Pleistocene to Holocene extinction dynamics of Northern Eurasian megafauna, in relation to human activity and environmental change
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Genetics Evolution and Environment
Abstract
We live in a zoologically impoverished world from which many of the largest and most spectacular land animals (called 'megafauna'), e.g. mammoths and sabre tooth cats, have disappeared in the last 40-50 thousand years, at the end of the last ice age and into the postglacial period. The cause or causes of these extinctions remain unresolved. The main contenders are: hunting by modern humans with stone age technologies / known as 'overkill', environmental changes, and a combination of the two. This issue has important implications for the likely impact of humans and/or global warming on the animals of today. Crucial to solving the mystery is accurate information on when and where each megafaunal species became extinct, and what changes in distribution and population size preceded extinctions. Fortunately for Europe and northern Asia, most extinctions occurred within the last 25,000 years, well within the range of radiocarbon dating. We will test ideas that megafaunal distributions expanded and shrank dramatically with environmental changes, leading to reduced and fragmented populations before final extinction. We will also explore how the response of each species differed according to its ecology. However, not all megafaunal range shifts and extinctions can be attributed to changes in the environment, and there is the intriguing new hypothesis that where human populations were densest, this prevented colonization by megafauna. We will obtain some 200 radiocarbon dates (Oxford laboratory) from northern Eurasia made directly on remains of extinct megafauna (woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant deer, cave bear) together with two that only survive in other regions (spotted hyaena, lion). Direct dating is more reliable than dates made on associated materials. Any unexpected or outstanding dates will be checked independently by another radiocarbon laboratory (Kiel, Germany). We will target regions where there is currently a critical lack of information, and also species with few dates. Recent work has demonstrated unexpected survival of woolly mammoth, and giant deer (our work) in limited areas, well beyond the end of the ice age (i.e. later than 12,000 years ago). We will pursue other possible late occurrences, with important implications for understanding the processes of final extinction, since climatic fluctuations were generally less extreme after the end of the ice age. In this way we will construct a much more complete picture of megafaunal distributional changes and final extinctions through the last 40,000 years over a very large area. Taking advantage of recent advances (including new, very large datasets) in both stone age archaeology and the history of vegetation from Europe and northern Asia, we will take a fresh approach. From detailed records of human presence at archaeological sites, dated by radiocarbon, we will construct time-sliced maps and time charts tracing the spread and relative population densities of modern humans from 40,000 years ago, onwards. Similarly, from the record of fossil pollen preserved in the sediments of lakes and bogs (European Pollen Database) we will construct time-sliced maps and charts tracking changes in the composition of vegetation. These uniquely detailed records will then be compared with our maps and charts for megafaunal history to look for correlations between events, and thus test the various explanations for the cause or causes of extinctions. We will also look at the histories of several ice age large mammals that did not become extinct in northern Eurasia, e.g. red deer, reindeer, and horse, comparing them with the extinct species to see if ecological, anatomical or other differences were critical for survival, or extinction. We will reconstruct the ecologies of the extinct species from dental and other anatomical information, and from data on vegetation and climate, where megafaunal remains have been found reliably associated with other fossil material.
Organisations
Publications
Allen J
(2010)
Last glacial vegetation of northern Eurasia
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Barnes I
(2007)
Genetic structure and extinction of the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius.
in Current biology : CB
Brace S
(2012)
Serial population extinctions in a small mammal indicate Late Pleistocene ecosystem instability
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Chritz K
(2009)
Palaeobiology of an extinct Ice Age mammal: Stable isotope and cementum analysis of giant deer teeth
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Conroy K
(2020)
Tracking late-Quaternary extinctions in interior Alaska using megaherbivore bone remains and dung fungal spores
in Quaternary Research
Gamble C
(2009)
Human display and dispersal: A case study from biotidal Britain in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene
in Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews
Gamble, Clive; Boismier, William A.; Coward, Fiona
(2012)
Neanderthals Among Mammoths: Excavations at Lynford Quarry, Norfolk
Huntley B
(2013)
Millennial climatic fluctuations are key to the structure of last glacial ecosystems.
in PloS one
Klinkhamer AJ
(2019)
Head to head: the case for fighting behaviour in Megaloceros giganteus using finite-element analysis.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Lister A
(2013)
Extinction chronology of the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis: reply to Kuzmin
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Lister A
(2008)
The impact of climate change on large mammal distribution and extinction: Evidence from the last glacial/interglacial transition
in Comptes Rendus Geoscience
Lister A
(2009)
Late-glacial mammoth skeletons ( Mammuthus primigenius ) from Condover (Shropshire, UK): anatomy, pathology, taphonomy and chronological significance
in Geological Journal
Lister Adrian
(2007)
Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age
PACHER M
(2009)
Extinction chronology and palaeobiology of the cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus )
in Boreas
Rivals F
(2016)
Dietary flexibility and niche partitioning of large herbivores through the Pleistocene of Britain
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Rivals F
(2012)
An examination of dietary diversity patterns in Pleistocene proboscideans (Mammuthus, Palaeoloxodon, and Mammut) from Europe and North America as revealed by dental microwear
in Quaternary International
Scourse J
(2009)
Late-glacial remains of woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) from Shropshire, UK: stratigraphy, sedimentology and geochronology of the Condover site
in Geological Journal
Semprebon G
(2016)
Dietary reconstruction of pygmy mammoths from Santa Rosa Island of California
in Quaternary International
Stewart JR
(2010)
Refugia revisited: individualistic responses of species in space and time.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Stuart A
(2012)
Extinction chronology of the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis in the context of late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions in northern Eurasia
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Stuart A
(2011)
Extinction chronology of the cave lion Panthera spelaea
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Stuart A
(2014)
New radiocarbon evidence on the extirpation of the spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta (Erxl.)) in northern Eurasia
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Stuart A
(2014)
Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions on the continents: a short review
in Geological Journal
Turvey S
(2013)
Holocene survival of Late Pleistocene megafauna in China: a critical review of the evidence
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Ukkonen P
(2011)
Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) and its environment in northern Europe during the last glaciation
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Description | Megafaunal extinctions in northern Eurasia (excluding Mediterranean islands) since the Last Interglacial claimed about 37% of species with body weights above 44 kg. We reviewed the dating evidence for the timings of these extinctions, which were staggered over tens of millennia. Moreover, individual species disappeared at different times in different geographical areas. For example, cave bear probably disappeared ca. 30.5-28.5 ka, at approximately the onset of GS-3 (beginning of 'LGM'), whereas cave lion survived until the Lateglacial ca 14 ka. Others survived into the Holocene: woolly mammoth until ca 10.7 ka in the New Siberian Islands and ca 4 ka on Wrangel Island, giant deer to at least 7.7 ka in western Siberia and European Russia. It is evident that climatic and vegetational changes had major impacts on species' ranges, and moreover the contrasting chronologies and geographical range contractions are consistent with environmental drivers relating to their differing ecologies. However, the possible role of humans in this process has still to be satisfactorily explored. We have now published detailed reviews of the radiocarbon record and extinction chronology of woolly rhinoceros, giant deer, cave lion, spotted hyaena and cave bear and assessed them in terms of climatic and vegetational drivers of extinction. |
Exploitation Route | Climate models and vegetation maps have been used by others interested in last-glacial climates and vegetation. Faunal datelists are being used in species distribution modelling by others. |
Sectors | Education Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
URL | http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/earth-sciences/fossil-vertebrates/fossil-vertebrate-research/quaternary-mammals/large-mammal-extinction/index.html |
Description | Quaternary Extinctions Conference 2012 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Conference at Natural History Museum 19 Sept 2012: 'Extinction: The Quaternary Perspective' One-day meeting bringing together resdearchers and conservation policymakers to showcase the results of the NERC project and those of other researchers in the field, and to build collaborations, especially across the palaeontology-neontology divide. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |