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Synergistic roles of climate warming and human occupation in Patagonian megafaunal extinctions during the Last Deglaciation

Metcalf, Jessica L.
[1]; 
Turney, Chris
[2]; 
Barnett, Ross
[3]; 
[4]; 
Bray, Sarah C.
[1]; 
Vilstrup, Julia T.
[5]; 
Orlando, Ludovic
[5]; 
Salas-Gismondi, Rodolfo
[6]; 
Loponte, Daniel
[7]; 
Medina, Matias
[8]; 
De Nigris, Mariana
[8]; 
Civalero, Teresa
[8]; 
Marcelo Fernandez, Pablo
[8]; 
Gasco, Alejandra
[8]; 
Duran, Victor
[8]; 
Seymour, Kevin L.
[9]; 
Otaola, Clara
[10]; 
Gil, Adolfo
[10]; 
Paunero, Rafael
[11]; 
Prevosti, Francisco J.
[8]; 
Bradshaw, Corey J. A.
[1]; 
Wheeler, Jane C.
[12]; 
Borrero, Luis
[13]; 
Austin, Jeremy J.
[1]; 
Cooper, Alan
[1]
  • 1
    University of Adelaide
  • 2
    University of New South Wales Sydney
  • 3
    University of Oxford
  • 4
    Instituto de la Patagonia  
  • 5
    University of Copenhagen
  • 6
    Universite PSL
  • 7
    Inst Nacl Antropol & Pensamiento Latinoamer
  • 8
    Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
  • 9
    Royal Ontario Museum
  • 10
    CONICET IANGLA Grp Vincualdo San Rafael UTN MHNSR
  • 11
    National University of La Plata
  • 12
    Inst Invest & Desarrollo Camelidos Sudamer
  • 13
    University of Buenos Aires
DOI
Date Issued
2016-06
Type
Artículo
Journal
Science Advances
ISSN
2375-2548
Open Access
gold
Volume
2
Links
The causes of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions (60,000 to 11,650 years ago, hereafter 60 to 11.65 ka) remain contentious, with major phases coinciding with both human arrival and climate change around the world. The Americas provide a unique opportunity to disentangle these factors as human colonization took place over a narrow time frame (similar to 15 to 14.6 ka) but during contrasting temperature trends across each continent. Unfortunately, limited data sets in South America have so far precluded detailed comparison. We analyze genetic and radiocarbon data from 89 and 71 Patagonian megafaunal bones, respectively, more than doubling the high-quality Pleistocene megafaunal radiocarbon data sets from the region. We identify a narrow megafaunal extinction phase 12,280 +/- 110 years ago, some 1 to 3 thousand years after initial human presence in the area. Although humans arrived immediately prior to a cold phase, the Antarctic Cold Reversal stadial, megafaunal extinctions did not occur until the stadial finished and the subsequent warming phase commenced some 1 to 3 thousand years later. The increased resolution provided by the Patagonian material reveals that the sequence of climate and extinction events in North and South America were temporally inverted, but in both cases, megafaunal extinctions did not occur until human presence and climate warming coincided. Overall, metapopulation processes involving subpopulation connectivity on a continental scale appear to have been critical for megafaunal species survival of both climate change and human impacts.
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