posted on 2023-05-21, 01:10authored bySwift, JA, Bunce, M, Dortch, J, Douglass, K, Faith, JT, Fellows Yates, JA, Field, J, Haberle, SG, Jacob, E, Christopher JohnsonChristopher Johnson, Lindsey, E, Lorenzen, ED, Louys, J, Miller, G, Mychajliw, AM, Slon, V, Villavicencio, NA, Waters, MR, Welker, F, Wood, R, Petraglia, M, Boivin, N, Roberts, P
Drivers of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions are relevant to modern conservation policy in a world of growing human population density, climate change, and faunal decline. Traditional debates tend toward global solutions, blaming either dramatic climate change or dispersals of Homo sapiens to new regions. Inherent limitations to archaeological and paleontological data sets often require reliance on scant, poorly resolved lines of evidence. However, recent developments in scientific technologies allow for more local, context-specific approaches. In the present article, we highlight how developments in five such methodologies (radiocarbon approaches, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, ancient proteomics, microscopy) have helped drive detailed analysis of specific megafaunal species, their particular ecological settings, and responses to new competitors or predators, climate change, and other external phenomena. The detailed case studies of faunal community composition, extinction chronologies, and demographic trends enabled by these methods examine megafaunal extinctions at scales appropriate for practical understanding of threats against particular species in their habitats today.
History
Publication title
BioScience
Volume
69
Issue
11
Pagination
877-887
ISSN
0006-3568
Department/School
School of Natural Sciences
Publisher
Amer Inst Biological Sci
Place of publication
1444 Eye St, Nw, Ste 200, Washington, USA, Dc, 20005