The Aftermath of Megafaunal Extinction: Ecosystem Transformation in Pleistocene Australia

2012/03/23 by Susan Rule, Barry W. Brook, Simon Haberle +3 · 14 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1214261

openalex publication_date 2012/03/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Giant vertebrates dominated many Pleistocene ecosystems. Many were herbivores, and their sudden extinction in prehistory could have had large ecological impacts. We used a high-resolution 130,000-year environmental record to help resolve the cause and reconstruct the ecological consequences of extinction of Australia's megafauna. Our results suggest that human arrival rather than climate caused megafaunal extinction, which then triggered replacement of mixed rainforest by sclerophyll vegetation through a combination of direct effects on vegetation of relaxed herbivore pressure and increased fire in the landscape. This ecosystem shift was as large as any effect of climate change over the last glacial cycle, and indicates the magnitude of changes that may have followed megafaunal extinction elsewhere in the world.

Citations

• Selective hunting of juveniles as a cause of the imperceptible overkill of the Australian Pleistocene megafauna
• Deposition models for chronological records
• Sporormiella and the late Holocene extinctions in Madagascar
• IntCal09 and Marine09 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves, 0–50,000 Years cal BP

Cited by

• New ages of the world's largest-ever marsupial: Diprotodon optatum from Pleistocene Australia
• Australian hydroclimate during Marine Isotope Stage 3: A synthesis and review
• Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration
• Anthropogenic Seed Dispersal: Rethinking the Origins of Plant Domestication
• The past and future human impact on mammalian diversity
• Global late Quaternary megafauna extinctions linked to humans, not climate change
• Climate-human interaction associated with southeast Australian megafauna extinction patterns
• Robustness despite uncertainty: regional climate data reveal the dominant role of humans in explaining global extinctions of Late Quaternary megafauna
• Interpreting spatially explicit variation in dietary proxies through species distribution modeling reveals foraging preferences of mammoth (Mammuthus) and American mastodon (Mammut americanum)
• Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions on the continents: a short review
• The effect of climate and environmental change on the megafaunal moa of New Zealand in the absence of humans
• Sedimentary biomarkers reaffirm human impacts on northern Beringian ecosystems during the Last Glacial period
• The Paleoecological Impact of Grazing and Browsing: Consequences of the Late Quaternary Large Herbivore Extinctions
• Diprotodon [wikipedia]