What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul?

2016/02/10 by Christopher N. Johnson, John Alroy, Nicholas J. Beeton +13 · 7 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2399

openalex publication_date 2016/02/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

During the Pleistocene, Australia and New Guinea supported a rich assemblage of large vertebrates. Why these animals disappeared has been debated for more than a century and remains controversial. Previous synthetic reviews of this problem have typically focused heavily on particular types of evidence, such as the dating of extinction and human arrival, and have frequently ignored uncertainties and biases that can lead to misinterpretation of this evidence. Here, we review diverse evidence bearing on this issue and conclude that, although many knowledge gaps remain, multiple independent lines of evidence point to direct human impact as the most likely cause of extinction.

Citations

• A Pliocene‐Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records
• Hacia un profesionalismo directivo
• Selective hunting of juveniles as a cause of the imperceptible overkill of the Australian Pleistocene megafauna
• Hydrological transformation coincided with megafaunal extinction in central Australia
• The Associational Critique of Quaternary Overkill and why it is Largely Irrelevant to the Extinction Debate

Cited by

• Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago
• Re‐analysis of the “engraved” Diprotodon tooth from Spring Creek, Victoria, Australia
• Australian hydroclimate during Marine Isotope Stage 3: A synthesis and review
• Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration
• Levantine overkill: 1.5 million years of hunting down the body size distribution
• Diprotodon [wikipedia]
• Great American Interchange [wikipedia]