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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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Nhleko ZN, Shrader AM, Ferreira SM, McCleery RA. White rhinos and other herbivores decrease visitations and increase vigilance in response to human vocalizations. J Mammal 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyac083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Harnessing the fear animals have of humans has the potential to aid in the conservation of wildlife. Most vertebrates perceive humans as “super predators.” While predator cues are an important nonlethal management tool, the use of human cues for management has rarely been implemented or experimentally tested. Extensive poaching is threatening the persistence of white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum simum), and there is a need to deter them from areas with elevated poaching risks. To investigate the feasibility of harnessing the fear white rhinos have of humans to aid in their conservation, we conducted playback experiments at rhino middens. We broadcasted repeated human (treatment) and bird (control) vocalizations, and measured changes in visitations and antipredator responses. We found that overall rhino visitations did not change in response to controls but decreased by 46% in response to human vocalizations. This pattern appears to be driven by the response of females, who decreased their visitations by 70% in response to human vocalizations, while visitations by males remained unchanged. This difference is likely related to males defending small exclusive territories. Providing evidence that changes in female visitation rates were a function of the perceived fear of white rhinos, we found that both sexes exhibited more vigilance in response to human vocalizations (males 69.5%, females 96%) compared to controls. We also saw a 63% reduction of other herbivores at treatment sites. Our findings provide evidence that the fear of humans can be used to alter the movements and behavior of female white rhinos, critical for population recovery, as well as other large herbivores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoliswa N Nhleko
- Interdisciplinary Program in Ecology, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida 32611 , USA
- Savanna Node, Scientific Services, SANParks , Skukuza 1350 , South Africa
| | - Adrian M Shrader
- Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria , Pretoria 0002 , South Africa
| | - Sam M Ferreira
- Savanna Node, Scientific Services, SANParks , Skukuza 1350 , South Africa
| | - Robert A McCleery
- Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria , Pretoria 0002 , South Africa
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida 32611 , USA
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