Mass extinction of mammals in the late Quaternary of East Asia:Search for the cause

在日本大陆，除了北海道，从晚更新世到全新世，有几种哺乳动物灭绝了。它们的灭绝时间被划分为MIS 3到MIS 2，灭绝的形式不仅包括大型哺乳动物，也包括小型哺乳动物。灭绝似乎不是一个突然的事件，而是在一个相对较长的时期内逐渐发生的。这些特征可能是由于森林的持续存在，气候变化较温和，人类对该地区的影响较弱。在琉球群岛，哺乳动物灭绝的模式因岛而异。由此推断，人类活动与物种灭绝密切相关。东北地区的灭绝模式与欧洲相似。另一方面，中国中部和南部的物种灭绝不那么明显。在台湾和韩国，由于缺乏可用的数据，对灭绝的研究一直不足。

In mainland Japan except Hokkaido, several forms of mammals became extinct from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene. The times of their extinctions are assigned to MIS 3 to MIS 2, and the extinct forms comprise not only large mammals, but also small mammals. The extinctions seem not to be an abrupt event, but to have occurred gradually for a relatively long period. Such features probably resulted from the persistence of forests, milder climate change, and weaker human impact in this area. In the Ryukyu Islands, the patterns of the mammal extinctions differ from each island. and it is inferred that human activities closely related to the extinctions. In Northeast China, the extinction patterns are similar to those of Europe. On the other hand, the extinctions are less remarkable in Central and South China. In Taiwan and South Korea, the researches on the extinctions have been insufficient, because of the shortage of available data.