Variable impact of late-Quaternary megafaunal extinction in causing ecological state shifts in North and South America

Loss of megafauna, an aspect of defaunation, can precipitate many ecological changes over short time scales. We examine whether megafauna loss can also explain features of lasting ecological state shifts that occurred as the Pleistocene gave way to the Holocene. We compare ecological impacts of late...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 113; no. 4; pp. 856 - 861
Main Authors Barnosky, Anthony D., Lindsey, Emily L., Villavicencio, Natalia A., Bostelmann, Enrique, Hadly, Elizabeth A., Wanket, James, Marshall, Charles R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 26.01.2016
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Animal Distribution
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Biodiversity
Biological Sciences
Body Size
Climate Change
Ecology
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Environmental impact
Extinction
Extinction, Biological
Fires - history
Fossils
Geological time
Herbivory
History, Ancient
Mammals
North America
Paleontology
Physical Sciences
Plant Dispersal
Pollen
South America
Trees
South America
North America
South America
extinction
Quaternary
North America
megafauna
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Summary:Loss of megafauna, an aspect of defaunation, can precipitate many ecological changes over short time scales. We examine whether megafauna loss can also explain features of lasting ecological state shifts that occurred as the Pleistocene gave way to the Holocene. We compare ecological impacts of late-Quaternary megafauna extinction in five American regions: southwestern Patagonia, the Pampas, northeastern United States, northwestern United States, and Beringia. We find that major ecological state shifts were consistent with expectations of defaunation in North American sites but not in South American ones. The differential responses highlight two factors necessary for defaunation to trigger lasting ecological state shifts discernable in the fossil record: (i) lost megafauna need to have been effective ecosystem engineers, like proboscideans; and (ii) historical contingencies must have provided the ecosystem with plant species likely to respond to megafaunal loss. These findings help in identifying modern ecosystems that are most at risk for disappearing should current pressures on the ecosystems’ large animals continue and highlight the critical role of both individual species ecologies and ecosystem context in predicting the lasting impacts of defaunation currently underway.
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Author contributions: A.D.B., E.L.L., N.A.V., E.A.H., and C.R.M. designed research; A.D.B., E.L.L., N.A.V., E.B., E.A.H., J.W., and C.R.M. performed research; A.D.B. provided laboratory facilities; E.L.L. acquired data (especially Pampas); N.A.V. acquired data (especially southern Patagonia); E.A.H. acquired data (especially northwestern United States); A.D.B. and E.B. compiled data; A.D.B. synthesized data; N.A.V. performed computation of confidence intervals; A.D.B., E.L.L., N.A.V., E.B., E.A.H., J.W., and C.R.M. analyzed data; A.D.B., E.L.L., and E.A.H. interpreted data; N.A.V. interpreted data (especially southern Patagonia); E.B. interpreted data (Pampas and southern Patagonia); J.W. interpreted palynology and vegetation for northern California; C.R.M. interpreted data (especially confidence intervals); and A.D.B., E.L.L., N.A.V., E.A.H., and C.R.M. wrote the paper.
Edited by John W. Terborgh, Duke University, Durham, NC, and approved August 5, 2015 (received for review March 16, 2015)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1505295112