scholarly journals Climate warming and humans played different roles in triggering Late Quaternary extinctions in east and west Eurasia

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1851) ◽  
pp. 20162438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinru Wan ◽  
Zhibin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Predominant Factor ◽  
Late Pleistocene To Holocene

Climate change and humans are proposed as the two key drivers of total extinction of many large mammals in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, but disentangling their relative roles remains challenging owing to a lack of quantitative evaluation of human impact and climate-driven distribution changes on the extinctions of these large mammals in a continuous temporal–spatial dimension. Here, our analyses showed that temperature change had significant effects on mammoth (genus Mammuthus ), rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae), horse (Equidae) and deer (Cervidae). Rapid global warming was the predominant factor driving the total extinction of mammoths and rhinos in frigid zones from the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Humans showed significant, negative effects on extirpations of the four mammalian taxa, and were the predominant factor causing the extinction or major extirpations of rhinos and horses. Deer survived both rapid climate warming and extensive human impacts. Our study indicates that both the current rates of warming and range shifts of species are much faster than those from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene. Our results provide new insight into the extinction of Late Quaternary megafauna by demonstrating taxon-, period- and region-specific differences in extinction drivers of climate change and human disturbances, and some implications about the extinction risk of animals by recent and ongoing climate warming.

Late Pleistocene coastal paleogeography of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada, and its implications for terrestrial biogeography and early postglacial human occupation

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1755-1766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée Hetherington ◽  
J Vaughn Barrie ◽  
Robert GB Reid ◽  
Roger MacLeod ◽  
Dan J Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Glacial Refugia ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Queen Charlotte Islands

Molluscs, sediment lithology, and published sub-bottom profiles are used to deduce sea levels, outline the influence of glacially induced crustal displacement, and reconstruct the paleoenvironment of the northeast Pacific late Quaternary coastline. Geo-spatial modelling shows subaerially exposed land that could have been inhabited by plants and animals, and also coastally migrating early North American peoples. Ice-free terrain, present by at least 13 790 ± 150 14C years BP, a land bridge, and edible molluscs are identified. Queen Charlotte Islands (QCI) late Pleistocene coastal paleogeography may assist in explaining the biogeography of many terrestrial plant and animal species along the broader northeastern Pacific margin and provide evidence for researchers seeking late Pleistocene – early Holocene glacial refugia. Late Pleistocene – early Holocene coastlines that are not drowned and that may harbour early archaeological sites are identified along the western QCI, where migrants probably first travelled and the westernmost British Columbia mainland, where the effects of glacial ice were reduced.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon AMS Dating of Pollen Concentrated from Eolian Sediments: Implications for Monsoon Climate Change Since the Late Quaternary

Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weijian Zhou ◽  
Douglas Donahue ◽  
A. J. T. Jull
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Precipitation Variability ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Monsoon Climate ◽  
Wood Cellulose ◽  
Eolian Sediments ◽  
Ams Dating

Dating pollen concentrated from eolian sediments provides a new way to establish a chronological framework on the Loess Plateau of China. We show that pollen deposited simultaneously with sediment in a stable environment can provide reliable ages. We suggest that the reliability of pollen dating can be evaluated by comparison with wood cellulose or charcoal ages from the same stratigraphic level. Dating pollen concentrates from the various profiles indicates paleomonsoon precipitation variability at the loess/desert transitional belt from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene.

Response of fluvial, aeolian, and lacustrine systems to late Pleistocene to Holocene climate change, Lower Moravian Basin, Czech Republic

Geomorphology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 232 ◽  
pp. 193-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Kadlec ◽  
Gary Kocurek ◽  
David Mohrig ◽  
Dattatreya P. Shinde ◽  
Madhav K. Murari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Holocene Climate ◽  
Holocene Climate Change ◽  
Late Pleistocene To Holocene

Large mammals of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain showed resilience to extreme climate change but vulnerability to modern human impacts

2020 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 106050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A. Venter ◽  
Christopher F. Brooke ◽  
Curtis W. Marean ◽  
Hervé Fritz ◽  
Charles W. Helm
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Extreme Climate

scholarly journals Late Glacial–Holocene climatic transition record at the Argentinian Andean piedmont between 33 and 34° S

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 863-875 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Mehl ◽  
M. A. Zárate
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
South American ◽  
Aeolian Deposits ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Climatic Transition ◽  
Flooding Events

Abstract. The Arroyo La Estacada (~ 33°28' S, 69°02' W), eastern Andean piedmont of Argentina, cuts through an extensive piedmont aggradational unit composed of a dominant Late Pleistocene–early Holocene (LP–EH) alluvial sequence that includes several paleosols. One of these paleosols developed affecting the topmost part of likely Late Glacial aeolian deposits aggraded into a floodplain environment by the end of the Late Pleistocene. The paleosol shows variable grade of development along the arroyo outcrops. Organic matter humification, carbonate accumulation and redox processes were the dominant processes associated with paleosol formation. By the early Holocene, when the formation of the paleosol ended, renewed alluvial aggradation and high magnitude flooding events affected the arroyo's floodplain environment. Accordignly, a period of relative landscape stability in the Arroyo La Estacada basin is inferred from the paleosol developed by the LP–EH transition in response to the climatic conditions in the Andes cordillera piedmont after the Late Glacial arid conditions. The analyzed Late Glacial–Holocene alluvial record of the Andean piedmont constitutes a suitable record of the LP–EH climatic transition in the extra-Andean region of Argentina. It is in agreement with regional paleoclimatic evidence along the southern tip of the South American continent, where other pedosedimentary sequences record similar late Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes over both fluvial and interfluvial areas.

scholarly journals Synergistic roles of climate warming and human occupation in Patagonian megafaunal extinctions during the Last Deglaciation

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. e1501682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Metcalf ◽  
Chris Turney ◽  
Ross Barnett ◽  
Fabiana Martin ◽  
Sarah C. Bray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South America ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Radiocarbon Data

The causes of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions (60,000 to 11,650 years ago, hereafter 60 to 11.65 ka) remain contentious, with major phases coinciding with both human arrival and climate change around the world. The Americas provide a unique opportunity to disentangle these factors as human colonization took place over a narrow time frame (~15 to 14.6 ka) but during contrasting temperature trends across each continent. Unfortunately, limited data sets in South America have so far precluded detailed comparison. We analyze genetic and radiocarbon data from 89 and 71 Patagonian megafaunal bones, respectively, more than doubling the high-quality Pleistocene megafaunal radiocarbon data sets from the region. We identify a narrow megafaunal extinction phase 12,280 ± 110 years ago, some 1 to 3 thousand years after initial human presence in the area. Although humans arrived immediately prior to a cold phase, the Antarctic Cold Reversal stadial, megafaunal extinctions did not occur until the stadial finished and the subsequent warming phase commenced some 1 to 3 thousand years later. The increased resolution provided by the Patagonian material reveals that the sequence of climate and extinction events in North and South America were temporally inverted, but in both cases, megafaunal extinctions did not occur until human presence and climate warming coincided. Overall, metapopulation processes involving subpopulation connectivity on a continental scale appear to have been critical for megafaunal species survival of both climate change and human impacts.

scholarly journals Historical climate change and megafaunal extinctions linked to genetic diversity declines in shorebirds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Zhen Tan ◽  
Justin J.F.J. Jansen ◽  
Gary A. Allport ◽  
Kritika M Garg ◽  
Balaji Chattopadhyay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Impact

The impact of accelerated climate change on extinction risk is not well-characterised despite its increasing relevance. Comparative genomics of extinct versus extant species might be useful in elucidating broad trends in faunal endangerment. We investigated fluctuations in genetic diversity and extinction timing in our genomic dataset of nine species of particularly vulnerable migratory shorebirds (Numenius), including two species widely thought to be extinct. Most species faced generally sharp declines in effective population sizes, a proxy for genetic diversity, soon after the Last Glacial Maximum. During this time, a warming climate supported forest expansions at the expense of open habitats, exacerbated by human-induced mass extinctions of megafauna only a few thousand years prior, resulting in unprecedented reductions in shorebird breeding habitat. Species breeding in temperate regions, where they widely overlap with human populations, have been most strongly affected. Late Quaternary events can exert long-lasting effects on some species' susceptibility to extinction. Genomic inquiry is crucial in informing conservation actions in the fight against ongoing biodiversity loss.

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