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This paper provides new insights into the long-term history of Aboriginal use of mountainous Victoria over the past 25,000 years. It presents results of excavations at Garden Range 2 rock art site located on the edge of the Strathbogie Ranges in central Victoria. The excavations were a research collaboration between the Taungurung Land and Waters Council (TLaWC) and Monash University. Results indicate possible ephemeral visitation by the Old People during the Last Glacial Maximum, clear evidence of occupation over the past 11,000 years, and increased activity since 1600 cal BP. The stone artefact assemblage is dominated by flakes of local quartz. Three igneous flakes from ground-edge axes, dating to after 700 cal BP, are contemporary with a grinding stone showing use-wear and residues from stone axe maintenance. The faunal assemblage is dominated by forest and grassland animals, such as macropod and emu, with mussel shells and fish bones indicating the use of nearby Seven Creeks. The rarity of ochre within sediments precludes insights into the age of rock art paintings on the shelter's surface. Fossil pollen documents the nineteenth-century European forest clearances, a period when Taungurung people's use of the site became unsafe. Unburnt fragments of rabbit and sheep bone suggest subsequent use of the site as a fox den. Garden Range 2 illustrates Aboriginal use of mountainous central Victoria during periods of significant environmental changes in the Early Holocene and possibly in the Late Pleistocene. These chronological patterns, including increased activity in the central Victorian uplands during the Late Holocene, match emerging chronological patterns of long-term use of other mountainous regions of southeastern Australia. How sites like Garden Range 2 relate to broader long-term Aboriginal use of more elevated sub-alpine and alpine (snow country) zones of central and eastern Victoria is a question for future archaeological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent excavations at Millukmungee 1, a limestone rock shelter along the upper bank of the Buchan River in GunaiKurnai Country (southeastern Australia), uncovered archaeological evidence of Mid- to Late Holocene occupation spanning c. 5000 years. Here we report on the stone artefacts and faunal remains, especially in light of a paucity of published details on artefact types and technologies for this part of southeast Australia. Results indicate that this part of the site was occupied only rarely from 5590–5050 cal BP (the uncertainty range for the oldest artefact from the excavation) to 2340–2030 cal BP. During this period, most of the artefacts were made from silcrete, quartz, chert, and quartzite. Small backed artefacts are present during this phase, all dating between 4570–1940 cal BP. A single, much larger backed artefact (elouera) dates to later, ≤290 cal BP. After 1960 cal BP, activities focussed on the production of flakes from locally available quartz and, to a lesser extent, hornfels; large pebbles obtained from the nearby Buchan River channel were flaked during this period. Occupation ceased with the onset of settler colonialism in the mid-1800s CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use fossil, sub‐fossil and contemporary records of the Broad‐toothed rat, Mastacomys fuscus, to model changes in its range over the last 21 thousand years. Mastacomys fuscus was exposed to, and flourished in, a much broader range of environmental conditions in the recent past than it occupies today. It also currently occupies a much smaller range than it did in the Late Pleistocene. Apart from a weak response to sea‐level rise in the Holocene, the decline of M. fuscus does not correlate with known climate change. Instead, the contraction of the species' distribution on mainland Australia to high‐elevation areas occurred recently and rapidly. Small changes in the 1000 year BP and present‐day projected distributions imply some contraction of the area of suitable climate to higher elevations of the mainland subspecies M. f. mordicus, up to 2200 m above sea level. However, M. f. mordicus also persists near sea level at Cape Otway (southwestern Victoria) and from sea level to 1500 m above sea level at Barrington Tops (eastern New South Wales, Australia). This suggests suitable habitat may still exist in coastal Victoria and the central Tablelands/Blue Mountains areas. This research highlights the importance and value of using sub‐fossil data to understand changes in the distribution and niche occupation of threatened species as the basis for conservation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeontological animal bone deposits are rarely investigated through research partnerships where the local First Nations communities have a defining hand in both the research questions asked and the research processes. Here we report research undertaken through such a partnership approach at the iconic archaeological site of Cloggs Cave (GunaiKurnai Country, East Gippsland), in the southern foothills of SE Australia's Great Dividing Range.A new excavation was combined with detailed chronometric dating, high‐resolution 3D mapping and geomorphological studies. This allowed interpretation of a sequence of stratigraphic layers spanning from a lowermost excavated mixed layer dated to between 25,640 and 48,470 cal BP, to a dense set of uppermost, ash layers dated to between 1460 and 3360 cal BP. This long and well‐dated chronostratigraphic sequence enabled temporal trends in the abundant small mammal remains to be examined.The fossil assemblage consists of at least 31 taxa of mammals which change in proportions through time. Despite clear evidence that the Old Ancestors repeatedly carried vegetation into the cave to fuel cool fires (no visible vegetation grows in Cloggs Cave), we observed little to no evidence of cooking fires or calcined bone, suggesting that people had little involvement with the accumulation of the faunal remains. Small mammal bones were most likely deposited in the cave by large disc‐faced owls, Tyto novaehollandae (Masked Owl) or Tyto tenebricosa (Sooty Owl).Despite being well dated and largely undisturbed, the Cloggs Cave assemblage does not appear to track known Late Quaternary environmental change. Instead, the complex geomorphology of the area fostered a vegetation mosaic that supported mammals with divergent habitat preferences. The faunal deposit suggests a local ancestral landscape characterised by a resilient mosaic of habitats that persisted over thousands of years, signalling that the Old Ancestors burned landscape fires to encourage and manage patches of different vegetation types and ages within and through periods of climate change. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extinctions stemming from environmental change often trigger trophic cascades and coextinctions. Bottom–up cascades occur when changes in the primary producers in a network elicit flow‐on effects to higher trophic levels. However, it remains unclear what determines a species' vulnerability to bottom–up cascades and whether such cascades were a large contributor to the megafauna extinctions that swept across several continents in the Late Pleistocene. The pathways to megafauna extinctions are particularly unclear for Sahul (landmass comprising Australia and New Guinea), where extinctions happened earlier than on other continents. We investigated the potential role of bottom–up trophic cascades in the megafauna extinctions in Late Pleistocene Sahul by first developing synthetic networks that varied in topology to identify how network position (trophic level, diet breadth, basal connections) influences vulnerability to bottom–up cascades. We then constructed pre‐extinction (~80 ka) network models of the ecological community of Naracoorte, south‐eastern Sahul, to assess whether the observed megafauna extinctions could be explained by bottom–up cascades. Synthetic networks showed that node vulnerability to bottom–up cascades decreased with increasing trophic level, diet breadth and basal connections. Extinct species in the Naracoorte community were more vulnerable overall to these cascades than were species that survived. The position of extinct species in the network – tending to be of low trophic level and therefore having relatively narrow diet breadths and fewer connections to plants – made them vulnerable. However, these species also tended to have few or no predators, a network‐position attribute that suggests they might have been particularly vulnerable to new predators. Together, these results suggest that trophic cascades and naivety to predators could have contributed to the megafauna extinction event in Sahul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arrival of modern humans into previously unoccupied island ecosystems is closely linked to widespread extinction, and a key reason cited for Pleistocene megafauna extinction is anthropogenic overhunting. A common assumption based on late Holocene records is that humans always negatively impact insular biotas, which requires an extrapolation of recent human behavior and technology into the archaeological past. Hominins have been on islands since at least the early Pleistocene and Homo sapiens for at least 50 thousand y (ka). Over such lengthy intervals it is scarcely surprising that significant evolutionary, behavioral, and cultural changes occurred. However, the deep-time link between human arrival and island extinctions has never been explored globally. Here, we examine archaeological and paleontological records of all Pleistocene islands with a documented hominin presence to examine whether humans have always been destructive agents. We show that extinctions at a global level cannot be associated with Pleistocene hominin arrival based on current data and are difficult to disentangle from records of environmental change. It is not until the Holocene that large-scale changes in technology, dispersal, demography, and human behavior visibly affect island ecosystems. The extinction acceleration we are currently experiencing is thus not inherent but rather part of a more recent cultural complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predators are critical components of ecosystems, but large marsupial carnivores have suffered major declines and extinctions in Australia. To inform predator restoration efforts on Kangaroo Island (South Australia) we examined the survival histories and potential extirpation factors of large marsupial carnivores that previously occurred on Kangaroo Island, King Island and Flinders Island, located off the southern coastline of the Australian mainland. Through a review of historical accounts and fossil evidence, we determined that the pattern of species persistence and extirpation on Kangaroo Island parallels that observed on King and Flinders Islands. Fossil data supports the terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene extinction of the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) from Kangaroo Island and the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) from both Kangaroo and Flinders Islands. Though eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) fossils have been found on both Kangaroo and Flinders Islands, and western quoll (D. geoffroii) on Kangaroo Island, contemporary evidence for their post-European persistence is unclear. In contrast, fossil, museum and anecdotal data supports the presence of the spotted-tailed quoll (D. maculatus) on all three islands and, contrary to established knowledge, its post-European persistence on Kangaroo Island. The loss of T. cynocephalus, S. harrisii, D. geoffroii and D. viverrinus from these islands appears to be commensurate with late to terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene climate change and associated changes in vegetation communities. In contrast, anthropogenic persecution of D. maculatus appears to be the principal cause of its post-European extirpation. We recommend D. maculatus as a suitable candidate marsupial carnivore for reintroduction to Kangaroo Island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Australian mammal species have suffered significant declines since European colonisation. During the first century of settlement, information on species distribution was rarely recorded. However, fossil accumulations can assist the reconstruction of historical distributions. We examine a fossil vertebrate assemblage from Mair’s Cave, one of few known from the southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. The Mair’s Cave assemblage was dominated by mammals but also included birds and reptiles. Of the 18 mammals recovered, two have not previously been recorded from the southern Flinders Ranges, at least one is extinct and seven are recognised as threatened nationally. Characteristics of the assemblage suggest that it was accumulated by a Tyto owl species. Remains of Tyto delicatula and a larger unidentified owl were recovered from the assemblage. Most mammals identified from the assemblage presently occupy Australia’s semiarid zone, but a single specimen of the broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus), which primarily occurs in high-moisture, low-temperature environments was also recovered. This suggests either that the southern Flinders Ranges once experienced higher past precipitation, or that M. fuscus can tolerate a broader climatic range than its current distribution suggests. Our study contributes new knowledge on the biogeography and ecology of several mammal species, data useful for helping to refine restoration targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Establishing appropriate faunal baselines is critical for understanding and abating biodiversity declines. However, baselines can be highly reliant on historical records that come from already disturbed ecosystems. This is exemplified in the Murray–Darling Depression bioregion of Australia, where European settlement (and accompanying marked land-management changes and the introduction of many species) triggered rapid declines and losses of native species, often before their documentation. Aims. We aim to establish the mammal fauna present when Europeans settled the Murray Mallee and Murray–Darling Depression bioregion and determine the extent of mammal loss since European settlement. Methods. We describe a dated vertebrate assemblage from Light’s Roost in the lower Murray Mallee region of South Australia.We compare our data with those of modern fauna surveys and historical records to document the extent of change in the mammal fauna since European settlement. Key results. Radiocarbon ages showed that the assemblage was accumulating, at a minimum, within an interval from 1900 to 1300 years ago. Since this time, the Murray–Darling Depression has lost half of its flightless terrestrial mammals. Species lost include the mulgara (Dasycercus blythi/cristicauda), which places this taxon within only 40 km of Lake Alexandrina, the hitherto-disputed type locality for D. cristicauda. Fossils provided the principal evidence for nearly half of the Murray Mallee fauna and over three-quarters of the fauna are represented in the fossil record. Conclusions. Late Holocene assemblages provide important archives of species biogeography and diversity. Our revised faunal baseline indicated that the pre-European fauna of the Murray–Darling Depression was more diverse than hitherto understood and its reduction appears largely caused by the impacts of European settlement. Implications. Baselines for species distributions derived from historical records and modern faunal surveys are likely to be incomplete and warrant revision, particularly for smaller and more cryptic species. Deficiencies in regional records mask the extent of mammal declines caused by European colonisation and associated agricultural practices, and thus vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arrival in Australia of Europeans and the species they brought with them initiated a sharp decline in native mammalian biodiversity. Consequently, one-third of the original or pre-European terrestrial mammal fauna is now extinct or threatened with extinction. Although the distributional ranges of many Australian mammals have contracted markedly, modern distributions are frequently used as baselines for conservation management and understanding ecological requirements. However, these often poorly reflect pre-European distributions, particularly in areas where biodiversity declines were rapid and occurred soon after European arrival. Here we analyse two late Holocene mammalian assemblages from Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia, and reconstruct the pre-European terrestrial non-volant mammal fauna. The region was previously estimated to have lost perhaps 30% of its original terrestrial non-volant mammal fauna, but our results indicate a loss of almost 50%. We provide the first local records of the murids Mastacomys fuscus, Pseudomys australis, P. gouldii, P. novaehollandiae and P. shortridgei, and confirm the past occurrence of the now-extinct Conilurus albipes. Our study contributes new knowledge of species biogeography and ecology and will help refine restoration targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT It is widely accepted that most larger Australian vertebrates were extinct by 40 ka. The reliability of <20-ka radiocarbon (14C) ages on charcoal stratigraphically associated with sthenurine (short-faced) kangaroo tooth fragments from Seton Rockshelter, Kangaroo Island, have therefore proven contentious. Some researchers have argued these fossils were in situ, while others have claimed they were reworked. To address this we obtained new 14C ages on bones from the site. These bone ages are not only consistent with earlier charcoal ages, but are in near-perfect stratigraphic order, providing strong support for the site's stratigraphic integrity. Our analyses indicate units aged 21−17 ka were primarily accumulated by Tasmanian devils ( Sarcophilus harrisii) and owls ( Tyto species), after which humans became the primary accumulation agent. The tight chronology, faunal trends and current lack of evidence for older layers from which specimens could have been reworked suggest the sthenurine remains may be in situ. However, because attempts to directly date sthenurine material failed, we cannot confidently assert that they survived to this time. Therefore, Seton Rockshelter may be best excluded from the Pleistocene extinction debate until the site can be re-excavated and more conclusive evidence collected, including more complete or directly datable sthenurine remains. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1933, geologist and explorer Michael Terry collected the skull of a small macropodid captured by members of his party near Lake Mackay, western Northern Territory. In 1957, this skull was described as the sole exemplar of a distinct subspecies, Bettongia penicillata anhydra, but was later synonymized with B. lesueur and thereafter all but forgotten. We use a combination of craniodental morphology and ancient mitochondrial DNA to confirm that the Lake Mackay specimen is taxonomically distinct from all other species of Bettongia and recognize an additional specimen from a Western Australian Holocene fossil accumulation. B. anhydra is morphologically and genetically most similar to B. lesueur but differs in premolar shape, rostrum length, dentary proportions, and molar size gradient. In addition, it has a substantial mitochondrial cytochrome b pairwise distance of 9.6-12% relative to all other bettongs. The elevation of this recently extinct bettong to species status indicates that Australia's mammal extinction record over the past 2 centuries is even worse than currently accepted. Like other bettongs, B. anhydra probably excavated much of its food and may have performed valuable ecological services that improved soil structure and water infiltration and retention, as well as playing an important role in the dispersal of seeds and mycorrhizal fungal spores. All extant species of Bettongia have experienced extensive range contractions since European colonization and some now persist only on island refugia. The near total loss of these ecosystem engineers from the Australian landscape has far-reaching ecological implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European-settlement-related impacts over the past 200 years pose many challenges for the conservation and restoration of Australia's ecosystems. Landscape modification, associated habitat loss and the introduction of exotic species have caused the extinction and mainland extirpation of numerous vertebrates. This process happened so quickly that many species became locally or functionally extinct before their presence was documented. A growing body of research on Holocene fossil accumulations is providing insights into the composition and biogeography of Australian ecosystems prior to European settlement. This review explores the similarities between palaeo- and neo-ecology and how Holocene (last 10,000 years) assemblages can be used by neo-ecologists, conservation managers and policy makers to identify and fill gaps in knowledge and contribute to the management and restoration of Australia's degraded ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronological, sedimentological and geochemical analyses of a clastic infill from Kelly Hill Cave ( 5K1), Kangaroo Island, document a palaeoenvironmental record that spans from the Late Pleistocene to the middle Holocene. We AMS radiocarbon-dated bone collagen and U- Th-dated speleothem to determine that fossiliferous sediments were deposited between >20 ka and 7 ka ago. Most of the 15 sedimentary layers are dominated by sand- and silt-sized quartz that is physically and geochemically comparable with surface soils in the Kelly Hill area. Late Pleistocene and Last Glacial Maximum strata are represented primarily by homogeneous, poorly sorted quartz-rich sediments that contain little organic matter, but include a thin layer composed largely of silt-sized clay pellets that resemble sediments deflated from playa lakes. Microstructures observed in petrographic slides indicate that, with the exception of one layer, all sediments experienced little reworking once deposited in the cave. Some layers display pedogenic microstructures such as redeposited clays and opaline silica infilling that indicate postdepositional modification; that is, cave-floor soil development. Overlying Holocene-aged sediments also consist mainly of quartz but have much greater organic matter content. Some of these sediments have been strongly influenced by re-precipitated organic matter that appears to have been transported into the cave via vadose drip water. The presence of dissolved organic matter in soil/vadose waters suggests a high vegetation density and acidic soils, which are congruent with the more equitable climatic conditions characteristic of the Holocene. The sediments described here provide a valuable palaeoenvironmental record that will facilitate future interpretation of associated vertebrate fossils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 200 years Australia has suffered the greatest rate of mammal species extinction of any continent. This demands extensive biodiversity research, but unfortunately has been hampered by poor documentation of Australia’s native species at the time of European colonization. Late-Holocene fossil mammal assemblages preserved in caves, rockshelters and surface lag deposits from deflated sand dunes can provide a more complete understanding of pre-European ecological conditions than can be developed from our knowledge of present biodiversity. In South Australia, few regions have experienced greater landscape modification and biodiversity loss than Yorke Peninsula. We investigate the composition, richness, evenness and age of two owl accumulations from southeastern and southwestern Yorke Peninsula and contrast them with a surface lag deposit assemblage probably accumulated by humans. We then examine the pre-European biogeography of the fauna recovered. The three assemblages have similar species richness, but differ dramatically in composition and evenness. The biases imposed by differing accumulation agents can explain compositional differences between owl and human assemblages, but not the differences between the respective owl accumulations. We argue that key substrate differences – one area is dominated by sand and the other by calcrete – have favoured distinct vegetation communities that fostered distinctly different mammal assemblages from which raptors accumulated prey. The ecological requirements of the extant mammals appear to be reflected in the fossil assemblages, providing support for the application of uniformitarian principles and confidence in the relevance of late-Holocene fossil assemblages to modern conservation and natural resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study which examined sinkholes and rocky overhangs on the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, for pre-European fossil deposits. The study analyzed the collected fossils and found five species of non-volant mammals. It found that the sites have accumulated remains of mammals in both pre- and post-European times. The study noted the implications of the findings for changes in vegetation related to European land management practices and for natural resource management in the area.

The article discusses the findings of a study analyzing the diet of the barn owl. The research cites that majority of the barn owl's diet consisted of small mammals, eight birds, five reptiles, and three frogs. Based on the number of pellet debris found in the Baryulah Homestead in southwestern Queensland, 40 Prey Unit (PU) percent of the total barn owl prey came from Mus musculus, while secondary prey of Rattus villosissimus comprised 21.79 PU percent. The report mentions that nocturnal reptiles like geckos were an important dietary ingredient of the Baryulah barn owls, while the large portion of Mus musculus in the diet is indicative of environmental disturbance due to grazing practices and European land use.

The article presents a study which examines the effects of drought on how barn owl select their prey in the Strzelecki Regional Reserve, north-eastern South Australia. The study was conducted at the Strzelecki Regional Reserve which has a north-south-oriented dune system that contains clayey swales and intermittent clay pans. Researchers used a Chi-square for independence analysis in order to examine the differences between the prey species recovered from every sample of pellets. They observed that the diet of the barn owls changed with the rain. After the rainy season, these owls eat much higher proportions of mammals.

The mechanisms leading to megafauna (>44 kg) extinctions in Late Pleistocene (126,000—12,000 years ago) Australia are highly contested because standard chronological analyses rely on scarce data of varying quality and ignore spatial complexity. Relevant archaeological and palaeontological records are most often also biased by differential preservation resulting in under-representated older events. Chronological analyses have attributed megafaunal extinctions to climate change, humans, or a combination of the two, but rarely consider spatial variation in extinction patterns, initial human appearance trajectories, and palaeoclimate change together. Here we develop a statistical approach to infer spatio-temporal trajectories of megafauna extirpations (local extinctions) and initial human appearance in south-eastern Australia. We identify a combined climate-human effect on regional extirpation patterns suggesting that small, mobile Aboriginal populations potentially needed access to drinkable water to survive arid ecosystems, but were simultaneously constrained by climate-dependent net landscape primary productivity. Thus, the co-drivers of megafauna extirpations were themselves constrained by the spatial distribution of climate-dependent water sources. Whether Australia's Pleistocene megafauna extinctions were caused by climate change, humans, or both is debated. Here, the authors infer the spatio-temporal trajectories of regional extinctions and find that water availability mediates the relationship among climate, human migration and megafauna extinctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]