Nature Communications (Jan 2016)
Climate change not to blame for late Quaternary megafauna extinctions in Australia
- Frédérik Saltré,
- Marta Rodríguez-Rey,
- Barry W. Brook,
- Christopher N Johnson,
- Chris S. M. Turney,
- John Alroy,
- Alan Cooper,
- Nicholas Beeton,
- Michael I. Bird,
- Damien A. Fordham,
- Richard Gillespie,
- Salvador Herrando-Pérez,
- Zenobia Jacobs,
- Gifford H. Miller,
- David Nogués-Bravo,
- Gavin J. Prideaux,
- Richard G. Roberts,
- Corey J. A. Bradshaw
Affiliations
- Frédérik Saltré
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide
- Marta Rodríguez-Rey
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide
- Barry W. Brook
- School of Biological Sciences, Private Bag 55, University of Tasmania
- Christopher N Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, Private Bag 55, University of Tasmania
- Chris S. M. Turney
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of NSW
- John Alroy
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
- Alan Cooper
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide
- Nicholas Beeton
- School of Biological Sciences, Private Bag 55, University of Tasmania
- Michael I. Bird
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies, James Cook University
- Damien A. Fordham
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide
- Richard Gillespie
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong
- Salvador Herrando-Pérez
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide
- Zenobia Jacobs
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong
- Gifford H. Miller
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Geological Sciences, University of Colorado
- David Nogués-Bravo
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
- Gavin J. Prideaux
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University
- Richard G. Roberts
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong
- Corey J. A. Bradshaw
- The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10511
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 7,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 7
Abstract
Global megafaunal extinctions took place in the late Quaternary, yet the relative impact of climate and humans in the faunal collapse is unclear. Here, the authors show that megafaunal extinctions in Australia were independent of climate variability and took place approximately 13,500 years after human arrival.
