South American Megafauna Extinction: A Test of Synergistic Effects of Climate Change and Human Population Growth in Magnifying Extinction Intensity

南美巨型动物灭绝：气候变化和人口增长对灭绝强度的协同效应检验

• 批准号: 1148181
• 负责人: Anthony Barnosky
• 金额: $ 32.06万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-15 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1148181&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: South; American; Megafauna; Extinction; Test

EAR 1148181SOUTH AMERICAN MEGAFAUNA EXTINCTION: A TEST OF SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH IN MAGNIFYING EXTINCTION INTENSITYA three-year project will study the effects of feedbacks between climate change and increasing human impacts as an intensifier of extinction. The rich record of fossil mammals from South America will be used to develop a refined chronology of Quaternary megafaunal extinction (QME) with respect to the timing of significant human presence and abrupt climate change in different regions of the continent. The work will involve an international team of North American and Latin American Quaternary scientists, with research specialties in Quaternary paleobiology, archaeology, paleoclimatology, and radiocarbon dating, to obtain, evaluate, and interpret the meaning of approximately 150 radiocarbon dates on some 52 genera of extinct large-bodied mammal species. Statistical approaches will be employed to assess how closely the youngest radiocarbon dates reflect the true time of extinction and to compare extinction intensity with rates and magnitudes of climate change and growing human presence on the landscape. In essence, South America will be treated as a replicate natural experiment (the others are similar, already-available chronological data from North America, Europe, and Australia) to test, through a new quantitatively-based approach, current ideas that synergy between different faunal stressors greatly enhances magnitude and rapidity of extinction. South America is the appropriate place to do this because, although the extinction chronology is less well-known than on other continents, it had the greatest number large-bodied mammal genera go extinct, has adequate paleontological, archaeological, and paleoenvironmental data, and has the earliest accepted record of Homo sapiens in the Americas. The project is important in understanding how combinations of different causal agents can intensify extinction of species, which is a major global problem today. Results of this research will be used to inform the general public and conservation and policy communities about how best to conserve biodiversity under current conditions of unusually intense and rapid global change. It will contribute educational resources for high school and undergraduate students. Peer-reviewed results will be communicated through media that will be accessible to general audiences and policy makers. The project will develop human resources and contribute to science and engineering literacy by training Ph.D. students, building international research networks, and contributing fundamental data that will be of use in future research and biodiversity monitoring efforts.

南美洲巨型动物群灭绝：气候变化和人类人口增长在扩大灭绝强度方面的协同效应测试一个为期三年的项目将研究气候变化和人类影响增加之间的反馈效应，作为灭绝的加剧因素。 南美洲丰富的哺乳动物化石记录将用于制定一个精确的第四纪巨型动物灭绝（QME）年表，以确定该大陆不同地区重大人类存在和气候突变的时间。这项工作将涉及一个由北美和拉丁美洲第四纪科学家组成的国际团队，他们在第四纪古生物学，考古学，古气候学和放射性碳测年方面具有研究专长，以获得，评估和解释约52属灭绝的大型哺乳动物物种的约150个放射性碳测年的意义。将采用统计方法来评估最年轻的放射性碳年代如何反映灭绝的真实时间，并将灭绝强度与气候变化的速度和幅度以及人类在景观中的存在进行比较。 从本质上讲，南美洲将被视为一个重复的自然实验（其他是类似的，已经从北美，欧洲和澳大利亚的年代数据），以测试，通过一个新的定量为基础的方法，目前的想法，不同的动物压力之间的协同作用大大提高了灭绝的幅度和速度。 南美洲是做这件事的合适地点，因为尽管灭绝年表不如其他大陆那么为人所知，但它有最多的大型哺乳动物灭绝，有足够的古生物学，考古学和古环境数据，并且有美洲最早被接受的智人记录。该项目对于理解不同致病因子的组合如何加剧物种灭绝至关重要，这是当今的一个重大全球问题。 这项研究的结果将用于告知公众和保护和政策界如何在当前异常激烈和快速的全球变化条件下最好地保护生物多样性。 它将为高中和本科生提供教育资源。同行审查的结果将通过一般受众和决策者能够接触到的媒体进行传播。该项目将开发人力资源，并通过培养博士生来促进科学和工程知识的普及。学生，建立国际研究网络，并提供将在未来的研究和生物多样性监测工作中使用的基础数据。