunal extinctions and human cultural changes that they claim happened 42,000 years ago. However, these authors misrepresent both the data and interpretations of cited work on extinctions and human cultural changes, so the specific claims they make about extinctions and cultural changes are false.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Hawks
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA, and Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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12
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Cooper A, Turney CSM, Palmer J, Hogg A, McGlone M, Wilmshurst J, Lorrey AM, Heaton TJ, Russell JM, McCracken K, Anet JG, Rozanov E, Friedel M, Suter I, Peter T, Muscheler R, Adolphi F, Dosseto A, Faith JT, Fenwick P, Fogwill CJ, Hughen K, Lipson M, Liu J, Nowaczyk N, Rainsley E, Bronk Ramsey C, Sebastianelli P, Souilmi Y, Stevenson J, Thomas Z, Tobler R, Zech R. Response to Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago". Science 2021; 374:eabi9756. [PMID: 34793203 DOI: 10.1126/science.abi9756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
[Figure: see text].
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Cooper
- South Australian Museum, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia, and BlueSky Genetics, P.O. Box 287, Adelaide, SA 5137, Australia
| | - Chris S M Turney
- Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility and Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Jonathan Palmer
- Chronos Carbon-Cycle Facility and Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Alan Hogg
- Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Matt McGlone
- Ecosystems and Conservation, Landcare Research, P.O. Box 69040, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - Janet Wilmshurst
- Ecosystems and Conservation, Landcare Research, P.O. Box 69040, Lincoln, New Zealand.,School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Andrew M Lorrey
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd., Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Timothy J Heaton
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK
| | - James M Russell
- Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | | | - Julien G Anet
- Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Centre for Aviation, Winterthur, Switzerland
| | - Eugene Rozanov
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climatic Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos and World Radiation Center, Davos, Switzerland.,Department of Physics of Earth, Faculty of Physics, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Marina Friedel
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climatic Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ivo Suter
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Peter
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climatic Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Raimund Muscheler
- Department of Geology, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Florian Adolphi
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Anthony Dosseto
- Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Laboratory, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah and Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
| | - Pavla Fenwick
- Gondwana Tree-Ring Laboratory, P.O. Box 14, Little River, Canterbury 7546, New Zealand
| | - Christopher J Fogwill
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire, UK
| | - Konrad Hughen
- Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | - Matthew Lipson
- Centre for Excellence in Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Jiabo Liu
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Norbert Nowaczyk
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 4.3, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Eleanor Rainsley
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire, UK
| | - Christopher Bronk Ramsey
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK
| | - Paolo Sebastianelli
- Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics (FAMAF), National University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina, and School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Yassine Souilmi
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Janelle Stevenson
- Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Zoe Thomas
- Chronos Carbon-Cycle Facility and Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Raymond Tobler
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Roland Zech
- Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany
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13
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Tian R, Han K, Geng Y, Yang C, Shi C, Thomas PB, Pearce C, Moffatt K, Ma S, Xu S, Yang G, Zhou X, Gladyshev VN, Liu X, Fisher DO, Chopin LK, Leiner NO, Baker AM, Fan G, Seim I. A chromosome-level genome of Antechinus flavipes provides a reference for an Australian marsupial genus with male death after mating. Mol Ecol Resour 2021; 22:740-754. [PMID: 34486812 PMCID: PMC9290055 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2021] [Revised: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The 15 species of small carnivorous marsupials that comprise the genus Antechinus exhibit semelparity, a rare life-history strategy in mammals where synchronized death occurs after one breeding season. Antechinus males, but not females, age rapidly (demonstrate organismal senescence) during the breeding season and show promise as new animal models of ageing. Some antechinus species are also threatened or endangered. Here, we report a chromosome-level genome of a male yellow-footed antechinus Antechinus flavipes. The genome assembly has a total length of 3.2 Gb with a contig N50 of 51.8 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 636.7 Mb. We anchored and oriented 99.7% of the assembly on seven pseudochromosomes and found that repetitive DNA sequences occupy 51.8% of the genome. Draft genome assemblies of three related species in the subfamily Phascogalinae, two additional antechinus species (Antechinus argentus and A. arktos) and the iteroparous sister species Murexia melanurus, were also generated. Preliminary demographic analysis supports the hypothesis that climate change during the Pleistocene isolated species in Phascogalinae and shaped their population size. A transcriptomic profile across the A. flavipes breeding season allowed us to identify genes associated with aspects of the male die-off. The chromosome-level A. flavipes genome provides a steppingstone to understanding an enigmatic life-history strategy and a resource to assist the conservation of antechinuses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran Tian
- Integrative Biology Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.,Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Kai Han
- BGI-Qingdao, BGI-Shenzhen, Qingdao, China
| | - Yuepan Geng
- Integrative Biology Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chen Yang
- Integrative Biology Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | | | - Patrick B Thomas
- Ghrelin Research Group, Translational Research Institute-Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre-Queensland, Translational Research Institute - Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Queensland Bladder Cancer Initiative, Translational Research Institute-Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia
| | - Coral Pearce
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Kate Moffatt
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Siming Ma
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore
| | - Shixia Xu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Guang Yang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xuming Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Vadim N Gladyshev
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Xin Liu
- BGI-Qingdao, BGI-Shenzhen, Qingdao, China
| | - Diana O Fisher
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Lisa K Chopin
- Ghrelin Research Group, Translational Research Institute-Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre-Queensland, Translational Research Institute - Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Natália O Leiner
- Laboratório de Ecologia de Mamíferos, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil
| | - Andrew M Baker
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Natural Environments Program, Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Guangyi Fan
- BGI-Qingdao, BGI-Shenzhen, Qingdao, China.,State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.,State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
| | - Inge Seim
- Integrative Biology Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.,Ghrelin Research Group, Translational Research Institute-Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre-Queensland, Translational Research Institute - Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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14
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Abstract
Extinction of species has been a recurrent phenomenon in the history of our planet, but it was generally outweighed in the course of quite a long geological time by the appearance of new species, except, especially, for the five geologically short times when the so-called “Big Five” mass extinctions occurred. Could the current decline in biodiversity be considered as a signal of an ongoing, human-driven sixth mass extinction? This note briefly examines some issues related to: (i) The hypothesized current extinction rate and the magnitude of contemporary global biodiversity loss; (ii) the challenges of comparing them to the background extinction rate and the magnitude of the past Big Five mass extinction events; (iii) briefly considering the effects of the main anthropogenic stressors on ecosystems, including the risk of the emergence of pandemic diseases. A comparison between the Pleistocene fauna dynamics with the present defaunation process and the cascading effects of recent anthropogenic actions on ecosystem structure and functioning suggests that habitat degradation, ecosystem fragmentation, and alien species introduction are important stressors increasing the negative impact on biodiversity exerted by anthropogenic-driven climate changes and their connected effects. In addition, anthropogenic ecological stressors such as urbanization, landscapes, and wildlife trade, creating new opportunities for virus transmission by augmenting human contact with wild species, are among the main factors triggering pandemic diseases.
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15
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Dussex N, Bergfeldt N, de Anca Prado V, Dehasque M, Díez-Del-Molino D, Ersmark E, Kanellidou F, Larsson P, Lemež Š, Lord E, Mármol-Sánchez E, Meleg IN, Måsviken J, Naidoo T, Studerus J, Vicente M, von Seth J, Götherström A, Dalén L, Heintzman PD. Integrating multi-taxon palaeogenomes and sedimentary ancient DNA to study past ecosystem dynamics. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211252. [PMID: 34428961 PMCID: PMC8385357 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Ancient DNA (aDNA) has played a major role in our understanding of the past. Important advances in the sequencing and analysis of aDNA from a range of organisms have enabled a detailed understanding of processes such as past demography, introgression, domestication, adaptation and speciation. However, to date and with the notable exception of microbiomes and sediments, most aDNA studies have focused on single taxa or taxonomic groups, making the study of changes at the community level challenging. This is rather surprising because current sequencing and analytical approaches allow us to obtain and analyse aDNA from multiple source materials. When combined, these data can enable the simultaneous study of multiple taxa through space and time, and could thus provide a more comprehensive understanding of ecosystem-wide changes. It is therefore timely to develop an integrative approach to aDNA studies by combining data from multiple taxa and substrates. In this review, we discuss the various applications, associated challenges and future prospects of such an approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Dussex
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nora Bergfeldt
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Marianne Dehasque
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - David Díez-Del-Molino
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Erik Ersmark
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Foteini Kanellidou
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Petter Larsson
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Špela Lemež
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Edana Lord
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Emilio Mármol-Sánchez
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ioana N Meleg
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.,'Emil Racoviță' Institute of Speleology of the Romanian Academy, Calea 13 Septembrie, nr. 13, 050711, Sector 5, Bucharest, Romania.,Emil. G. Racoviță Institute, Babeș-Bolyai University, Clinicilor 5-7, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Johannes Måsviken
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Thijessen Naidoo
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Ancient DNA Unit, SciLifeLab, Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jovanka Studerus
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mário Vicente
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Johanna von Seth
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Anders Götherström
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Love Dalén
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius väg 20C, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Peter D Heintzman
- The Arctic University Museum of Norway, The Arctic University of Norway, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
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16
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Croft DB, Witte I. The Perils of Being Populous: Control and Conservation of Abundant Kangaroo Species. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11061753. [PMID: 34208227 PMCID: PMC8230889 DOI: 10.3390/ani11061753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Australia's first people managed landscapes for kangaroo species as important elements of their diet, accoutrements and ceremony. This developed and persisted for about 65,000 years. The second wave of colonists from the United Kingdom, Ireland and many subsequent countries introduced familiar domesticated livestock and they have imposed their agricultural practices on the same landscapes since 1788. This heralded an ongoing era of management of kangaroos that are perceived as competitors to livestock and unwanted consumers of crops. Even so, a kangaroo image remains the iconic identifier of Australia. Kangaroo management is shrouded in dogma and propaganda and creates a tension along a loose rural-city divide. This divide is further dissected by the promotion of the consumption of kangaroo products as an ecological good marred by valid concerns about hygiene and animal welfare. In the last decade, the fervour to suppress and micro-manage populations of some kangaroo species has mounted. This includes suppression within protected areas that have generally been considered as safe havens. This review explores these tensions between the conservation of iconic and yet abundant wildlife, and conflict with people and the various interfaces at which they meet kangaroos.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Benjamin Croft
- School of Biological Earth & Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
- Correspondence:
| | - Ingrid Witte
- Rooseach@Rootourism, Adelaide River, NT 0846, Australia;
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17
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Histovariability and Palaeobiological Implications of the Bone Histology of the Dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni. DIVERSITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/d13050219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The bone microstructure of extinct animals provides a host of information about their biology. Although the giant flightless dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni, is reasonably well known from the Pleistocene of Australia (until its extinction about 50–40 Ka), aside from various aspects of its skeletal anatomy and taxonomy, not much is known about its biology. The current study investigated the histology of fifteen long bones of Genyornis (tibiotarsi, tarsometatarsi and femora) to deduce information about its growth dynamics and life history. Thin sections of the bones were prepared using standard methods, and the histology of the bones was studied under normal and polarised light microscopy. Our histological analyses showed that Genyornis took more than a single year to reach sexual maturity, and that it continued to deposit bone within the OCL for several years thereafter until skeletal maturity was attained. Thus, sexual maturity and skeletal maturity were asynchronous, with the former preceding the latter. Our results further indicated that Genyornis responded to prevailing environmental conditions, which suggests that it retained a plesiomorphic, flexible growth strategy. Additionally, our analyses of the three long bones showed that the tibiotarsus preserved the best record of growth for Genyornis.
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18
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Bradshaw CJ, Johnson CN, Llewelyn J, Weisbecker V, Strona G, Saltré F. Relative demographic susceptibility does not explain the extinction chronology of Sahul's megafauna. eLife 2021; 10:63870. [PMID: 33783356 PMCID: PMC8043753 DOI: 10.7554/elife.63870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The causes of Sahul’s megafauna extinctions remain uncertain, although several interacting factors were likely responsible. To examine the relative support for hypotheses regarding plausible ecological mechanisms underlying these extinctions, we constructed the first stochastic, age-structured models for 13 extinct megafauna species from five functional/taxonomic groups, as well as 8 extant species within these groups for comparison. Perturbing specific demographic rates individually, we tested which species were more demographically susceptible to extinction, and then compared these relative sensitivities to the fossil-derived extinction chronology. Our models show that the macropodiformes were the least demographically susceptible to extinction, followed by carnivores, monotremes, vombatiform herbivores, and large birds. Five of the eight extant species were as or more susceptible than the extinct species. There was no clear relationship between extinction susceptibility and the extinction chronology for any perturbation scenario, while body mass and generation length explained much of the variation in relative risk. Our results reveal that the actual mechanisms leading to the observed extinction chronology were unlikely related to variation in demographic susceptibility per se, but were possibly driven instead by finer-scale variation in climate change and/or human prey choice and relative hunting success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corey Ja Bradshaw
- Global Ecology Partuyarta Ngadluku Wardli Kuu, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tarndanya (Adelaide), Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Christopher N Johnson
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, Australia.,Dynamics of Eco-Evolutionary Pattern, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - John Llewelyn
- Global Ecology Partuyarta Ngadluku Wardli Kuu, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tarndanya (Adelaide), Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Vera Weisbecker
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, Australia.,College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Giovanni Strona
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Frédérik Saltré
- Global Ecology Partuyarta Ngadluku Wardli Kuu, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tarndanya (Adelaide), Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, Australia
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19
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Endocranial Anatomy of the Giant Extinct Australian Mihirung Birds (Aves, Dromornithidae). DIVERSITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/d13030124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Dromornithids are an extinct group of large flightless birds from the Cenozoic of Australia. Their record extends from the Eocene to the late Pleistocene. Four genera and eight species are currently recognised, with diversity highest in the Miocene. Dromornithids were once considered ratites, but since the discovery of cranial elements, phylogenetic analyses have placed them near the base of the anseriforms or, most recently, resolved them as stem galliforms. In this study, we use morphometric methods to comprehensively describe dromornithid endocranial morphology for the first time, comparing Ilbandornis woodburnei and three species of Dromornis to one another and to four species of extant basal galloanseres. We reveal that major endocranial reconfiguration was associated with cranial foreshortening in a temporal series along the Dromornis lineage. Five key differences are evident between the brain morphology of Ilbandornis and Dromornis, relating to the medial wulst, the ventral eminence of the caudoventral telencephalon, and morphology of the metencephalon (cerebellum + pons). Additionally, dromornithid brains display distinctive dorsal (rostral position of the wulst), and ventral morphology (form of the maxillomandibular [V2+V3], glossopharyngeal [IX], and vagus [X] cranial nerves), supporting hypotheses that dromornithids are more closely related to basal galliforms than anseriforms. Functional interpretations suggest that dromornithids were specialised herbivores that likely possessed well-developed stereoscopic depth perception, were diurnal and targeted a soft browse trophic niche.
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20
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Ben-Dor M, Sirtoli R, Barkai R. The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175 Suppl 72:27-56. [PMID: 33675083 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miki Ben-Dor
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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21
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Cooper A, Turney CSM, Palmer J, Hogg A, McGlone M, Wilmshurst J, Lorrey AM, Heaton TJ, Russell JM, McCracken K, Anet JG, Rozanov E, Friedel M, Suter I, Peter T, Muscheler R, Adolphi F, Dosseto A, Faith JT, Fenwick P, Fogwill CJ, Hughen K, Lipson M, Liu J, Nowaczyk N, Rainsley E, Bronk Ramsey C, Sebastianelli P, Souilmi Y, Stevenson J, Thomas Z, Tobler R, Zech R. A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago. Science 2021; 371:811-818. [PMID: 33602851 DOI: 10.1126/science.abb8677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth's magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion [41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka)]. We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Cooper
- South Australian Museum, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. .,BlueSky Genetics, PO Box 287, Adelaide, SA 5137, Australia
| | - Chris S M Turney
- Chronos Carbon-Cycle Facility, and Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
| | - Jonathan Palmer
- Chronos Carbon-Cycle Facility, and Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Alan Hogg
- Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Matt McGlone
- Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - Janet Wilmshurst
- Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln, New Zealand.,School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Andrew M Lorrey
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Timothy J Heaton
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK
| | - James M Russell
- Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Ken McCracken
- University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Julien G Anet
- Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Centre for Aviation, 8401 Winterthur, Switzerland
| | - Eugene Rozanov
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climatic Science, ETH Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland.,Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos and World Radiation Center, 7260 Davos, Switzerland.,Department of Physics of Earth, Faculty of Physics, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 198504, Russia
| | - Marina Friedel
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climatic Science, ETH Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ivo Suter
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Peter
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climatic Science, ETH Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Raimund Muscheler
- Department of Geology, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, 22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Florian Adolphi
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Anthony Dosseto
- Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Laboratory, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah and Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
| | - Pavla Fenwick
- Gondwana Tree-Ring Laboratory, PO Box 14, Little River, Canterbury 7546, New Zealand
| | - Christopher J Fogwill
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK
| | - Konrad Hughen
- Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | - Mathew Lipson
- Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Jiabo Liu
- Southern University of Science and Technology, Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Norbert Nowaczyk
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 4.3, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Eleanor Rainsley
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK
| | - Christopher Bronk Ramsey
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, OX1 3TG, UK
| | - Paolo Sebastianelli
- Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics (FAMAF), National University of Cordoba, X5000HUA, Argentina
| | - Yassine Souilmi
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Janelle Stevenson
- Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.,Australia ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Australian National University, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Zoë Thomas
- Chronos Carbon-Cycle Facility, and Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Raymond Tobler
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Roland Zech
- Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
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22
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Herrando-Pérez S. Bone need not remain an elephant in the room for radiocarbon dating. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:201351. [PMID: 33614076 PMCID: PMC7890471 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Radiocarbon (14C) analysis of skeletal remains by accelerator mass spectrometry is an essential tool in multiple branches of science. However, bone 14C dating results can be inconsistent and not comparable due to disparate laboratory pretreatment protocols that remove contamination. And, pretreatments are rarely discussed or reported by end-users, making it an 'elephant in the room' for Quaternary scientists. Through a questionnaire survey, I quantified consensus on the reliability of collagen pretreatments for 14C dating across 132 experts (25 countries). I discovered that while more than 95% of the audience was wary of contamination and would avoid gelatinization alone (minimum pretreatment used by most 14C facilities), 52% asked laboratories to choose the pretreatment method for them, and 58% could not rank the reliability of at least one pretreatment. Ultrafiltration was highly popular, and purification by XAD resins seemed restricted to American researchers. Isolating and dating the amino acid hydroxyproline was perceived as the most reliable pretreatment, but is expensive, time-consuming and not widely available. Solid evidence supports that only molecular-level dating accommodates all known bone contaminants and guarantees complete removal of humic and fulvic acids and conservation substances, with three key areas of progress: (i) innovation and more funded research is required to develop affordable analytical chemistry that can handle low-mass samples of collagen amino acids, (ii) a certification agency overseeing dating-quality control is needed to enhance methodological reproducibility and dating accuracy among laboratories, and (iii) more cross-disciplinary work with better 14C reporting etiquette will promote the integration of 14C dating across disciplines. Those developments could conclude long-standing debates based on low-accuracy data used to build chronologies for animal domestications, human/megafauna extirpations and migrations, archaeology, palaeoecology, palaeontology and palaeoclimate models.
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23
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Fordham DA, Jackson ST, Brown SC, Huntley B, Brook BW, Dahl-Jensen D, Gilbert MTP, Otto-Bliesner BL, Svensson A, Theodoridis S, Wilmshurst JM, Buettel JC, Canteri E, McDowell M, Orlando L, Pilowsky J, Rahbek C, Nogues-Bravo D. Using paleo-archives to safeguard biodiversity under climate change. Science 2020; 369:369/6507/eabc5654. [PMID: 32855310 DOI: 10.1126/science.abc5654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Strategies for 21st-century environmental management and conservation under global change require a strong understanding of the biological mechanisms that mediate responses to climate- and human-driven change to successfully mitigate range contractions, extinctions, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Biodiversity responses to past rapid warming events can be followed in situ and over extended periods, using cross-disciplinary approaches that provide cost-effective and scalable information for species' conservation and the maintenance of resilient ecosystems in many bioregions. Beyond the intrinsic knowledge gain such integrative research will increasingly provide the context, tools, and relevant case studies to assist in mitigating climate-driven biodiversity losses in the 21st century and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien A Fordham
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. .,Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
| | - Stephen T Jackson
- Southwest and South Central Climate Adaptation Science Centers, U.S. Geological Survey, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.,Department of Geosciences and School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Stuart C Brown
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Brian Huntley
- Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Barry W Brook
- School of Natural Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - Dorthe Dahl-Jensen
- Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark.,Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - M Thomas P Gilbert
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark.,University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Bette L Otto-Bliesner
- Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
| | - Anders Svensson
- Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
| | - Spyros Theodoridis
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
| | - Janet M Wilmshurst
- Long-Term Ecology Laboratory, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand.,School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Jessie C Buettel
- School of Natural Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - Elisabetta Canteri
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.,Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
| | - Matthew McDowell
- School of Natural Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - Ludovic Orlando
- Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, France.,Section for GeoGenetics, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
| | - Julia Pilowsky
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.,Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
| | - Carsten Rahbek
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark.,Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK.,Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.,Institute of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - David Nogues-Bravo
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark
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24
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Andermann T, Faurby S, Turvey ST, Antonelli A, Silvestro D. The past and future human impact on mammalian diversity. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/36/eabb2313. [PMID: 32917612 PMCID: PMC7473673 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb2313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Accepted: 07/16/2020] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
To understand the current biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to determine how humans have affected biodiversity in the past. However, the extent of human involvement in species extinctions from the Late Pleistocene onward remains contentious. Here, we apply Bayesian models to the fossil record to estimate how mammalian extinction rates have changed over the past 126,000 years, inferring specific times of rate increases. We specifically test the hypothesis of human-caused extinctions by using posterior predictive methods. We find that human population size is able to predict past extinctions with 96% accuracy. Predictors based on past climate, in contrast, perform no better than expected by chance, suggesting that climate had a negligible impact on global mammal extinctions. Based on current trends, we predict for the near future a rate escalation of unprecedented magnitude. Our results provide a comprehensive assessment of the human impact on past and predicted future extinctions of mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Andermann
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Søren Faurby
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Samuel T Turvey
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK
| | - Alexandre Antonelli
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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25
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Seersholm FV, Werndly DJ, Grealy A, Johnson T, Keenan Early EM, Lundelius EL, Winsborough B, Farr GE, Toomey R, Hansen AJ, Shapiro B, Waters MR, McDonald G, Linderholm A, Stafford TW, Bunce M. Rapid range shifts and megafaunal extinctions associated with late Pleistocene climate change. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2770. [PMID: 32488006 PMCID: PMC7265304 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16502-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2019] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Large-scale changes in global climate at the end of the Pleistocene significantly impacted ecosystems across North America. However, the pace and scale of biotic turnover in response to both the Younger Dryas cold period and subsequent Holocene rapid warming have been challenging to assess because of the scarcity of well dated fossil and pollen records that covers this period. Here we present an ancient DNA record from Hall’s Cave, Texas, that documents 100 vertebrate and 45 plant taxa from bulk fossils and sediment. We show that local plant and animal diversity dropped markedly during Younger Dryas cooling, but while plant diversity recovered in the early Holocene, animal diversity did not. Instead, five extant and nine extinct large bodied animals disappeared from the region at the end of the Pleistocene. Our findings suggest that climate change affected the local ecosystem in Texas over the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, but climate change on its own may not explain the disappearance of the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene. The impact of late Pleistocene climate change on ecosystems has been hard to assess. Here, the authors sequence ancient DNA from Hall’s Cave, Texas and find that both plant and vertebrate diversity decreased with cooling, and though plant diversity recovered with rewarming, megafauna went extinct.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederik V Seersholm
- Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia.
| | - Daniel J Werndly
- Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia
| | - Alicia Grealy
- Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia.,Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, ANU College of Science The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia
| | - Taryn Johnson
- Bioarchaeology and Genomics Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Erin M Keenan Early
- Department of Geosciences, Jackson School of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Ernest L Lundelius
- Department of Geosciences, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory, Jackson School of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Barbara Winsborough
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.,Winsborough Consulting, Leander, TX, 78641, USA
| | - Grayal Earle Farr
- Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32310, USA
| | - Rickard Toomey
- Mammoth Cave National Park, PO Box 7, Mammoth Cave, KY, 42259, USA
| | - Anders J Hansen
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-1350, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Beth Shapiro
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA
| | - Michael R Waters
- Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4352, USA
| | - Gregory McDonald
- Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT, 84101-1345, USA
| | - Anna Linderholm
- Bioarchaeology and Genomics Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | | | - Michael Bunce
- Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia.
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26
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Hocknull SA, Lewis R, Arnold LJ, Pietsch T, Joannes-Boyau R, Price GJ, Moss P, Wood R, Dosseto A, Louys J, Olley J, Lawrence RA. Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2250. [PMID: 32418985 PMCID: PMC7231803 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15785-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Explanations for the Upper Pleistocene extinction of megafauna from Sahul (Australia and New Guinea) remain unresolved. Extinction hypotheses have advanced climate or human-driven scenarios, in spite of over three quarters of Sahul lacking reliable biogeographic or chronologic data. Here we present new megafauna from north-eastern Australia that suffered extinction sometime after 40,100 (±1700) years ago. Megafauna fossils preserved alongside leaves, seeds, pollen and insects, indicate a sclerophyllous forest with heathy understorey that was home to aquatic and terrestrial carnivorous reptiles and megaherbivores, including the world’s largest kangaroo. Megafauna species diversity is greater compared to southern sites of similar age, which is contrary to expectations if extinctions followed proposed migration routes for people across Sahul. Our results do not support rapid or synchronous human-mediated continental-wide extinction, or the proposed timing of peak extinction events. Instead, megafauna extinctions coincide with regionally staggered spatio-temporal deterioration in hydroclimate coupled with sustained environmental change. The causes of the Upper Pleistocene megafauna extinction in Australia and New Guinea are debated, but fossil data are lacking for much of this region. Here, Hocknull and colleagues report a new, diverse megafauna assemblage from north-eastern Australia that persisted until ~40,000 years ago.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott A Hocknull
- Geosciences, Queensland Museum, 122 Gerler Rd., Hendra, QLD, 4011, Australia. .,School of BioSciences, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.
| | - Richard Lewis
- School of Physical Sciences, Environment Institute, and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
| | - Lee J Arnold
- School of Physical Sciences, Environment Institute, and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
| | - Tim Pietsch
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, 4122, Australia
| | - Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group, Southern Cross GeoScience, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, 2480, Australia
| | - Gilbert J Price
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Patrick Moss
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Rachel Wood
- Radiocarbon Facility, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Building 142 Mills Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.,School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Building 44, Daley Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
| | - Anthony Dosseto
- Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Laboratory, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
| | - Julien Louys
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, QLD, 4122, Australia
| | - Jon Olley
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, 4122, Australia
| | - Rochelle A Lawrence
- Geosciences, Queensland Museum, 122 Gerler Rd., Hendra, QLD, 4011, Australia
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27
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Thulin CG, Röcklinsberg H. Ethical Considerations for Wildlife Reintroductions and Rewilding. Front Vet Sci 2020; 7:163. [PMID: 32318586 PMCID: PMC7146822 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2018] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The recovery of many populations of large carnivores and herbivores in major parts of Europe and North America offers ecosystem services and opportunities for sustainable utilization of wildlife. Examples of services are hunting, meat, and skin, along with less invasive utilization such as ecotourism and wildlife spotting. An increasing number of studies also point out the ecosystem function, landscape engineering, and cascading effects of wildlife as values for human existence, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem resilience. Within this framework, the concept of rewilding has emerged as a means to add to the wilderness through either supplementary release of wildlife species already present or reintroduction of species formerly present in a certain area. The latter involves translocation of species from other geographical areas, releases from captivity, feralization, retro-breeding, or de-domestication of breeds for which the wild ancestor is extinct. While all these initiatives aim to reverse some of the negative human impacts on life on earth, some pose challenges such as conflicts of interest between humans and wildlife in, for example, forestry, agriculture, traffic, or disease dynamics (e.g., zoonosis). There are also welfare aspects when managing wildlife populations with the purpose to serve humans or act as tools in landscape engineering. These welfare aspects are particularly apparent when it comes to releases of animals handled by humans, either from captivity or translocated from other geographical areas. An ethical values clash is that translocation can involve suffering of the actual individual, while also contributing to reintroduction of species and reestablishment of ecological functions. This paper describes wildlife recovery in Europe and North America and elaborates on ethical considerations raised by the use of wildlife for different purposes, in order to find ways forward that are acceptable to both the animals and humans involved. The reintroduction ethics aspects raised are finally formulated in 10 guidelines suggested for management efforts aimed at translocating wildlife or reestablishing wilderness areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl-Gustaf Thulin
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Helena Röcklinsberg
- Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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28
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Fenderson LE, Kovach AI, Llamas B. Spatiotemporal landscape genetics: Investigating ecology and evolution through space and time. Mol Ecol 2019; 29:218-246. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.15315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Revised: 09/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey E. Fenderson
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA School of Biological Sciences Environment Institute University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia Australia
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
| | - Adrienne I. Kovach
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
| | - Bastien Llamas
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA School of Biological Sciences Environment Institute University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia Australia
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29
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Climate-human interaction associated with southeast Australian megafauna extinction patterns. Nat Commun 2019; 10:5311. [PMID: 31757942 PMCID: PMC6876570 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13277-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 10/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanisms leading to megafauna (>44 kg) extinctions in Late Pleistocene (126,000—12,000 years ago) Australia are highly contested because standard chronological analyses rely on scarce data of varying quality and ignore spatial complexity. Relevant archaeological and palaeontological records are most often also biased by differential preservation resulting in under-representated older events. Chronological analyses have attributed megafaunal extinctions to climate change, humans, or a combination of the two, but rarely consider spatial variation in extinction patterns, initial human appearance trajectories, and palaeoclimate change together. Here we develop a statistical approach to infer spatio-temporal trajectories of megafauna extirpations (local extinctions) and initial human appearance in south-eastern Australia. We identify a combined climate-human effect on regional extirpation patterns suggesting that small, mobile Aboriginal populations potentially needed access to drinkable water to survive arid ecosystems, but were simultaneously constrained by climate-dependent net landscape primary productivity. Thus, the co-drivers of megafauna extirpations were themselves constrained by the spatial distribution of climate-dependent water sources. Whether Australia’s Pleistocene megafauna extinctions were caused by climate change, humans, or both is debated. Here, the authors infer the spatio-temporal trajectories of regional extinctions and find that water availability mediates the relationship among climate, human migration and megafauna extinctions.
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30
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Peters KJ, Saltré F, Friedrich T, Jacobs Z, Wood R, McDowell M, Ulm S, Bradshaw CJA. FosSahul 2.0, an updated database for the Late Quaternary fossil records of Sahul. Sci Data 2019; 6:272. [PMID: 31745083 PMCID: PMC6864098 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0267-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 10/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The 2016 version of the FosSahul database compiled non-human vertebrate megafauna fossil ages from Sahul published up to 2013 in a standardized format. Its purpose was to create a publicly available, centralized, and comprehensive database for palaeoecological investigations of the continent. Such databases require regular updates and improvements to reflect recent scientific findings. Here we present an updated FosSahul (2.0) containing 11,871 dated non-human vertebrate fossil records from the Late Quaternary published up to 2018. Furthermore, we have extended the information captured in the database to include methodological details and have developed an algorithm to automate the quality-rating process. The algorithm makes the quality-rating more transparent and easier to reproduce, facilitating future database extensions and dissemination. FosSahul has already enabled several palaeoecological analyses, and its updated version will continue to provide a centralized organisation of Sahul's fossil records. As an example of an application of the database, we present the temporal pattern in megafauna genus richness inferred from available data in relation to palaeoclimate indices over the past 180,000 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina J Peters
- Global Ecology Lab, College of Science and Engineering and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.
| | - Frédérik Saltré
- Global Ecology Lab, College of Science and Engineering and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia
| | - Tobias Friedrich
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
| | - Zenobia Jacobs
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Rachel Wood
- Radiocarbon Facility, Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
| | - Matthew McDowell
- Dynamics of Eco-Evolutionary Patterns and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, 7001, Australia
| | - Sean Ulm
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland, 4870, Australia
| | - Corey J A Bradshaw
- Global Ecology Lab, College of Science and Engineering and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia
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31
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Swift JA, Bunce M, Dortch J, Douglass K, Faith JT, Fellows Yates JA, Field J, Haberle SG, Jacob E, Johnson CN, Lindsey E, Lorenzen ED, Louys J, Miller G, Mychajliw AM, Slon V, Villavicencio NA, Waters MR, Welker F, Wood R, Petraglia M, Boivin N, Roberts P. Micro Methods for Megafauna: Novel Approaches to Late Quaternary Extinctions and Their Contributions to Faunal Conservation in the Anthropocene. Bioscience 2019; 69:877-887. [PMID: 31719710 PMCID: PMC6829010 DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biz105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Drivers of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions are relevant to modern conservation policy in a world of growing human population density, climate change, and faunal decline. Traditional debates tend toward global solutions, blaming either dramatic climate change or dispersals of Homo sapiens to new regions. Inherent limitations to archaeological and paleontological data sets often require reliance on scant, poorly resolved lines of evidence. However, recent developments in scientific technologies allow for more local, context-specific approaches. In the present article, we highlight how developments in five such methodologies (radiocarbon approaches, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, ancient proteomics, microscopy) have helped drive detailed analysis of specific megafaunal species, their particular ecological settings, and responses to new competitors or predators, climate change, and other external phenomena. The detailed case studies of faunal community composition, extinction chronologies, and demographic trends enabled by these methods examine megafaunal extinctions at scales appropriate for practical understanding of threats against particular species in their habitats today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jillian A Swift
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Anthropology Department of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai’i
| | - Michael Bunce
- Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Joe Dortch
- Centre for Rock Art Research and Management, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
| | - Kristina Douglass
- Department of Anthropology and with the Institutes for Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah and with the Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
| | - James A Fellows Yates
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Judith Field
- School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Simon G Haberle
- College of Asia and the Pacific and the School of Culture, History, and Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence, Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Eileen Jacob
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, England
| | - Chris N Johnson
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence, Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Emily Lindsey
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, part of the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California
| | - Eline D Lorenzen
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Julien Louys
- Australian Research Center for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Gifford Miller
- INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder
| | - Alexis M Mychajliw
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, part of the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California
| | - Viviane Slon
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Natalia A Villavicencio
- Departamento de Ecología, in the Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Instituto de Ecología and Biodiversidad, Santiago, Chile
| | - Michael R Waters
- Center for the Study of the First Americans, the Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
| | - Frido Welker
- Evolutionary Genomics Section of the GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, and with the Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Rachel Wood
- Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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Abstract
The dispersal of anatomically modern human populations out of Africa and across much of the rest of the world around 55 to 50 thousand years before present (ka) is recorded genetically by the multiple hominin groups they met and interbred with along the way, including the Neandertals and Denisovans. The signatures of these introgression events remain preserved in the genomes of modern-day populations, and provide a powerful record of the sequence and timing of these early migrations, with Asia proving a particularly complex area. At least 3 different hominin groups appear to have been involved in Asia, of which only the Denisovans are currently known. Several interbreeding events are inferred to have taken place east of Wallace's Line, consistent with archaeological evidence of widespread and early hominin presence in the area. However, archaeological and fossil evidence indicates archaic hominins had not spread as far as the Sahul continent (New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania), where recent genetic evidence remains enigmatic.
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Bradshaw CJA, Ulm S, Williams AN, Bird MI, Roberts RG, Jacobs Z, Laviano F, Weyrich LS, Friedrich T, Norman K, Saltré F. Minimum founding populations for the first peopling of Sahul. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1057-1063. [PMID: 31209287 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0902-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The timing, context and nature of the first people to enter Sahul is still poorly understood owing to a fragmented archaeological record. However, quantifying the plausible demographic context of this founding population is essential to determine how and why the initial peopling of Sahul occurred. We developed a stochastic, age-structured model using demographic rates from hunter-gatherer societies, and relative carrying capacity hindcasted with LOVECLIM's net primary productivity for northern Sahul. We projected these populations to determine the resilience and minimum sizes required to avoid extinction. A census founding population of between 1,300 and 1,550 individuals was necessary to maintain a quasi-extinction threshold of ≲0.1. This minimum founding population could have arrived at a single point in time, or through multiple voyages of ≥130 people over ~700-900 years. This result shows that substantial population amalgamation in Sunda and Wallacea in Marine Isotope Stages 3-4 provided the conditions for the successful, large-scale and probably planned peopling of Sahul.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corey J A Bradshaw
- Global Ecology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. .,ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Sean Ulm
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Alan N Williams
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Extent Heritage Pty Ltd, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Michael I Bird
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Richard G Roberts
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Zenobia Jacobs
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Fiona Laviano
- Global Ecology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Laura S Weyrich
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Tobias Friedrich
- Department of Oceanography, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Kasih Norman
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Frédérik Saltré
- Global Ecology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
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Nield AP, Enright NJ, Ladd PG, Perry GLW. Detecting plant spatial pattern change after disperser loss: A simulation and a case study. POPUL ECOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/1438-390x.12006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P. Nield
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group Environment and Conservation Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch Western Australia Australia
| | - Neal J. Enright
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group Environment and Conservation Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch Western Australia Australia
| | - Philip G. Ladd
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group Environment and Conservation Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch Western Australia Australia
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35
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Wood JR, Wilmshurst JM. Comparing the effects of asynchronous herbivores on New Zealand montane vegetation communities. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0214959. [PMID: 30947249 PMCID: PMC6448933 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Large herbivores facilitate a range of important ecological processes yet globally have experienced high rates of decline and extinction over the past 50,000 years. To some extent this lost function may be replaced through the introduction of ecological surrogate taxa, either by active management or via historic introductions. However, comparing the ecological effects of herbivores that existed in the same location, but at different times, can be a challenging proposition. Here we provide an example from New Zealand that demonstrates an approach for making such comparisons. In New Zealand it has been suggested that post-19th Century mammal introductions (e.g. deer and hare) may have filled ecological niches left vacant after the 15th Century AD extinction of large avian herbivores (moa). We quantified pollen assemblages from fecal samples deposited by these two asynchronous herbivore communities to see whether they were comparable. The fecal samples were collected at the same location, and in a native-dominated vegetation community that has experience little anthropogenic disturbance and their contents reflect both the local habitat and diet preferences of the depositing herbivore. The results reveal that the current forest understory is relatively sparse and species depauperate compared to the prehistoric state, indicating that deer and moa had quite different impacts on the local vegetation community. The study provides an example of how combining coprolite and fecal analyses of prehistoric and modern herbivores may clarify the degree of ecological overlap between asynchronous herbivore communities and provide insights into the extent of ecological surrogacy provided by introduced taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie R. Wood
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Janet M. Wilmshurst
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand
- School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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36
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Mann DH, Groves P, Gaglioti BV, Shapiro BA. Climate-driven ecological stability as a globally shared cause of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions: the Plaids and Stripes Hypothesis. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 94:328-352. [PMID: 30136433 PMCID: PMC7379602 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2017] [Revised: 07/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Controversy persists about why so many large-bodied mammal species went extinct around the end of the last ice age. Resolving this is important for understanding extinction processes in general, for assessing the ecological roles of humans, and for conserving remaining megafaunal species, many of which are endangered today. Here we explore an integrative hypothesis that asserts that an underlying cause of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions was a fundamental shift in the spatio-temporal fabric of ecosystems worldwide. This shift was triggered by the loss of the millennial-scale climate fluctuations that were characteristic of the ice age but ceased approximately 11700 years ago on most continents. Under ice-age conditions, which prevailed for much of the preceding 2.6 Ma, these radical and rapid climate changes prevented many ecosystems from fully equilibrating with their contemporary climates. Instead of today's 'striped' world in which species' ranges have equilibrated with gradients of temperature, moisture, and seasonality, the ice-age world was a disequilibrial 'plaid' in which species' ranges shifted rapidly and repeatedly over time and space, rarely catching up with contemporary climate. In the transient ecosystems that resulted, certain physiological, anatomical, and ecological attributes shared by megafaunal species pre-adapted them for success. These traits included greater metabolic and locomotory efficiency, increased resistance to starvation, longer life spans, greater sensory ranges, and the ability to be nomadic or migratory. When the plaid world of the ice age ended, many of the advantages of being large were either lost or became disadvantages. For instance in a striped world, the low population densities and slow reproductive rates associated with large body size reduced the resiliency of megafaunal species to population bottlenecks. As the ice age ended, the downsides of being large in striped environments lowered the extinction thresholds of megafauna worldwide, which then increased the vulnerability of individual species to a variety of proximate threats they had previously tolerated, such as human predation, competition with other species, and habitat loss. For many megafaunal species, the plaid-to-stripes transition may have been near the base of a hierarchy of extinction causes whose relative importances varied geographically, temporally, and taxonomically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel H. Mann
- Department of Geosciences and Institute of Arctic BiologyUniversity of AlaskaFairbanksAK 99775USA
| | - Pamela Groves
- Institute of Arctic BiologyUniversity of AlaskaFairbanksAK 99775USA
| | | | - Beth A. Shapiro
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of CaliforniaSanta CruzCA 95064USA
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37
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White LC, Saltré F, Bradshaw CJA, Austin JJ. High-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, Late Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia. Biol Lett 2018; 14:rsbl.2017.0642. [PMID: 29343562 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2017] [Accepted: 12/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The last large marsupial carnivores-the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilis harrisii) and thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus)-went extinct on mainland Australia during the mid-Holocene. Based on the youngest fossil dates (approx. 3500 years before present, BP), these extinctions are often considered synchronous and driven by a common cause. However, many published devil dates have recently been rejected as unreliable, shifting the youngest mainland fossil age to 25 500 years BP and challenging the synchronous-extinction hypothesis. Here we provide 24 and 20 new ages for devils and thylacines, respectively, and collate existing, reliable radiocarbon dates by quality-filtering available records. We use this new dataset to estimate an extinction time for both species by applying the Gaussian-resampled, inverse-weighted McInerney (GRIWM) method. Our new data and analysis definitively support the synchronous-extinction hypothesis, estimating that the mainland devil and thylacine extinctions occurred between 3179 and 3227 years BP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren C White
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia .,Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Saxony, Germany
| | - Frédérik Saltré
- Global Ecology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia
| | - Corey J A Bradshaw
- Global Ecology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia
| | - Jeremy J Austin
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
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38
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Cascini M, Mitchell KJ, Cooper A, Phillips MJ. Reconstructing the Evolution of Giant Extinct Kangaroos: Comparing the Utility of DNA, Morphology, and Total Evidence. Syst Biol 2018; 68:520-537. [DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syy080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2018] [Revised: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Manuela Cascini
- School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, 2, George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
| | - Kieren J Mitchell
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Alan Cooper
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Matthew J Phillips
- School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, 2, George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
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39
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Price GJ, Louys J, Faith JT, Lorenzen E, Westaway MC. Big data little help in megafauna mysteries. Nature 2018; 558:23-25. [PMID: 29872205 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-018-05330-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
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40
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The spatio-temporal distribution of archaeological and faunal finds at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) in light of the revised chronology for Homo floresiensis. J Hum Evol 2018; 124:52-74. [PMID: 30173885 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2017] [Revised: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Liang Bua, the type site of Homo floresiensis, is a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Flores with sedimentary deposits currently known to range in age from about 190 thousand years (ka) ago to the present. Recent revision of the stratigraphy and chronology of this depositional sequence suggests that skeletal remains of H. floresiensis are between ∼100 and 60 ka old, while cultural evidence of this taxon occurs until ∼50 ka ago. Here we examine the compositions of the faunal communities and stone artifacts, by broad taxonomic groups and raw materials, throughout the ∼190 ka time interval preserved in the sequence. Major shifts are observed in both the faunal and stone artifact assemblages that reflect marked changes in paleoecology and hominin behavior, respectively. Our results suggest that H. floresiensis and Stegodon florensis insularis, along with giant marabou stork (Leptoptilos robustus) and vulture (Trigonoceps sp.), were likely extinct by ∼50 ka ago. Moreover, an abrupt and statistically significant shift in raw material preference due to an increased use of chert occurs ∼46 thousand calibrated radiocarbon (14C) years before present (ka cal. BP), a pattern that continues through the subsequent stratigraphic sequence. If an increased preference for chert does, in fact, characterize Homo sapiens assemblages at Liang Bua, as previous studies have suggested (e.g., Moore et al., 2009), then the shift observed here suggests that modern humans arrived on Flores by ∼46 ka cal. BP, which would be the earliest cultural evidence of modern humans in Indonesia.
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41
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Abstract
Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens, AMH) began spreading across Eurasia from Africa and adjacent Southwest Asia about 50,000-55,000 years ago (ca 50-55 ka). Some have argued that human genetic, fossil, and archaeological data indicate one or more prior dispersals, possibly as early as 120 ka. A recently reported age estimate of 65 ka for Madjedbebe, an archaeological site in northern Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea), if correct, offers what might be the strongest support yet presented for a pre-55-ka African AMH exodus. We review evidence for AMH arrival on an arc spanning South China through Sahul and then evaluate data from Madjedbebe. We find that an age estimate of >50 ka for this site is unlikely to be valid. While AMH may have moved far beyond Africa well before 50-55 ka, data from the region of interest offered in support of this idea are not compelling.
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42
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Johnson RN, O'Meally D, Chen Z, Etherington GJ, Ho SYW, Nash WJ, Grueber CE, Cheng Y, Whittington CM, Dennison S, Peel E, Haerty W, O'Neill RJ, Colgan D, Russell TL, Alquezar-Planas DE, Attenbrow V, Bragg JG, Brandies PA, Chong AYY, Deakin JE, Di Palma F, Duda Z, Eldridge MDB, Ewart KM, Hogg CJ, Frankham GJ, Georges A, Gillett AK, Govendir M, Greenwood AD, Hayakawa T, Helgen KM, Hobbs M, Holleley CE, Heider TN, Jones EA, King A, Madden D, Graves JAM, Morris KM, Neaves LE, Patel HR, Polkinghorne A, Renfree MB, Robin C, Salinas R, Tsangaras K, Waters PD, Waters SA, Wright B, Wilkins MR, Timms P, Belov K. Adaptation and conservation insights from the koala genome. Nat Genet 2018; 50:1102-1111. [PMID: 29967444 PMCID: PMC6197426 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-018-0153-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2018] [Accepted: 04/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The koala, the only extant species of the marsupial family Phascolarctidae, is classified as 'vulnerable' due to habitat loss and widespread disease. We sequenced the koala genome, producing a complete and contiguous marsupial reference genome, including centromeres. We reveal that the koala's ability to detoxify eucalypt foliage may be due to expansions within a cytochrome P450 gene family, and its ability to smell, taste and moderate ingestion of plant secondary metabolites may be due to expansions in the vomeronasal and taste receptors. We characterized novel lactation proteins that protect young in the pouch and annotated immune genes important for response to chlamydial disease. Historical demography showed a substantial population crash coincident with the decline of Australian megafauna, while contemporary populations had biogeographic boundaries and increased inbreeding in populations affected by historic translocations. We identified genetically diverse populations that require habitat corridors and instituting of translocation programs to aid the koala's survival in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca N Johnson
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Denis O'Meally
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Animal Research Centre, Faculty of Science, Health, Education & Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia
| | - Zhiliang Chen
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Simon Y W Ho
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Will J Nash
- Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Catherine E Grueber
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Yuanyuan Cheng
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- UQ Genomics Initiative, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Camilla M Whittington
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Siobhan Dennison
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Emma Peel
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Rachel J O'Neill
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Don Colgan
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Tonia L Russell
- Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Val Attenbrow
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jason G Bragg
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
- National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Parice A Brandies
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Amanda Yoon-Yee Chong
- Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Janine E Deakin
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Federica Di Palma
- Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | - Zachary Duda
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Mark D B Eldridge
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kyle M Ewart
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Carolyn J Hogg
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Greta J Frankham
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Arthur Georges
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Amber K Gillett
- Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, Beerwah, Queensland, Australia
| | - Merran Govendir
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Alex D Greenwood
- Department of Wildlife Diseases, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Takashi Hayakawa
- Department of Wildlife Science (Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd.), Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan
- Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Japan
| | - Kristofer M Helgen
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, Environment Institute, Centre for Applied Conservation Science, and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Matthew Hobbs
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Clare E Holleley
- Australian National Wildlife Collection, National Research Collections Australia, CSIRO, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Thomas N Heider
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Jones
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Andrew King
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Danielle Madden
- Animal Research Centre, Faculty of Science, Health, Education & Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia
| | - Jennifer A Marshall Graves
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
- School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
| | - Katrina M Morris
- The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Linda E Neaves
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Hardip R Patel
- John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Adam Polkinghorne
- Animal Research Centre, Faculty of Science, Health, Education & Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia
| | - Marilyn B Renfree
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Charles Robin
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ryan Salinas
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kyriakos Tsangaras
- Department of Translational Genetics, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Paul D Waters
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Shafagh A Waters
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Belinda Wright
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Marc R Wilkins
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
- Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Peter Timms
- Faculty of Science, Health, Education & Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia
| | - Katherine Belov
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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43
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Subsistence practices, past biodiversity, and anthropogenic impacts revealed by New Zealand-wide ancient DNA survey. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:7771-7776. [PMID: 29987016 PMCID: PMC6065006 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803573115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
New Zealand's geographic isolation, lack of native terrestrial mammals, and Gondwanan origins make it an ideal location to study evolutionary processes. However, since the archipelago was first settled by humans 750 y ago, its unique biodiversity has been under pressure, and today an estimated 49% of the terrestrial avifauna is extinct. Current efforts to conserve the remaining fauna rely on a better understanding of the composition of past ecosystems, as well as the causes and timing of past extinctions. The exact temporal and spatial dynamics of New Zealand's extinct fauna, however, can be difficult to interpret, as only a small proportion of animals are preserved as morphologically identifiable fossils. Here, we conduct a large-scale genetic survey of subfossil bone assemblages to elucidate the impact of humans on the environment in New Zealand. By genetically identifying more than 5,000 nondiagnostic bone fragments from archaeological and paleontological sites, we reconstruct a rich faunal record of 110 species of birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and marine mammals. We report evidence of five whale species rarely reported from New Zealand archaeological middens and characterize extinct lineages of leiopelmatid frog (Leiopelma sp.) and kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) haplotypes lost from the gene pool. Taken together, this molecular audit of New Zealand's subfossil record not only contributes to our understanding of past biodiversity and precontact Māori subsistence practices but also provides a more nuanced snapshot of anthropogenic impacts on native fauna after first human arrival.
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Spitsyn VM, Kondakov AV, Bolotov NI, Thi Pham N, Gofarov MY, Bolotov IN. DNA barcoding unravels contrasting evolutionary history of two widespread Asian tiger moth species during the Late Pleistocene. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0194200. [PMID: 29617397 PMCID: PMC5884489 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2017] [Accepted: 02/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Populations of widespread pest insects in tropical areas are characterized by a complex evolutionary history, with overlapping natural and human-mediated dispersal events, sudden expansions, and bottlenecks. Here, we provide biogeographic reconstructions for two widespread pest species in the tiger moth genus Creatonotos (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. The Asian Creatonotos transiens reveals shallow genetic divergence between distant populations that does not support its current intraspecific systematics with several local subspecies. In contrast, the more widespread Creatonotos gangis comprises at least three divergent subclades corresponding to certain geographic areas, i.e. Australia, Arabia + South Asia and Southeast Asia. With respect to our approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) model, the expansion of Creatonotos gangis into Australia is placed in the Late Pleistocene (~65–63 ka). This dating coincide with an approximate time of the earliest human migration into the continent (~65–54 ka) and the period of intervisibility between Timor and Australia (~65–62 ka). Our findings highlight that the drying Sunda and Sahul shelf areas likely support successful migrations of Asian taxa into Australia during the Pleistocene. The phylogeographic patterns discovered in this study can be used to improve the effectiveness of integrated pest control programs that is a task of substantial practical importance to a broad range of agricultural stakeholders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vitaly M. Spitsyn
- Lab for Molecular Ecology and Phylogenetics, Northern Arctic Federal University, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
- Institute of Biogeography and Genetic Resources, Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
- * E-mail:
| | - Alexander V. Kondakov
- Lab for Molecular Ecology and Phylogenetics, Northern Arctic Federal University, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
- Institute of Biogeography and Genetic Resources, Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
| | - Nikita I. Bolotov
- Institute of Biogeography and Genetic Resources, Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
| | - Nhi Thi Pham
- Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Mikhail Y. Gofarov
- Lab for Molecular Ecology and Phylogenetics, Northern Arctic Federal University, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
- Institute of Biogeography and Genetic Resources, Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
| | - Ivan N. Bolotov
- Lab for Molecular Ecology and Phylogenetics, Northern Arctic Federal University, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
- Institute of Biogeography and Genetic Resources, Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
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Fordham DA, Saltré F, Brown SC, Mellin C, Wigley TML. Why decadal to century timescale palaeoclimate data are needed to explain present-day patterns of biological diversity and change. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:1371-1381. [PMID: 28994170 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Revised: 09/05/2017] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The current distribution of species, environmental conditions and their interactions represent only one snapshot of a planet that is continuously changing, in part due to human influences. To distinguish human impacts from natural factors, the magnitude and pace of climate shifts, since the Last Glacial Maximum, are often used to determine whether patterns of diversity today are artefacts of past climate change. In the absence of high-temporal resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions, this is generally done by assuming that past climate change occurred at a linear pace between widely spaced (usually, ≥1,000 years) climate snapshots. We show here that this is a flawed assumption because regional climates have changed significantly across decades and centuries during glacial-interglacial cycles, likely causing rapid regional replacement of biota. We demonstrate how recent atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) simulations of the climate of the past 21,000 years can provide credible estimates of the details of climate change on decadal to centennial timescales, showing that these details differ radically from what might be inferred from longer timescale information. High-temporal resolution information can provide more meaningful estimates of the magnitude and pace of climate shifts, the location and timing of drivers of physiological stress, and the extent of novel climates. They also produce new opportunities to directly investigate whether short-term climate variability is more important in shaping biodiversity patterns rather than gradual changes in long-term climatic means. Together, these more accurate measures of past climate instability are likely to bring about a better understanding of the role of palaeoclimatic change and variability in shaping current macroecological patterns in many regions of the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien A Fordham
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Frédérik Saltré
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Stuart C Brown
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Camille Mellin
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB No. 3, Townsville, Qld, Australia
| | - Tom M L Wigley
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
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Price GJ, Ferguson KJ, Webb GE, Feng YX, Higgins P, Nguyen AD, Zhao JX, Joannes-Boyau R, Louys J. Seasonal migration of marsupial megafauna in Pleistocene Sahul (Australia-New Guinea). Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.0785. [PMID: 28954903 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2017] [Accepted: 08/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Seasonal two-way migration is an ecological phenomenon observed in a wide range of large-bodied placental mammals, but is conspicuously absent in all modern marsupials. Most extant marsupials are typically smaller in body size in comparison to their migratory placental cousins, possibly limiting their potential to undertake long-distance seasonal migrations. But what about earlier, now-extinct giant marsupial megafauna? Here we present new geochemical analyses which show that the largest of the extinct marsupial herbivores, the enormous wombat-like Diprotodon optatum, undertook seasonal, two-way latitudinal migration in eastern Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea). Our data infer that this giant marsupial had the potential to perform round-trip journeys of as much as 200 km annually, which is reminiscent of modern East African mammal migrations. These findings provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence for repetitive seasonal migration in any metatherian (including marsupials), living or extinct, and point to an ecological phenomenon absent from the continent since the Late Pleistocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilbert J Price
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Kyle J Ferguson
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Gregory E Webb
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Yue-Xing Feng
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Pennilyn Higgins
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, 227 Hutchison Hall Rochester, New York 14627, NY, USA
| | - Ai Duc Nguyen
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Jian-Xin Zhao
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- Southern Cross GeoScience, Southern Cross University, Military Road, Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia
| | - Julien Louys
- Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia
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Bocherens H. The Rise of the Anthroposphere since 50,000 Years: An Ecological Replacement of Megaherbivores by Humans in Terrestrial Ecosystems? Front Ecol Evol 2018. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2018.00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Rawlence NJ, Kardamaki A, Easton LJ, Tennyson AJD, Scofield RP, Waters JM. Ancient DNA and morphometric analysis reveal extinction and replacement of New Zealand's unique black swans. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20170876. [PMID: 28747476 PMCID: PMC5543223 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Prehistoric human impacts on megafaunal populations have dramatically reshaped ecosystems worldwide. However, the effects of human exploitation on smaller species, such as anatids (ducks, geese, and swans) are less clear. In this study we apply ancient DNA and osteological approaches to reassess the history of Australasia's iconic black swans (Cygnus atratus) including the palaeo-behaviour of prehistoric populations. Our study shows that at the time of human colonization, New Zealand housed a genetically, morphologically, and potentially ecologically distinct swan lineage (C. sumnerensis, Poūwa), divergent from modern (Australian) C. atratus Morphological analyses indicate C. sumnerensis exhibited classic signs of the 'island rule' effect, being larger, and likely flight-reduced compared to C. atratus Our research reveals sudden extinction and replacement events within this anatid species complex, coinciding with recent human colonization of New Zealand. This research highlights the role of anthropogenic processes in rapidly reshaping island ecosystems and raises new questions for avian conservation, ecosystem re-wilding, and de-extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas J Rawlence
- Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Afroditi Kardamaki
- Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Luke J Easton
- Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | | | | | - Jonathan M Waters
- Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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Clarkson C, Jacobs Z, Marwick B, Fullagar R, Wallis L, Smith M, Roberts RG, Hayes E, Lowe K, Carah X, Florin SA, McNeil J, Cox D, Arnold LJ, Hua Q, Huntley J, Brand HEA, Manne T, Fairbairn A, Shulmeister J, Lyle L, Salinas M, Page M, Connell K, Park G, Norman K, Murphy T, Pardoe C. Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago. Nature 2017; 547:306-310. [DOI: 10.1038/nature22968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 518] [Impact Index Per Article: 74.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2016] [Accepted: 05/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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50
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Morales HE, Sunnucks P, Joseph L, Pavlova A. Perpendicular axes of differentiation generated by mitochondrial introgression. Mol Ecol 2017; 26:3241-3255. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.14114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2016] [Revised: 03/14/2017] [Accepted: 03/15/2017] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hernán E. Morales
- School of Biological Sciences Monash UniversityClayton Campus Melbourne Vic. 3800 Australia
- Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology Department of Marine Sciences University of GothenburgBox 461 SE 405 30 Göteborg Sweden
| | - Paul Sunnucks
- School of Biological Sciences Monash UniversityClayton Campus Melbourne Vic. 3800 Australia
| | - Leo Joseph
- Australian National Wildlife Collection CSIRO National Research Collections AustraliaGPO Box 1700 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
| | - Alexandra Pavlova
- School of Biological Sciences Monash UniversityClayton Campus Melbourne Vic. 3800 Australia
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