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Murray PJ, Nevard TD. The Ecological Separation of Deer and Domestic, Feral and Native Mammals in Tropical Northern Australia-A Review. Animals (Basel) 2024; 14:1576. [PMID: 38891624 PMCID: PMC11171043 DOI: 10.3390/ani14111576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2024] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
We explored the ecological and historical factors that led to formation of the unique guild of native and introduced mammalian herbivores between 5 and 1000 kg in northern Australia. Following the disappearance of large native herbivores about 46 kya, and until the arrival of Europeans and their livestock, the only herbivorous mammals were mid-sized endemic marsupial macropods, which continued to utilise the same vegetation as their much larger former neighbours. Only one species of contemporary native herbivore has an adult bodyweight approaching 100 kg, and for the past 150-200 years, the total biomass of introduced domestic and wild vertebrate herbivores has massively exceeded that of native herbivorous species. We conclude that the current guild of native and introduced mammalian herbivores differentially utilises the landscape ecologically. However, climate- and anthropogenically related changes due to fire, drought, flooding, predation and introduced weeds are likely to have significant impacts on the trajectory of their relative ecological roles and populations. Given their differing ecological and dietary characteristics, against this backdrop, it is unclear what the potential impact of the dispersal of deer species could have in northern Australia. We hence focus on whether sufficient knowledge exists against which the potential impacts of the range expansion of three deer species can be adequately assessed and have found a dearth of supporting evidence to inform appropriate sustainable management. We identify suitable research required to fill the identified knowledge gaps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter J. Murray
- School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
| | - Timothy D. Nevard
- The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia;
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2
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Svenning JC, Buitenwerf R, Le Roux E. Trophic rewilding as a restoration approach under emerging novel biosphere conditions. Curr Biol 2024; 34:R435-R451. [PMID: 38714176 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2024]
Abstract
Rewilding is a restoration approach that aims to promote self-regulating complex ecosystems by restoring non-human ecological processes while reducing human control and pressures. Rewilding is forward-looking in that it aims to enhance functionality for biodiversity, accepting and indeed promoting the dynamic nature of ecosystems, rather than fixating on static composition or structure. Rewilding is thus especially relevant in our epoch of increasingly novel biosphere conditions, driven by strong human-induced global change. Here, we explore this hypothesis in the context of trophic rewilding - the restoration of trophic complexity mediated by wild, large-bodied animals, known as 'megafauna'. This focus reflects the strong ecological impacts of large-bodied animals, their widespread loss during the last 50,000 years and their high diversity and ubiquity in the preceding 50 million years. Restoring abundant, diverse, wild-living megafauna is expected to promote vegetation heterogeneity, seed dispersal, nutrient cycling and biotic microhabitats. These are fundamental drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem function and are likely to gain importance for maintaining a biodiverse biosphere under increasingly novel ecological conditions. Non-native megafauna species may contribute to these effects as ecological surrogates of extinct species or by promoting ecological functionality within novel assemblages. Trophic rewilding has strong upscaling potential via population growth and expansion of wild fauna. It is likely to facilitate biotic adaptation to changing climatic conditions and resilience to ecosystem collapse, and to curb some negative impacts of globalization, notably the dominance of invasive alien plants. Finally, we discuss the complexities of realizing the biodiversity benefits that trophic rewilding offers under novel biosphere conditions in a heavily populated world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jens-Christian Svenning
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
| | - Robert Buitenwerf
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Elizabeth Le Roux
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
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3
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Anest A, Bouchenak-Khelladi Y, Charles-Dominique T, Forest F, Caraglio Y, Hempson GP, Maurin O, Tomlinson KW. Blocking then stinging as a case of two-step evolution of defensive cage architectures in herbivore-driven ecosystems. NATURE PLANTS 2024; 10:587-597. [PMID: 38438539 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-024-01649-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Dense branching and spines are common features of plant species in ecosystems with high mammalian herbivory pressure. While dense branching and spines can inhibit herbivory independently, when combined, they form a powerful defensive cage architecture. However, how cage architecture evolved under mammalian pressure has remained unexplored. Here we show how dense branching and spines emerged during the age of mammalian radiation in the Combretaceae family and diversified in herbivore-driven ecosystems in the tropics. Phylogenetic comparative methods revealed that modern plant architectural strategies defending against large mammals evolved via a stepwise process. First, dense branching emerged under intermediate herbivory pressure, followed by the acquisition of spines that supported higher speciation rates under high herbivory pressure. Our study highlights the adaptive value of dense branching as part of a herbivore defence strategy and identifies large mammal herbivory as a major selective force shaping the whole plant architecture of woody plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artémis Anest
- Center for Integrative Conservation and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Conservation of Tropical Rainforests and Asian Elephants, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, China.
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- AMAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
| | - Yanis Bouchenak-Khelladi
- Agroécologie, Univ. Bourgogne, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, INRAE, Institut Agro, Dijon, France
| | - Tristan Charles-Dominique
- AMAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Sorbonne University, Paris, France
| | | | - Yves Caraglio
- AMAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Gareth P Hempson
- Ecology and Environmental Change, School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | | | - Kyle W Tomlinson
- Center for Integrative Conservation and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Conservation of Tropical Rainforests and Asian Elephants, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, China.
- Center of Conservation Biology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, China.
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4
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Gillson L, Hoffman MT, Gell PA, Ekblom A, Bond WJ. Trees, carbon, and the psychology of landscapes. Trends Ecol Evol 2024; 39:359-367. [PMID: 38129213 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.11.008] [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: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Mitigating climate change while safeguarding biodiversity and livelihoods is a major challenge. However, rampant afforestation threatens biodiversity and livelihoods, with questionable benefits to carbon storage. The narrative of landscape degradation is often applied without considering the history of the landscape. While some landscapes are undoubtedly deforested, others existed in open or mosaic states before human intervention, or have been deliberately maintained as such. In psychology, a 'fundamental attribution error' is made when characteristics are attributed without consideration of context or circumstances. We apply this concept to landscapes, and then propose a process that avoids attribution errors by testing a null hypothesis regarding past forest extent, using palaeoecology and other long-term data, alongside ecological and stakeholder knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey Gillson
- Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; From May 2024: Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.
| | - M Timm Hoffman
- Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Peter A Gell
- Future Regions Research Centre, Federation University, Ballarat, Australia
| | | | - William J Bond
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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5
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Zhang Y, Westaway KE, Haberle S, Lubeek JK, Bailey M, Ciochon R, Morley MW, Roberts P, Zhao JX, Duval M, Dosseto A, Pan Y, Rule S, Liao W, Gully GA, Lucas M, Mo J, Yang L, Cai Y, Wang W, Joannes-Boyau R. The demise of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki. Nature 2024; 625:535-539. [PMID: 38200315 PMCID: PMC10794149 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06900-0] [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: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
The largest ever primate and one of the largest of the southeast Asian megafauna, Gigantopithecus blacki1, persisted in China from about 2.0 million years until the late middle Pleistocene when it became extinct2-4. Its demise is enigmatic considering that it was one of the few Asian great apes to go extinct in the last 2.6 million years, whereas others, including orangutan, survived until the present5. The cause of the disappearance of G. blacki remains unresolved but could shed light on primate resilience and the fate of megafauna in this region6. Here we applied three multidisciplinary analyses-timing, past environments and behaviour-to 22 caves in southern China. We used 157 radiometric ages from six dating techniques to establish a timeline for the demise of G. blacki. We show that from 2.3 million years ago the environment was a mosaic of forests and grasses, providing ideal conditions for thriving G. blacki populations. However, just before and during the extinction window between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago there was enhanced environmental variability from increased seasonality, which caused changes in plant communities and an increase in open forest environments. Although its close relative Pongo weidenreichi managed to adapt its dietary preferences and behaviour to this variability, G. blacki showed signs of chronic stress and dwindling populations. Ultimately its struggle to adapt led to the extinction of the greatest primate to ever inhabit the Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingqi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- School of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Kira E Westaway
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- School of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Simon Haberle
- School of Culture, History and Languages, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Juliën K Lubeek
- School of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Marian Bailey
- GARG, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Russell Ciochon
- Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Mike W Morley
- College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Patrick Roberts
- isoTROPIC Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Jian-Xin Zhao
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Mathieu Duval
- National Research Centre on Human Evolution CENIEH, Burgos, Spain
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Anthony Dosseto
- Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Laboratory, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Yue Pan
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Sue Rule
- School of Culture, History and Languages, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Wei Liao
- Institute of Cultural Heritage, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Grant A Gully
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Mary Lucas
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Jinyou Mo
- Natural History Museum of Guangxi, Nanning, China
| | - Liyun Yang
- Chongzuo Zhuang Ethnological Musuem, Chongzuo, China
| | - Yanjun Cai
- Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Wei Wang
- Institute of Cultural Heritage, Shandong University, Qingdao, China.
| | - Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- GARG, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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6
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O'Keefe FR, Dunn RE, Weitzel EM, Waters MR, Martinez LN, Binder WJ, Southon JR, Cohen JE, Meachen JA, DeSantis LRG, Kirby ME, Ghezzo E, Coltrain JB, Fuller BT, Farrell AB, Takeuchi GT, MacDonald G, Davis EB, Lindsey EL. Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift. Science 2023; 381:eabo3594. [PMID: 37590347 DOI: 10.1126/science.abo3594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
The cause, or causes, of the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions have been difficult to establish, in part because poor spatiotemporal resolution in the fossil record hinders alignment of species disappearances with archeological and environmental data. We obtained 172 new radiocarbon dates on megafauna from Rancho La Brea in California spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka). Seven species of extinct megafauna disappeared by 12.9 ka, before the onset of the Younger Dryas. Comparison with high-resolution regional datasets revealed that these disappearances coincided with an ecological state shift that followed aridification and vegetation changes during the Bølling-Allerød (14.69 to 12.89 ka). Time-series modeling implicates large-scale fires as the primary cause of the extirpations, and the catalyst of this state shift may have been mounting human impacts in a drying, warming, and increasingly fire-prone ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Robin O'Keefe
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Regan E Dunn
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Elic M Weitzel
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Michael R Waters
- Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Lisa N Martinez
- Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Wendy J Binder
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - John R Southon
- Department of Earth System Science, University California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Joshua E Cohen
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biology, Pace University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Julie A Meachen
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University, Des Moines, IA, USA
| | - Larisa R G DeSantis
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Matthew E Kirby
- Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, USA
| | - Elena Ghezzo
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, and Statistics, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy
- Department of Earth Sciences, University Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Joan B Coltrain
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Benjamin T Fuller
- Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, UMR 5563, CNRS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France
| | - Aisling B Farrell
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Gary T Takeuchi
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Glen MacDonald
- Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Edward B Davis
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, and Statistics, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy
- Department of Earth Sciences, University Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Emily L Lindsey
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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7
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Pringle RM, Abraham JO, Anderson TM, Coverdale TC, Davies AB, Dutton CL, Gaylard A, Goheen JR, Holdo RM, Hutchinson MC, Kimuyu DM, Long RA, Subalusky AL, Veldhuis MP. Impacts of large herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems. Curr Biol 2023; 33:R584-R610. [PMID: 37279691 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Large herbivores play unique ecological roles and are disproportionately imperiled by human activity. As many wild populations dwindle towards extinction, and as interest grows in restoring lost biodiversity, research on large herbivores and their ecological impacts has intensified. Yet, results are often conflicting or contingent on local conditions, and new findings have challenged conventional wisdom, making it hard to discern general principles. Here, we review what is known about the ecosystem impacts of large herbivores globally, identify key uncertainties, and suggest priorities to guide research. Many findings are generalizable across ecosystems: large herbivores consistently exert top-down control of plant demography, species composition, and biomass, thereby suppressing fires and the abundance of smaller animals. Other general patterns do not have clearly defined impacts: large herbivores respond to predation risk but the strength of trophic cascades is variable; large herbivores move vast quantities of seeds and nutrients but with poorly understood effects on vegetation and biogeochemistry. Questions of the greatest relevance for conservation and management are among the least certain, including effects on carbon storage and other ecosystem functions and the ability to predict outcomes of extinctions and reintroductions. A unifying theme is the role of body size in regulating ecological impact. Small herbivores cannot fully substitute for large ones, and large-herbivore species are not functionally redundant - losing any, especially the largest, will alter net impact, helping to explain why livestock are poor surrogates for wild species. We advocate leveraging a broad spectrum of techniques to mechanistically explain how large-herbivore traits and environmental context interactively govern the ecological impacts of these animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M Pringle
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
| | - Joel O Abraham
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - T Michael Anderson
- Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC 27109, USA
| | - Tyler C Coverdale
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Andrew B Davies
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | | | | | - Jacob R Goheen
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82072, USA
| | - Ricardo M Holdo
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Matthew C Hutchinson
- Department of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA
| | - Duncan M Kimuyu
- Department of Natural Resources, Karatina University, Karatina, Kenya
| | - Ryan A Long
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
| | - Amanda L Subalusky
- Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Michiel P Veldhuis
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
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8
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Pardi MI, DeSantis LRG. Interpreting spatially explicit variation in dietary proxies through species distribution modeling reveals foraging preferences of mammoth (Mammuthus) and American mastodon (Mammut americanum). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1064299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
IntroductionThe end Pleistocene was a time of considerable ecological upheaval. Recent work has explored the megafauna extinction’s role in altering ecosystem processes. Analyses of functional traits withing communities reveal hidden consequences of the megafauna extinction beyond declines in taxonomic diversity. Functional diversity analyses offer new insight into our understanding of past ecosystems and may even inform future rewilding efforts. However, the utility of functional diversity may be hampered by the use of discrete, taxon-level functional traits, such as dietary categories, that mask variation in functional diversity over space and time.MethodsWe present an approach in which species distribution modeling, in Maxent, provides context for interpreting variation in two widely used proxies for diet among fossil taxa: stable isotope analysis and dental microwear texture analysis. We apply this approach to two ecologically distinct taxa, the American mastodon (Mammut americanum) and mammoths (Mammuthus) and investigate their resource use over space and time from the last glacial maximum to the end Pleistocene (25–11.7 thousand years before present).ResultsMammoth dietary behavior varies by context across their geographic distribution, despite possessing evolutionary adaptations that facilitate grazing. Mammoths exhibit a preference for grazing where species distribution modeling predicts the highest likelihood of occurrence but engage in more mixed-feeding outside of core likelihood areas. In contrast, dietary preferences for mastodon are less resolved and our analyses were unable to identify significant differences in diet across their distribution.DiscussionThe ecological roles of some species are context specific and need to be critically evaluated when planning for management of reintroductions or introducing novel species to restore lost ecological function.
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9
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Penjor U, Cushman SA, Kaszta ŻM, Sherub S, Macdonald DW. Effects of land use and climate change on functional and phylogenetic diversity of terrestrial vertebrates in a Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. DIVERS DISTRIB 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ugyen Penjor
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre Abingdon UK
- Department of Forests and Park Services Nature Conservation Division Thimphu Bhutan
| | - Samuel A. Cushman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre Abingdon UK
- USDA, Rocky Mountain Research Station Flagstaff Arizona USA
| | - Żaneta M. Kaszta
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre Abingdon UK
| | - Sherub Sherub
- Department of Forests and Park Services Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environmental Research Bumthang Bhutan
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre Abingdon UK
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10
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Joseph GS, Rakotoarivelo AR, Seymour CL. Tipping points induced by palaeo-human impacts can explain presence of savannah in Malagasy and global systems where forest is expected. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20212771. [PMID: 35350853 PMCID: PMC8965410 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Models aimed at understanding C4-savannah distribution for Australia, Africa and South America support transition to forest at high mean annual precipitation (MAP), and savannah grasslands of Madagascar have recently been reported to be similarly limited. Yet, when savannah/grassland presence data are plotted against MAP for the various ecosystems across the Malagasy Central Highlands, the relationship does not hold. Furthermore, it does not always hold in other sites on other continents. Instead, in high-rainfall savannahs, palaeo-human impacts appear to have selected a fire-adapted habitat, creating tipping points that allow savannah persistence despite high rainfall, suppressing forest return. We conducted the largest systematic literature review to date for global evidence of palaeo-human impacts in savannahs, and conclude that impacts are widespread and should be incorporated into models aimed at understanding savannah persistence at elevated precipitation, particularly as more palaeodata emerges. Building on existing studies, we refine the MAP savannah relationship at higher MAP. Palaeoanthropogenic impact can help explain inconsistencies in the savannah/forest boundary at higher MAP, and points to a key role for palaeoecology in understanding systems. Including these effects presents a crucial change to our understanding of factors determining global savannah distribution, supporting a human hand in much of their formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S. Joseph
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Andrinajoro R. Rakotoarivelo
- Afro-mountain Research Unit, The University of the Free State Qwaqwa, Private Bag X13, Phuthaditjhaba 9866, Republic of South Africa,Natiora Ahy, Lot IIU57 K Bis, Ampahibe, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Colleen L. Seymour
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa,South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Private Bag X7, Claremont 7735, South Africa
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11
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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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12
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Amiot C, Ji W, Ellis EC, Anderson MG. Temporal and sociocultural effects of human colonisation on native biodiversity: filtering and rates of adaptation. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Amiot
- Human Wildlife Interaction Research Group, Inst. of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey Univ. Albany New Zealand
- UMR 6554 CNRS, LETG–Angers, Univ. d'Angers Angers France
| | - Weihong Ji
- Human Wildlife Interaction Research Group, Inst. of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey Univ. Albany New Zealand
| | - Erle C. Ellis
- Dept of Geography and Environmental Systems, Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County Baltimore USA
| | - Michael G. Anderson
- Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation Group, Inst. of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey Univ. Albany New Zealand
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13
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Spengler RN, Petraglia M, Roberts P, Ashastina K, Kistler L, Mueller NG, Boivin N. Exaptation Traits for Megafaunal Mutualisms as a Factor in Plant Domestication. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:649394. [PMID: 33841476 PMCID: PMC8024633 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.649394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Megafaunal extinctions are recurring events that cause evolutionary ripples, as cascades of secondary extinctions and shifting selective pressures reshape ecosystems. Megafaunal browsers and grazers are major ecosystem engineers, they: keep woody vegetation suppressed; are nitrogen cyclers; and serve as seed dispersers. Most angiosperms possess sets of physiological traits that allow for the fixation of mutualisms with megafauna; some of these traits appear to serve as exaptation (preadaptation) features for farming. As an easily recognized example, fleshy fruits are, an exaptation to agriculture, as they evolved to recruit a non-human disperser. We hypothesize that the traits of rapid annual growth, self-compatibility, heavy investment in reproduction, high plasticity (wide reaction norms), and rapid evolvability were part of an adaptive syndrome for megafaunal seed dispersal. We review the evolutionary importance that megafauna had for crop and weed progenitors and discuss possible ramifications of their extinction on: (1) seed dispersal; (2) population dynamics; and (3) habitat loss. Humans replaced some of the ecological services that had been lost as a result of late Quaternary extinctions and drove rapid evolutionary change resulting in domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert N. Spengler
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, United States
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Kseniia Ashastina
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Logan Kistler
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Natalie G. Mueller
- Department of Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, United States
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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14
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Abstract
The extinction of species before they are discovered and named (dark extinction, DE) is widely inferred as a significant part of species loss in the 'pre-taxonomic' period (approx. 1500-1800 CE) and, to some extent, in the 'taxonomic period' (approx. 1800-present) as well. The discovery of oceanic islands and other pristine habitats by European navigators and the consequent introduction of destructive mammals, such as rats and goats, started a process of anthropogenic extinction. Much ecosystem change happened before systematic scientific recording, so has led to DE. Statistical methods are available to robustly estimate DE in the 'taxonomic period'. For the 'pre-taxonomic period', simple extrapolation can be used. The application of these techniques to world birds, for example, suggests that approximately 56 DEs occurred in the 'taxonomic period' (1800-present) and approximately 180 in the 'pre-taxonomic period' (1500-1800). Targeting collection activities in extinction hotspots, to make sure organisms are represented in collections before their extinction, is one way of reducing the number of extinct species without a physical record (providing that collection efforts do not themselves contribute to species extinction).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mannfred M A Boehm
- Department of Botany, Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
| | - Quentin C B Cronk
- Department of Botany, Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
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15
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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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16
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Lundgren EJ, Schowanek SD, Rowan J, Middleton O, Pedersen RØ, Wallach AD, Ramp D, Davis M, Sandom CJ, Svenning JC. Functional traits of the world's late Quaternary large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores. Sci Data 2021; 8:17. [PMID: 33473149 PMCID: PMC7817692 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-020-00788-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Prehistoric and recent extinctions of large-bodied terrestrial herbivores had significant and lasting impacts on Earth's ecosystems due to the loss of their distinct trait combinations. The world's surviving large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores remain among the most threatened taxa. As such, a greater understanding of the ecological impacts of large herbivore losses is increasingly important. However, comprehensive and ecologically-relevant trait datasets for extinct and extant herbivores are lacking. Here, we present HerbiTraits, a comprehensive functional trait dataset for all late Quaternary terrestrial avian and mammalian herbivores ≥10 kg (545 species). HerbiTraits includes key traits that influence how herbivores interact with ecosystems, namely body mass, diet, fermentation type, habitat use, and limb morphology. Trait data were compiled from 557 sources and comprise the best available knowledge on late Quaternary large-bodied herbivores. HerbiTraits provides a tool for the analysis of herbivore functional diversity both past and present and its effects on Earth's ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erick J Lundgren
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia.
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
| | - Simon D Schowanek
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
| | - John Rowan
- Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, Albany, NY, 12222, USA
| | - Owen Middleton
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Sussex, UK
| | - Rasmus Ø Pedersen
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Arian D Wallach
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
| | - Daniel Ramp
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
| | - Matt Davis
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA
| | | | - Jens-Christian Svenning
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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17
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Ryeland J, Derham TT, Spencer RJ. Past and future potential range changes in one of the last large vertebrates of the Australian continent, the emu Dromaius novaehollandiae. Sci Rep 2021; 11:851. [PMID: 33441670 PMCID: PMC7807066 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79551-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
In Australia, significant shifts in species distribution have occurred with the loss of megafauna, changes in indigenous Australian fire regime and land-use changes with European settlement. The emu, one of the last megafaunal species in Australia, has likely undergone substantial distribution changes, particularly near the east coast of Australia where urbanisation is extensive and some populations have declined. We modelled emu distribution across the continental mainland and across the Great Dividing Range region (GDR) of eastern Australia, under historical, present and future climates. We predicted shifts in emu distribution using ensemble modelling, hindcasting and forecasting distribution from current emu occurrence data. Emus have expanded their range northward into central Australia over the 6000 years modelled here. Areas west of the GDR have become more suitable since the mid-Holocene, which was unsuitable then due to high precipitation seasonality. However, the east coast of Australia has become climatically sub-optimal and will remain so for at least 50 years. The north east of NSW encompasses the range of the only listed endangered population, which now occurs at the margins of optimal climatic conditions for emus. Being at the fringe of suitable climatic conditions may put this population at higher risk of further decline from non-climatic anthropogenic disturbances e.g. depredation by introduced foxes and pigs. The limited scientific knowledge about wild emu ecology and biology currently available limits our ability to quantify these risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Ryeland
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
| | - Tristan T Derham
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, 7001, Australia
| | - Ricky J Spencer
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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18
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Amano N, Wang YV, Boivin N, Roberts P. 'Emptying Forests?' Conservation Implications of Past Human-Primate Interactions. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 36:345-359. [PMID: 33431163 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Non-human primates are among the most vulnerable tropical animals to extinction and ~50% of primate species are endangered. Human hunting is considered a major cause of increasingly 'empty forests', yet archaeological data remains under-utilised in testing this assertion over the longer-term. Zooarchaeological datasets allow investigation of human exploitation of primates and the reconstruction of extinction, extirpation, and translocation processes. We evaluate the application and limitations of data from zooarchaeological studies spanning the past 45 000 years in South and Southeast Asia in guiding primate conservation efforts. We highlight that environmental change was the primary threat to many South and Southeast Asian non-human primate populations during much of the Holocene, foreshadowing human-induced land-use and environmental change as major threats of the 21st century.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noel Amano
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Yiming V Wang
- 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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19
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Thompson JC, Wright DK, Ivory SJ. The emergence and intensification of early hunter-gatherer niche construction. Evol Anthropol 2020; 30:17-27. [PMID: 33341104 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Hunter-gatherers, especially Pleistocene examples, are not well-represented in archeological studies of niche construction. However, as the role of humans in shaping environments over long time scales becomes increasingly apparent, it is critical to develop archeological proxies and testable hypotheses about early hunter-gatherer impacts. Modern foragers engage in niche constructive behaviors aimed at maintaining or increasing the productivity of their environments, and these may have had significant ecological consequences over later human evolution. In some cases, they may also represent behaviors unique to modern Homo sapiens. Archeological and paleoenvironmental data show that African hunter-gatherers were niche constructors in diverse environments, which have legacies in how ecosystems function today. These can be conceptualized as behaviorally mediated trophic cascades, and tested using archeological and paleoenvironmental proxies. Thus, large-scale niche construction behavior is possible to identify at deeper time scales, and may be key to understanding the emergence of modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Sciences Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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20
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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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21
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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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22
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Foster CN, Banks SC, Cary GJ, Johnson CN, Lindenmayer DB, Valentine LE. Animals as Agents in Fire Regimes. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:346-356. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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23
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Spengler RN. Anthropogenic Seed Dispersal: Rethinking the Origins of Plant Domestication. TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2020; 25:340-348. [PMID: 32191870 DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2020.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 01/03/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
It is well documented that ancient sickle harvesting led to tough rachises, but the other seed dispersal properties in crop progenitors are rarely discussed. The first steps toward domestication are evolutionary responses for the recruitment of humans as dispersers. Seed dispersal-based mutualism evolved from heavy human herbivory or seed predation. Plants that evolved traits to support human-mediated seed dispersal express greater fitness in increasingly anthropogenic ecosystems. The loss of dormancy, reduction in seed coat thickness, increased seed size, pericarp density, and sugar concentration all led to more-focused seed dispersal through seed saving and sowing. Some of the earliest plants to evolve domestication traits had weak seed dispersal processes in the wild, often due to the extinction of animal dispersers or short-distance mechanical dispersal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert N Spengler
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
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24
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Tóth AB, Lyons SK, Barr WA, Behrensmeyer AK, Blois JL, Bobe R, Davis M, Du A, Eronen JT, Faith JT, Fraser D, Gotelli NJ, Graves GR, Jukar AM, Miller JH, Pineda-Munoz S, Soul LC, Villaseñor A, Alroy J. Reorganization of surviving mammal communities after the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. Science 2020; 365:1305-1308. [PMID: 31604240 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Large mammals are at high risk of extinction globally. To understand the consequences of their demise for community assembly, we tracked community structure through the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in North America. We decomposed the effects of biotic and abiotic factors by analyzing co-occurrence within the mutual ranges of species pairs. Although shifting climate drove an increase in niche overlap, co-occurrence decreased, signaling shifts in biotic interactions. Furthermore, the effect of abiotic factors on co-occurrence remained constant over time while the effect of biotic factors decreased. Biotic factors apparently played a key role in continental-scale community assembly before the extinctions. Specifically, large mammals likely promoted co-occurrence in the Pleistocene, and their loss contributed to the modern assembly pattern in which co-occurrence frequently falls below random expectations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anikó B Tóth
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
| | - S Kathleen Lyons
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
| | - W Andrew Barr
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Anna K Behrensmeyer
- Department of Paleobiology, Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Jessica L Blois
- School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA
| | - René Bobe
- Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Matt Davis
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Country, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
| | - Andrew Du
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Jussi T Eronen
- Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.,BIOS Research Unit, Meritullintori 6, 00170 Helsinki, Finland
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah and Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
| | - Danielle Fraser
- Palaeobiology, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, ON K1P 6P, Canada.,Departments of Biology and Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
| | | | - Gary R Graves
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.,Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Advait M Jukar
- Department of Paleobiology, Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Joshua H Miller
- Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
| | - Silvia Pineda-Munoz
- Department of Paleobiology, Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA.,Spatial Ecology and Paleontology Lab (SEPL), School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Laura C Soul
- Department of Paleobiology, Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Amelia Villaseñor
- Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - John Alroy
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia
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25
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Sandom CJ, Middleton O, Lundgren E, Rowan J, Schowanek SD, Svenning JC, Faurby S. Trophic rewilding presents regionally specific opportunities for mitigating climate change. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190125. [PMID: 31983340 PMCID: PMC7017765 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Large-bodied mammalian herbivores can influence processes that exacerbate or mitigate climate change. Herbivore impacts are, in turn, influenced by predators that place top-down forcing on prey species within a given body size range. Here, we explore how the functional composition of terrestrial large-herbivore and -carnivore guilds varies between three mammal distribution scenarios: Present-Natural, Current-Day and Extant-Native Trophic (ENT) Rewilding. Considering the effects of herbivore species weakly influenced by top-down forcing, we quantify the relative influence keystone large-herbivore guilds have on methane emissions, woody vegetation expansion, fire dynamics, large-seed dispersal, and nitrogen and phosphorus transport potential. We find strong regional differences in the number of herbivores under weak top-down regulation between our three scenarios, with important implications for how they will influence climate change relevant processes. Under the Present-Natural non-ruminant, megaherbivore, browsers were a particularly important guild across much of the world. Megaherbivore extinction and range contraction and the arrival of livestock mean large, ruminant, grazers have become more dominant. ENT Rewilding can restore the Afrotropics and the Indo-Malay realm to the Present-Natural benchmark, but causes top-down forcing of the largest herbivores to become commonplace elsewhere. ENT Rewilding will reduce methane emissions, but does not maximize natural climate solution potential. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J. Sandom
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
- Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP), University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
| | - Owen Middleton
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
| | - Erick Lundgren
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
| | - John Rowan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Simon D. Schowanek
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jens-Christian Svenning
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Søren Faurby
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden
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26
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Pausas JG, Bond WJ. Alternative Biome States in Terrestrial Ecosystems. TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2020; 25:250-263. [PMID: 31917105 DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2019.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
There is growing interest in the application of alternative stable state (ASS) theory to explain major vegetation patterns of the world. Here, we introduce the theory as applied to the puzzle of nonforested (open) biomes growing in climates that are warm and wet enough to support forests (alternative biome states, ABSs). Long thought to be the product of deforestation, diverse lines of evidence indicate that many open ecosystems are ancient. They have also been characterized as 'early successional' even where they persist for millennia. ABS is an alternative framework to that of climate determinism and succession for exploring forest/nonforest mosaics. This framework explains not only tropical forest-savanna landscapes, but also other landscape mosaics across the globe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juli G Pausas
- Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CIDE-CSIC), 46113 Montcada, Valencia, Spain.
| | - William J Bond
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Environmental Observation Network, National Research Foundation, Private Bag X7, Claremont 7735, South Africa
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27
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With Friends like These Wilderness and Biodiversity Do Not Need Enemies. CONSERVATION 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-13905-6_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
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28
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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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29
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Root‐Bernstein M, Ladle R. Ecology of a widespread large omnivore, Homo sapiens, and its impacts on ecosystem processes. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:10874-10894. [PMID: 31641442 PMCID: PMC6802023 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Discussions of defaunation and taxon substitution have concentrated on megafaunal herbivores and carnivores, but mainly overlooked the particular ecological importance of megafaunal omnivores. In particular, the Homo spp. have been almost completely ignored in this context, despite the extinction of all but one hominin species present since the Plio-Pleistocene. Large omnivores have a particular set of ecological functions reflecting their foraging flexibility and the varied disturbances they create, functions that may maintain ecosystem stability and resilience. Here, we put the ecology of Homo sapiens in the context of comparative interspecific ecological roles and impacts, focusing on the large omnivore guild, as well as comparative intraspecific variation, focusing on hunter-gatherers.We provide an overview of the functional traits of H. sapiens, which can be used to spontaneously provide the functions for currently ecologically extinct or endangered ecosystem processes. We consider the negative impacts of variations in H. sapiens phenotypic strategies, its possible status as an invasive species, and the potential to take advantage of its learning capacities to decouple negative and positive impacts.We provide examples of how practices related to foraging, transhumance, and hunting could contribute to rewilding-inspired programs either drawing on hunter-gatherer baselines of H. sapiens, or as proxies for extinct or threatened large omnivores. We propose that a greater focus on intraspecific ecological variation and interspecific comparative ecology of H. sapiens can provide new avenues for conservation and ecological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meredith Root‐Bernstein
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of BioscienceAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark
- Institute of Ecology and BiodiversitySantiagoChile
- UMR Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement, Activités, Produits, TerritoiresINRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris‐SaclayThiverval‐GrignonFrance
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES)SantiagoChile
| | - Richard Ladle
- School of Science and HealthFederal University of AlagoasAlagoasBrazil
- School of Geography and the EnvironmentOxford UniversityOxfordUK
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30
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Spengler RN, Mueller NG. Grazing animals drove domestication of grain crops. NATURE PLANTS 2019; 5:656-662. [PMID: 31285559 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-019-0470-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
In addition to large-seeded cereals, humans around the world during the mid-Holocene started to cultivate small-seeded species of herbaceous annuals for grain, including quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, the millets and several lost crops domesticated in North America. The wild ancestors of these crops have small seeds with indigestible defences and do not germinate readily. Today, these wild plants exist in small fragmentary stands that are not appealing targets for foragers. This combination of traits has led many to argue that they must have been a food of last resort. We propose a new explanation: the domestication of small-seeded annuals involved a switch from endozoochoric dispersal (through animal ingestion) to human dispersal. Humans encountered these plants in dense stands created by grazing megafauna, making them easy to harvest. As humans began to cultivate these plants they took on the functional role of seed dispersers, and traits associated with endozoochory were lost or reduced. The earliest traits of domestication-thinning or loss of indigestible seed protections, loss of dormancy and increased seed size-can all be explained by the loss of the ruminant dispersal process and concomitant human management of wild stands. We demonstrate, by looking at rangeland ecology and herd animal herbivory patterns, that the progenitors of all of these species evolved to be dispersed by megafaunal ruminants and that heavy herbivory leads to dense homogenous clusters of endozoochoric plants. Hence, easily harvested stands on nitrogen hot spots near water sources would have existed in regions where these plants were domesticated. Future experimental and ecological studies could enhance our understanding of the relationships between specific crops and their possible ruminant dispersers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert N Spengler
- Archaeology Department, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Natalie G Mueller
- Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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31
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Spengler RN. Origins of the Apple: The Role of Megafaunal Mutualism in the Domestication of Malus and Rosaceous Trees. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2019; 10:617. [PMID: 31191563 PMCID: PMC6545323 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The apple (Malus domestica [Suckow] Borkh.) is one of the most economically and culturally significant fruits in the world today, and it is grown in all temperate zones. With over a thousand landraces recognized, the modern apple provides a unique case study for understanding plant evolution under human cultivation. Recent genomic and archaeobotanical studies have illuminated parts of the process of domestication in the Rosaceae family. Interestingly, these data seem to suggest that rosaceous arboreal crops did not follow the same pathway toward domestication as other domesticated, especially annual, plants. Unlike in cereal crops, tree domestication appears to have been rapid and driven by hybridization. Apple domestication also calls into question the concept of centers of domestication and human intentionality. Studies of arboreal domestication also illustrate the importance of fully understanding the seed dispersal processes in the wild progenitors when studying crop origins. Large fruits in Rosaceae evolved as a seed-dispersal adaptation recruiting megafaunal mammals of the late Miocene. Genetic studies illustrate that the increase in fruit size and changes in morphology during evolution in the wild resulted from hybridization events and were selected for by large seed dispersers. Humans over the past three millennia have fixed larger-fruiting hybrids through grafting and cloning. Ultimately, the process of evolution under human cultivation parallels the natural evolution of larger fruits in the clade as an adaptive strategy, which resulted in mutualism with large mammalian seed dispersers (disperser recruitment).
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Nicholas Spengler
- Paleoethnobotany Laboratories, Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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32
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Cooke RSC, Eigenbrod F, Bates AE. Projected losses of global mammal and bird ecological strategies. Nat Commun 2019; 10:2279. [PMID: 31123264 PMCID: PMC6533255 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10284-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2019] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Species, and their ecological strategies, are disappearing. Here we use species traits to quantify the current and projected future ecological strategy diversity for 15,484 land mammals and birds. We reveal an ecological strategy surface, structured by life-history (fast-slow) and body mass (small-large) as one major axis, and diet (invertivore-herbivore) and habitat breadth (generalist-specialist) as the other. We also find that of all possible trait combinations, only 9% are currently realized. Based on species' extinction probabilities, we predict this limited set of viable strategies will shrink further over the next 100 years, shifting the mammal and bird species pool towards small, fast-lived, highly fecund, insect-eating, generalists. In fact, our results show that this projected decline in ecological strategy diversity is much greater than if species were simply lost at random. Thus, halting the disproportionate loss of ecological strategies associated with highly threatened animals represents a key challenge for conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert S C Cooke
- Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
- Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
- Marwell Wildlife, Thompson's Lane, Colden Common, Winchester, SO21 1JH, UK.
| | - Felix Eigenbrod
- Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
- Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Amanda E Bates
- Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada
- Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
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33
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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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34
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Wedage O, Amano N, Langley MC, Douka K, Blinkhorn J, Crowther A, Deraniyagala S, Kourampas N, Simpson I, Perera N, Picin A, Boivin N, Petraglia M, Roberts P. Specialized rainforest hunting by Homo sapiens ~45,000 years ago. Nat Commun 2019; 10:739. [PMID: 30783099 PMCID: PMC6381157 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08623-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2018] [Accepted: 01/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Defining the distinctive capacities of Homo sapiens relative to other hominins is a major focus for human evolutionary studies. It has been argued that the procurement of small, difficult-to-catch, agile prey is a hallmark of complex behavior unique to our species; however, most research in this regard has been limited to the last 20,000 years in Europe and the Levant. Here, we present detailed faunal assemblage and taphonomic data from Fa-Hien Lena Cave in Sri Lanka that demonstrates specialized, sophisticated hunting of semi-arboreal and arboreal monkey and squirrel populations from ca. 45,000 years ago, in a tropical rainforest environment. Facilitated by complex osseous and microlithic technologies, we argue these data highlight that the early capture of small, elusive mammals was part of the plastic behavior of Homo sapiens that allowed it to rapidly colonize a series of extreme environments that were apparently untouched by its hominin relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oshan Wedage
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany.
- Department of History and Archaeology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Colombo, 10250, Sri Lanka.
| | - Noel Amano
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany.
| | - Michelle C Langley
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, QLD, 4111, Australia
| | - Katerina Douka
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 OEX, UK
| | - Alison Crowther
- Department of Archaeology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Siran Deraniyagala
- Department of Archaeology, Government of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 00700, Sri Lanka
| | - Nikos Kourampas
- Biological & Environmental Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
- Center for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 8AQ, UK
| | - Ian Simpson
- Biological & Environmental Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Nimal Perera
- Department of Archaeology, Government of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 00700, Sri Lanka
| | - Andrea Picin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany.
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA.
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany.
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35
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Johnson CN, Prior LD, Archibald S, Poulos HM, Barton AM, Williamson GJ, Bowman DMJS. Can trophic rewilding reduce the impact of fire in a more flammable world? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 373:rstb.2017.0443. [PMID: 30348870 PMCID: PMC6231065 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Large vertebrates affect fire regimes in several ways: by consuming plant matter that would otherwise accumulate as fuel; by controlling and varying the density of vegetation; and by engineering the soil and litter layer. These processes can regulate the frequency, intensity and extent of fire. The evidence for these effects is strongest in environments with intermediate rainfall, warm temperatures and graminoid-dominated ground vegetation. Probably, extinction of Quaternary megafauna triggered increased biomass burning in many such environments. Recent and continuing declines of large vertebrates are likely to be significant contributors to changes in fire regimes and vegetation that are currently being experienced in many parts of the world. To date, rewilding projects that aim to restore large herbivores have paid little attention to the value of large animals in moderating fire regimes. Rewilding potentially offers a powerful tool for managing the risks of wildfire and its impacts on natural and human values. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Trophic rewilding: consequences for ecosystems under global change’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher N Johnson
- School of Natural Sciences and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - Lynda D Prior
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - Sally Archibald
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Helen M Poulos
- College of the Environment, Wesleyan University, 284 High St., Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | - Andrew M Barton
- Department of Biology, University of Maine at Farmington, 173 High Street, Preble Hall, Farmington, ME 04938, USA
| | - Grant J Williamson
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - David M J S Bowman
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
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36
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Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Li BV. How to protect half of Earth to ensure it protects sufficient biodiversity. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaat2616. [PMID: 30167461 PMCID: PMC6114985 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
It is theoretically possible to protect large fractions of species in relatively small regions. For plants, 85% of species occur entirely within just over a third of the Earth's land surface, carefully optimized to maximize the species captured. Well-known vertebrate taxa show similar patterns. Protecting half of Earth might not be necessary, but would it be sufficient given the current trends of protection? The predilection of national governments is to protect areas that are "wild," that is, typically remote, cold, or arid. Unfortunately, those areas often hold relatively few species. Wild places likely afford the easier opportunities for the future expansion of protected areas, with the expansion into human-dominated landscapes the greater challenge. We identify regions that are not currently protected, but that are wild, and consider which of them hold substantial numbers of especially small-ranged vertebrate species. We assess how successful the strategy of protecting the wilder half of Earth might be in conserving biodiversity. It is far from sufficient. (Protecting large wild places for reasons other than biodiversity protection, such as carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services, might still have importance.) Unexpectedly, we also show that, despite the bias in establishing large protected areas in wild places to date, numerous small protected areas are in biodiverse places. They at least partially protect significant fractions of especially small-ranged species. So, while a preoccupation with protecting large areas for the sake of getting half of Earth might achieve little for biodiversity, there is more progress in protecting high-biodiversity areas than currently appreciated. Continuing to prioritize the right parts of Earth, not just the total area protected, is what matters for biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart L. Pimm
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA
- Corresponding author.
| | - Clinton N. Jenkins
- IPÊ–Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo 12960-000, Brazil
| | - Binbin V. Li
- Environmental Research Centre, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu 215316, China
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37
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Bauer AM, Ellis EC. The Anthropocene Divide: Obscuring Understanding of Social-Environmental Change. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1086/697198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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38
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Jeffers ES, Whitehouse NJ, Lister A, Plunkett G, Barratt P, Smyth E, Lamb P, Dee MW, Brooks SJ, Willis KJ, Froyd CA, Watson JE, Bonsall MB. Plant controls on Late Quaternary whole ecosystem structure and function. Ecol Lett 2018; 21:814-825. [PMID: 29601664 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2017] [Revised: 11/03/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Plants and animals influence biomass production and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems; however, their relative importance remains unclear. We assessed the extent to which mega-herbivore species controlled plant community composition and nutrient cycling, relative to other factors during and after the Late Quaternary extinction event in Britain and Ireland, when two-thirds of the region's mega-herbivore species went extinct. Warmer temperatures, plant-soil and plant-plant interactions, and reduced burning contributed to the expansion of woody plants and declining nitrogen availability in our five study ecosystems. Shrub biomass was consistently one of the strongest predictors of ecosystem change, equalling or exceeding the effects of other biotic and abiotic factors. In contrast, there was relatively little evidence for mega-herbivore control on plant community composition and nitrogen availability. The ability of plants to determine the fate of terrestrial ecosystems during periods of global environmental change may therefore be greater than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicki J Whitehouse
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK
| | - Adrian Lister
- Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum London, London, SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Gill Plunkett
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Phil Barratt
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK
| | - Emma Smyth
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Philip Lamb
- School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK
| | - Michael W Dee
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK
| | - Stephen J Brooks
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum London, London, SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Katherine J Willis
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.,Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AE, UK
| | - Cynthia A Froyd
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
| | - Jenny E Watson
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
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The large mean body size of mammalian herbivores explains the productivity paradox during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:640-649. [PMID: 29483680 PMCID: PMC5868731 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0481-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 01/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Large herbivores are a major agent in ecosystems, influencing vegetation structure and carbon and nutrient flows. During the last glacial period, the steppe-tundra ecosystem prevailed on the unglaciated northern lands, hosting a high diversity and density of megafaunal herbivores. The apparent discrepancy between abundant megafauna and the expected low vegetation productivity under a generally harsher climate with lower CO2 concentration, termed productivity paradox, awaits large-scale quantitative analysis from process-based ecosystem models. Yet most of the current global dynamic vegetation models (DGVMs) lack explicit representation of large herbivores. Here we incorporated a grazing module in the ORCHIDEE-MICT DGVM based on physiological and demographic equations for wild large grazers, taking into account feedbacks of large grazers on vegetation. The model was applied globally for present-day and the last glacial maximum (LGM). The present-day results of potential grazer biomass, combined with an empirical land use map, infer a reduction of wild grazer biomass by 79-93% due to anthropogenic land replacement over natural grasslands. For the LGM, we find that the larger mean body size of mammalian herbivores than today is the crucial clue to explain the productivity paradox, due to a more efficient exploitation of grass production by grazers with a larger-body size.
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40
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Hempson GP, Archibald S, Bond WJ. The consequences of replacing wildlife with livestock in Africa. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17196. [PMID: 29222494 PMCID: PMC5722938 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17348-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2017] [Accepted: 11/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The extirpation of native wildlife species and widespread establishment of livestock farming has dramatically distorted large mammal herbivore communities across the globe. Ecological theory suggests that these shifts in the form and the intensity of herbivory have had substantial impacts on a range of ecosystem processes, but for most ecosystems it is impossible to quantify these changes accurately. We address these challenges using species-level biomass data from sub-Saharan Africa for both present day and reconstructed historical herbivore communities. Our analyses reveal pronounced herbivore biomass losses in wetter areas and substantial biomass increases and functional type turnover in arid regions. Fire prevalence is likely to have been altered over vast areas where grazer biomass has transitioned to above or below the threshold at which grass fuel reduction can suppress fire. Overall, shifts in the functional composition of herbivore communities promote an expansion of woody cover. Total herbivore methane emissions have more than doubled, but lateral nutrient diffusion capacity is below 5% of past levels. The release of fundamental ecological constraints on herbivore communities in arid regions appears to pose greater threats to ecosystem function than do biomass losses in mesic regions, where fire remains the major consumer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gareth P Hempson
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa. .,South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Pretoria, 0001, South Africa.
| | - Sally Archibald
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
| | - William J Bond
- South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
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41
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Archibald S, Hempson GP. Competing consumers: contrasting the patterns and impacts of fire and mammalian herbivory in Africa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0309. [PMID: 27502374 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Fire and herbivory are the two consumers of above-ground biomass globally. They have contrasting impacts as they differ in terms of selectivity and temporal occurrence. Here, we integrate continental-scale data on fire and herbivory in Africa to explore (i) how environmental drivers constrain these two consumers and (ii) the degree to which each consumer affects the other. Environments conducive to mammalian herbivory are not necessarily the same as those conducive to fire, although their spheres of influence do overlap-especially in grassy ecosystems which are known for their frequent fires and abundance of large mammalian herbivores. Interactions between fire and herbivory can be competitive, facultative or antagonistic, and we explore this with reference to the potential for alternative ecosystem states. Although fire removes orders of magnitude more biomass than herbivory their methane emissions are very similar, and in the past, herbivores probably emitted more methane than fire. We contrast the type of herbivory and fire in different ecosystems to define 'consumer-realms'.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sally Archibald
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag, Johannesburg, South Africa Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
| | - Gareth P Hempson
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag, Johannesburg, South Africa
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42
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Venter ZS, Hawkins HJ, Cramer MD. Implications of historical interactions between herbivory and fire for rangeland management in African savannas. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Zander S. Venter
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Cape Town; Private Bag X3 Rondebosch 7701 South Africa
| | - Heidi-Jayne Hawkins
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Cape Town; Private Bag X3 Rondebosch 7701 South Africa
- Conservation South Africa; Heritage House; Suite 301, 20 Dreyer Street Claremont 7735 South Africa
| | - Michael D. Cramer
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Cape Town; Private Bag X3 Rondebosch 7701 South Africa
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43
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Bowman DMJS, Perry GLW, Higgins SI, Johnson CN, Fuhlendorf SD, Murphy BP. Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0169. [PMID: 27216526 PMCID: PMC4874407 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Fire positively and negatively affects food webs across all trophic levels and guilds and influences a range of ecological processes that reinforce fire regimes, such as nutrient cycling and soil development, plant regeneration and growth, plant community assembly and dynamics, herbivory and predation. Thus we argue that rather than merely describing spatio-temporal patterns of fire regimes, pyrodiversity must be understood in terms of feedbacks between fire regimes, biodiversity and ecological processes. Humans shape pyrodiversity both directly, by manipulating the intensity, severity, frequency and extent of fires, and indirectly, by influencing the abundance and distribution of various trophic guilds through hunting and husbandry of animals, and introduction and cultivation of plant species. Conceptualizing landscape fire as deeply embedded in food webs suggests that the restoration of degraded ecosystems requires the simultaneous careful management of fire regimes and native and invasive plants and animals, and may include introducing new vertebrates to compensate for extinctions that occurred in the recent and more distant past. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M J S Bowman
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - George L W Perry
- School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Steve I Higgins
- Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Chris N Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Samuel D Fuhlendorf
- Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
| | - Brett P Murphy
- Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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44
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Archibald S. Managing the human component of fire regimes: lessons from Africa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0346. [PMID: 27216516 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human impacts on fire regimes accumulated slowly with the evolution of modern humans able to ignite fires and manipulate landscapes. Today, myriad voices aim to influence fire in grassy ecosystems to different ends, and this is complicated by a colonial past focused on suppressing fire and preventing human ignitions. Here, I review available evidence on the impacts of people on various fire characteristics such as the number and size of fires, fire intensity, fire frequency and seasonality of fire in African grassy ecosystems, with the intention of focusing the debate and identifying areas of uncertainty. Humans alter seasonal patterns of fire in grassy systems but tend to decrease total fire emissions: livestock have replaced fire as the dominant consumer in many parts of Africa, and fragmented landscapes reduce area burned. Humans alter the season and time of day when fires occur, with important implications for fire intensity, tree-grass dynamics and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Late season fires are more common when fire is banned or illegal: these later fires are far more intense but emit fewer GHGs. The types of fires which preserve human livelihoods and biodiversity are not always aligned with the goal of reducing GHG concentrations. Current fire management challenges therefore involve balancing the needs of a large rural population against national and global perspectives on the desirability of different types of fire, but this cannot happen unless the interests of all parties are equally represented. In the future, Africa is expected to urbanize and land use to intensify, which will imply different trajectories for the continent's fire regimes.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sally Archibald
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag X3, WITS, 2050, South Africa Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
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45
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Bock M, Schmitt J, Beck J, Seth B, Chappellaz J, Fischer H. Glacial/interglacial wetland, biomass burning, and geologic methane emissions constrained by dual stable isotopic CH 4 ice core records. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:E5778-E5786. [PMID: 28673973 PMCID: PMC5530640 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1613883114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Atmospheric methane (CH4) records reconstructed from polar ice cores represent an integrated view on processes predominantly taking place in the terrestrial biogeosphere. Here, we present dual stable isotopic methane records [δ13CH4 and δD(CH4)] from four Antarctic ice cores, which provide improved constraints on past changes in natural methane sources. Our isotope data show that tropical wetlands and seasonally inundated floodplains are most likely the controlling sources of atmospheric methane variations for the current and two older interglacials and their preceding glacial maxima. The changes in these sources are steered by variations in temperature, precipitation, and the water table as modulated by insolation, (local) sea level, and monsoon intensity. Based on our δD(CH4) constraint, it seems that geologic emissions of methane may play a steady but only minor role in atmospheric CH4 changes and that the glacial budget is not dominated by these sources. Superimposed on the glacial/interglacial variations is a marked difference in both isotope records, with systematically higher values during the last 25,000 y compared with older time periods. This shift cannot be explained by climatic changes. Rather, our isotopic methane budget points to a marked increase in fire activity, possibly caused by biome changes and accumulation of fuel related to the late Pleistocene megafauna extinction, which took place in the course of the last glacial.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Bock
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jochen Schmitt
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jonas Beck
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Barbara Seth
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jérôme Chappellaz
- CNRS, IGE (Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement), F-38000 Grenoble, France
- University of Grenoble Alpes, IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France
- IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France
- Grenoble INP (Institut National Polytechnique), IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Hubertus Fischer
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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46
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Hemiboreal forest: natural disturbances and the importance of ecosystem legacies to management. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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47
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Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 113:6388-96. [PMID: 27274046 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1525200113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 230] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is a key feature of human evolution, culminating in the advanced capacity for ecosystem engineering exhibited by Homo sapiens A crucial outcome of such behaviors has been the dramatic reshaping of the global biosphere, a transformation whose early origins are increasingly apparent from cumulative archaeological and paleoecological datasets. Such data suggest that, by the Late Pleistocene, humans had begun to engage in activities that have led to alterations in the distributions of a vast array of species across most, if not all, taxonomic groups. Changes to biodiversity have included extinctions, extirpations, and shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. We outline key examples of these changes, highlighting findings from the study of new datasets, like ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical and computational methods to datasets that have accumulated significantly in recent decades. We focus on four major phases that witnessed broad anthropogenic alterations to biodiversity-the Late Pleistocene global human expansion, the Neolithic spread of agriculture, the era of island colonization, and the emergence of early urbanized societies and commercial networks. Archaeological evidence documents millennia of anthropogenic transformations that have created novel ecosystems around the world. This record has implications for ecological and evolutionary research, conservation strategies, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, pointing to a significant need for broader cross-disciplinary engagement between archaeology and the biological and environmental sciences.
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48
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van der Kaars S, Miller GH, Turney CSM, Cook EJ, Nürnberg D, Schönfeld J, Kershaw AP, Lehman SJ. Humans rather than climate the primary cause of Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in Australia. Nat Commun 2017; 8:14142. [PMID: 28106043 PMCID: PMC5263868 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2016] [Accepted: 12/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental histories that span the last full glacial cycle and are representative of regional change in Australia are scarce, hampering assessment of environmental change preceding and concurrent with human dispersal on the continent ca. 47,000 years ago. Here we present a continuous 150,000-year record offshore south-western Australia and identify the timing of two critical late Pleistocene events: wide-scale ecosystem change and regional megafaunal population collapse. We establish that substantial changes in vegetation and fire regime occurred ∼70,000 years ago under a climate much drier than today. We record high levels of the dung fungus Sporormiella, a proxy for herbivore biomass, from 150,000 to 45,000 years ago, then a marked decline indicating megafaunal population collapse, from 45,000 to 43,100 years ago, placing the extinctions within 4,000 years of human dispersal across Australia. These findings rule out climate change, and implicate humans, as the primary extinction cause. Megafaunal extinction in Australia has been attributed to both climate change and human causation. Here, van der Kaars et al. present a 150,000 year record offshore southwest Australia in which they refine the timing and nature of regional ecosystem changes and megafaunal population collapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sander van der Kaars
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.,Cluster Earth and Climate, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Gifford H Miller
- INSTAAR and Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450, USA.,Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia 6102, Australia
| | - Chris S M Turney
- Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.,Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Ellyn J Cook
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Dirk Nürnberg
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, D-24148 Kiel, Germany
| | - Joachim Schönfeld
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, D-24148 Kiel, Germany
| | - A Peter Kershaw
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Scott J Lehman
- INSTAAR and Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450, USA
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49
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Johnson CN, Alroy J, Beeton NJ, Bird MI, Brook BW, Cooper A, Gillespie R, Herrando-Pérez S, Jacobs Z, Miller GH, Prideaux GJ, Roberts RG, Rodríguez-Rey M, Saltré F, Turney CSM, Bradshaw CJA. What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul? Proc Biol Sci 2017; 283:rspb.2015.2399. [PMID: 26865301 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
During the Pleistocene, Australia and New Guinea supported a rich assemblage of large vertebrates. Why these animals disappeared has been debated for more than a century and remains controversial. Previous synthetic reviews of this problem have typically focused heavily on particular types of evidence, such as the dating of extinction and human arrival, and have frequently ignored uncertainties and biases that can lead to misinterpretation of this evidence. Here, we review diverse evidence bearing on this issue and conclude that, although many knowledge gaps remain, multiple independent lines of evidence point to direct human impact as the most likely cause of extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- C N Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - J Alroy
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia
| | - N J Beeton
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - M I Bird
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies, College of Science Technology and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia
| | - B W Brook
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - A Cooper
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - R Gillespie
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
| | - S Herrando-Pérez
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia Department of Biogeography and Global Change, National Museum of Natural Sciences-Spanish Research Council (CSIC) c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
| | - Z Jacobs
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia
| | - G H Miller
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia 6102, Australia
| | - G J Prideaux
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042, Australia
| | - R G Roberts
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia
| | - M Rodríguez-Rey
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - F Saltré
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - C S M Turney
- Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - C J A Bradshaw
- The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
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50
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Pereira P, Rein G, Martin D. Past and Present Post-Fire Environments. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2016; 573:1275-1277. [PMID: 27369092 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2016] [Accepted: 05/06/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Paulo Pereira
- Environmental Management Centre, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities g. 20, 08303 Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Guillermo Rein
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Deborah Martin
- U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street (E127), Boulder, CO 80303-1066, United States
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