Climate change not to blame for late Quaternary megafauna extinctions in Australia.

Saltré, F; Rodríguez-Rey, M; Brook, BW; Johnson, CN; Turney, CSM; Alroy, J; Cooper, A; Beeton, N; Bird, MI; Fordham, DA; Gillespie, R; Herrando-Pérez, S; Jacobs, Z; Miller, GH; Nogués-Bravo, D; Prideaux, GJ; Roberts, RG; Bradshaw, CJA

Climate change not to blame for late Quaternary megafauna extinctions in Australia.

Saltré, F Rodríguez-Rey, M Brook, BW Johnson, CN Turney, CSM Alroy, J Cooper, A Beeton, N Bird, MI Fordham, DA Gillespie, R Herrando-Pérez, S Jacobs, Z Miller, GH Nogués-Bravo, D Prideaux, GJ Roberts, RG Bradshaw, CJA

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Publisher:: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Nat Commun, 2016, 7, (1), pp. 10511
Issue Date:: 2016-01-29

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Saltré, F
dc.contributor.author	Rodríguez-Rey, M
dc.contributor.author	Brook, BW
dc.contributor.author	Johnson, CN
dc.contributor.author	Turney, CSM
dc.contributor.author	Alroy, J
dc.contributor.author	Cooper, A
dc.contributor.author	Beeton, N
dc.contributor.author	Bird, MI
dc.contributor.author	Fordham, DA
dc.contributor.author	Gillespie, R
dc.contributor.author	Herrando-Pérez, S
dc.contributor.author	Jacobs, Z
dc.contributor.author	Miller, GH
dc.contributor.author	Nogués-Bravo, D
dc.contributor.author	Prideaux, GJ
dc.contributor.author	Roberts, RG
dc.contributor.author	Bradshaw, CJA
dc.date.accessioned	2022-08-16T06:41:12Z
dc.date.available	2015-12-13
dc.date.available	2022-08-16T06:41:12Z
dc.date.issued	2016-01-29
dc.identifier.citation	Nat Commun, 2016, 7, (1), pp. 10511
dc.identifier.issn	2041-1723
dc.identifier.issn	2041-1723
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/160358
dc.description.abstract	Late Quaternary megafauna extinctions impoverished mammalian diversity worldwide. The causes of these extinctions in Australia are most controversial but essential to resolve, because this continent-wide event presaged similar losses that occurred thousands of years later on other continents. Here we apply a rigorous metadata analysis and new ensemble-hindcasting approach to 659 Australian megafauna fossil ages. When coupled with analysis of several high-resolution climate records, we show that megafaunal extinctions were broadly synchronous among genera and independent of climate aridity and variability in Australia over the last 120,000 years. Our results reject climate change as the primary driver of megafauna extinctions in the world's most controversial context, and instead estimate that the megafauna disappeared Australia-wide ∼13,500 years after human arrival, with shorter periods of coexistence in some regions. This is the first comprehensive approach to incorporate uncertainty in fossil ages, extinction timing and climatology, to quantify mechanisms of prehistorical extinctions.
dc.format	Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL100100195
dc.relation.ispartof	Nat Commun
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1038/ncomms10511
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject.mesh	Animals
dc.subject.mesh	Australia
dc.subject.mesh	Climate Change
dc.subject.mesh	Extinction, Biological
dc.subject.mesh	Humans
dc.subject.mesh	Paleontology
dc.subject.mesh	Time Factors
dc.subject.mesh	Animals
dc.subject.mesh	Humans
dc.subject.mesh	Time Factors
dc.subject.mesh	Paleontology
dc.subject.mesh	Australia
dc.subject.mesh	Extinction, Biological
dc.subject.mesh	Climate Change
dc.title	Climate change not to blame for late Quaternary megafauna extinctions in Australia.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	7
utslib.location.activity	England
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-08-16T06:41:11Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	7
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

Late Quaternary megafauna extinctions impoverished mammalian diversity worldwide. The causes of these extinctions in Australia are most controversial but essential to resolve, because this continent-wide event presaged similar losses that occurred thousands of years later on other continents. Here we apply a rigorous metadata analysis and new ensemble-hindcasting approach to 659 Australian megafauna fossil ages. When coupled with analysis of several high-resolution climate records, we show that megafaunal extinctions were broadly synchronous among genera and independent of climate aridity and variability in Australia over the last 120,000 years. Our results reject climate change as the primary driver of megafauna extinctions in the world's most controversial context, and instead estimate that the megafauna disappeared Australia-wide ∼13,500 years after human arrival, with shorter periods of coexistence in some regions. This is the first comprehensive approach to incorporate uncertainty in fossil ages, extinction timing and climatology, to quantify mechanisms of prehistorical extinctions.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/160358