Late Quaternary Bison diminution on the Great Plains of North America: evaluating the role of human hunting versus climate change

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (17-18) ◽  
pp. 1752-1771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew E. Hill ◽  
Matthew G. Hill ◽  
Christopher C. Widga
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Late Quaternary

POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS OF THE GREAT PLAINS OF NORTH AMERICA

1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 993-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. COVICH ◽  
S. C. FRITZ ◽  
P. J. LAMB ◽  
R. D. MARZOLF ◽  
W. J. MATTHEWS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems

Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6488) ◽  
pp. 314-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Park Williams ◽  
Edward R. Cook ◽  
Jason E. Smerdon ◽  
Benjamin I. Cook ◽  
John T. Abatzoglou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
North America ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Hydrological Modeling ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Large Contribution ◽  
Moderate Drought

Severe and persistent 21st-century drought in southwestern North America (SWNA) motivates comparisons to medieval megadroughts and questions about the role of anthropogenic climate change. We use hydrological modeling and new 1200-year tree-ring reconstructions of summer soil moisture to demonstrate that the 2000–2018 SWNA drought was the second driest 19-year period since 800 CE, exceeded only by a late-1500s megadrought. The megadrought-like trajectory of 2000–2018 soil moisture was driven by natural variability superimposed on drying due to anthropogenic warming. Anthropogenic trends in temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation estimated from 31 climate models account for 46% (model interquartiles of 34 to 103%) of the 2000–2018 drought severity, pushing an otherwise moderate drought onto a trajectory comparable to the worst SWNA megadroughts since 800 CE.

Late quaternary climate change in eastern North America

1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 587-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thompson Webb III ◽  
Katherine H Anderson ◽  
Patrick J Bartlein ◽  
Robert S Webb
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Quaternary Climate

scholarly journals Climate change, not human population growth, correlates with Late Quaternary megafauna declines in North America

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Stewart ◽  
W. Christopher Carleton ◽  
Huw S. Groucutt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Bayesian Regression ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe disappearance of many North American megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene is a contentious topic. While the proposed causes for megafaunal extinction are varied, most researchers fall into three broad camps emphasizing human overhunting, climate change, or some combination of the two. Understanding the cause of megafaunal extinctions requires the analysis of through-time relationships between climate change and megafauna and human population dynamics. To do so, many researchers have used summed probability density functions (SPDFs) as a proxy for through-time fluctuations in human and megafauna population sizes. SPDFs, however, conflate process variation with the chronological uncertainty inherent in radiocarbon dates. Recently, a new Bayesian regression technique was developed that overcomes this problem—Radiocarbon-dated Event-Count (REC) Modelling. Here we employ REC models to test whether declines in North American megafauna species could be best explained by climate changes, increases in human population densities, or both, using the largest available database of megafauna and human radiocarbon dates. Our results suggest that there is currently no evidence for a persistent through-time relationship between human and megafauna population levels in North America. There is, however, evidence that decreases in global temperature correlated with megafauna population declines.

The role of abrupt climate change in the formation of an open vegetation enclave in northern Amazonia during the late Quaternary

2019 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 140-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Zular ◽  
André Oliveira Sawakuchi ◽  
Cristiano Mazur Chiessi ◽  
Fernando Mendonça d’Horta ◽  
Francisco William Cruz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change
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