Collaborative Research: Response of Mammalian Survivors to the Late Pleistocene Extinction Event

合作研究：哺乳动物幸存者对更新世晚期灭绝事件的反应

• 批准号: 0545648
• 负责人: Elizabeth Hadly
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0545648&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Response; Mammalian; Survivors

RESPONSE OF MAMMALIAN SURVIVORS TO THE LATE PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTION EVENTElizabeth A. Hadly, Stanford UniversityEAR-0545648AbstractGlobal warming and human hunting at the end of the Pleistocene led to the extinction of most of the mammalian fauna larger than 44 kg. While the causes of the extinction event are debated and of intense interest, the effect of the ensuing community changes on species that survived the extinction has not been well investigated. However, knowledge about effects on survivors will be immensely valuable to predictions of future biodiversity. Thus, instead of studying the Pleistocene extinction solely from the perspective of why species went extinct, we are keen to investigate how, or in fact, whether, surviving species were affected by the extinction event. We propose to use the rich but untapped Quaternary fossil resources of Shasta County, California, to investigate the response of the mammals that survived the Pleistocene-Holocene transition event. Our primary goal is to determine community, species, and population response of survivors to the extinction event and to sort out whether the response was due to loss of the megafauna, climatic change or both. Our study focuses on northern California, which is a hotspot of biodiversity and endemism. Clearly, current climatic changes and other human impacts may influence biodiversity in ways other than extinction, and a meaningful way to forecast such influences is by calling upon the fossil record to enhance our understanding of such responses. The broad public appeal of fossils allows us to inform the public of the value of understanding the impacts of future environmental change from this unique, but critical, interdisciplinary perspective.

哺乳动物幸存者对晚更新世灭绝的反应Eventelizabeth A. 尽管灭绝事件的原因是辩论和激烈的关注，但随后的社区变化对在灭绝生存中幸存的物种的影响尚未得到很好的研究。 但是，关于对幸存者影响的知识将对未来生物多样性的预测非常有价值。 因此，我们不仅仅是从物种灭绝的角度研究更新世的灭绝，而是渴望研究如何或实际上是否幸存的物种受到灭绝事件的影响。 我们建议使用加利福尼亚州沙斯塔县的丰富但未开发的第四纪化石资源来调查在更新世 - 近代过渡事件中幸存下来的哺乳动物的反应。 我们的主要目标是确定幸存者对灭绝事件的社区，物种和人口反应，并确定响应是否是由于巨型群岛丧失，气候变化还是两者兼而有之。 我们的研究重点是北加州，北加州是生物多样性和特有主义的热点。显然，当前的气候变化和其他人类影响可能以灭绝以外的方式影响生物多样性，而预测这种影响的有意义的方式是呼吁化石记录以增强我们对这种反应的理解。 化石的广泛公众吸引力使我们能够从这种独特但至关重要的跨学科观点来了解未来环境变化的影响的价值。