Late Holocene spread of pastoralism coincides with endemic megafaunal extinction on Madagascar
| Autor: | Brooke E. Crowley, Geoffrey Clark, Douglas J. Kennett, Simon Haberle, Michael Buckley, Kristina Douglass, Jean Freddy Ranaivoarisoa, Sean W. Hixon, Balzac Mbola, Lucien M.A. Rakotozafy, Atholl Anderson, Salomon Fidiarisoa |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010506 paleontology media_common.quotation_subject Lemur Extinction Biological 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Competition (biology) megafauna Megafauna biology.animal Madagascar Animals Holocene Research Articles Ecosystem 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science media_common Mammals Herbivore Extinction Global Change and Conservation General Immunology and Microbiology biology Ecology extinction Fossils General Medicine palaeoecology Geography Habitat Paleoecology radiocarbon General Agricultural and Biological Sciences competition pastoralism |
| Zdroj: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Hixon, S W, Douglass, K G, Crowley, B E, Rakotozafy, L M A, Clark, G, Anderson, A, Haberle, S, Ranaivoarisoa, J F, Buckley, M, Fidiarisoa, S, Mbola, B & Kennett, D J 2021, ' Late Holocene spread of pastoralism coincides with endemic megafaunal extinction on Madagascar ', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 288, no. 1955, 20211204 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1204 |
| ISSN: | 1471-2954 0962-8452 |
| Popis: | Recently expanded estimates for when humans arrived on Madagascar (up to approximately 10 000 years ago) highlight questions about the causes of the island's relatively late megafaunal extinctions (approximately 2000–500 years ago). Introduced domesticated animals could have contributed to extinctions, but the arrival times and past diets of exotic animals are poorly known. To conduct the first explicit test of the potential for competition between introduced livestock and extinct endemic megafauna in southern and western Madagascar, we generated new radiocarbon and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the bone collagen of introduced ungulates (zebu cattle, ovicaprids and bushpigs,n= 66) and endemic megafauna (pygmy hippopotamuses, giant tortoises and elephant birds,n= 68), and combined these data with existing data from endemic megafauna (n= 282, including giant lemurs). Radiocarbon dates confirm that introduced and endemic herbivores briefly overlapped chronologically in this region between 1000 and 800 calibrated years before present (cal BP). Moreover, stable isotope data suggest that goats, tortoises and hippos had broadly similar diets or exploited similar habitats. These data support the potential for both direct and indirect forms of competition between introduced and endemic herbivores. We argue that competition with introduced herbivores, mediated by opportunistic hunting by humans and exacerbated by environmental change, contributed to the late extinction of endemic megafauna on Madagascar. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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