After the mammoths: the ecological legacy of late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions
After the mammoths: the ecological legacy of late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions
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DOI：
10.1017/ext.2023.6
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发表时间：
2023-02
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
F. Smith;Emma A. Elliott Smith;C. Hedberg;S. K. Lyons;M. Pardi;Catalina P. Tomé
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
F. Smith;Emma A. Elliott Smith;C. Hedberg;S. K. Lyons;M. Pardi;Catalina P. Tomé
地球历史上的重大物种灭绝在很大程度上是不可预测的，因为哪些物种会灭绝，哪些特征使物种容易受到影响。在这方面，发生在晚更新世的物种灭绝是不寻常的，因为它们具有很强的大小选择性，并且完全以大型动物(即巨型动物，1吨)和不成比例的大型食草动物为目标。由于这些动物今天也处于特别危险的境地，晚更新世灭绝的后果可以为我们提供关于当代大型动物的丧失或减少可能如何影响生态系统的见解。在这里，我们回顾了晚更新世物种灭绝对环境的主要方面、群落和生态系统以及对幸存哺乳动物的饮食、分布和行为的生态影响。我们发现，大型动物丧失的后果是无处不在的，留下的遗产在地球系统的所有部分都可以检测到。此外，wefindthattheecologicalrolesthatextinctandmodernmegafaunaplayintheEarth systemarenotreplicatedbysmaller-bodiedanimals.Ourreviewhighlightstheimportant perspectivesthatpaleoecologycanprovideformodernconservationefforts.
The significant extinctions in Earth history have largely been unpredictable in terms of what species perish and what traits make species susceptible. The extinctions occurring during the late Pleistocene are unusual in this regard, because they were strongly size-selective and targeted exclusively large-bodied animals (i.e., megafauna, >1 ton) and disproportionately, large-bodied herbivores. Because these animals are also at particular risk today, the aftermath of the late Pleistocene extinctions can provide insights into how the loss or decline of contemporary large-bodied animals may influence ecosystems. Here, we review the ecological consequences of the late Pleistocene extinctions on major aspects of the environment, on communities and ecosystems, as well as on the diet, distribution and behavior of surviving mammals. We find the consequences of the loss of megafauna were pervasive and left legacies detectable in all parts of the Earth system. Furthermore,wefindthattheecologicalrolesthatextinctandmodernmegafaunaplayintheEarth systemarenotreplicatedbysmaller-bodiedanimals.Ourreviewhighlightstheimportant perspectivesthatpaleoecologycanprovideformodernconservationefforts.