The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene

• Published in: Cambridge Prisms: Extinction Vol. 2; p. e5
• Main Authors: Svenning, Jens-Christian, Lemoine, Rhys T., Bergman, Juraj, Buitenwerf, Robert, Le Roux, Elizabeth, Lundgren, Erick, Mungi, Ninad, Pedersen, Rasmus Ø.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Cambridge University Press 2024
• Subjects: defaunation; Mass Extinction; megafauna extinctions; Overview Review; Pleistocene climate; prehistoric Homo sapiens; trophic rewilding; defaunation; trophic rewilding; megafauna extinctions; prehistoric Homo sapiens; Pleistocene climate

Across the last ~50,000 years (the late Quaternary) terrestrial vertebrate faunas have experienced severe losses of large species (megafauna), with most extinctions occurring in the Late Pleistocene and Early to Middle Holocene. Debate on the causes has been ongoing for over 200 years, intensifying...