1. Relative demographic susceptibility does not explain the extinction chronology of Sahul’s megafauna
- Author
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Christopher N. Johnson, Frédérik Saltré, Giovanni Strona, John Llewelyn, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Vera Weisbecker, Ecological Data Science, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, and Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0301 basic medicine ,LIFE-HISTORY ,AUSTRALIA ,01 natural sciences ,Predation ,INFERRING EXTINCTION ,CONFIDENCE-INTERVALS ,LATE PLEISTOCENE ,Extant taxon ,Megafauna ,Taxonomic rank ,Biology (General) ,History, Ancient ,BODY-SIZE ,Mammals ,RISK ,0303 health sciences ,Vombatiformes ,Ecology ,biology ,Fossils ,extinction ,General Neuroscience ,General Medicine ,musculoskeletal system ,humanities ,Vertebrates ,1181 Ecology, evolutionary biology ,Medicine ,macropodiformes ,geographic locations ,Research Article ,carnivores ,QH301-705.5 ,Climate Change ,Science ,Climate change ,METABOLISM ,Extinction, Biological ,flightless birds ,010603 evolutionary biology ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Birds ,03 medical and health sciences ,Animals ,Humans ,natural sciences ,Demography ,030304 developmental biology ,LATE QUATERNARY MEGAFAUNA ,New Guinea ,Herbivore ,Extinction ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Paleontology ,marsupial ,social sciences ,Models, Theoretical ,15. Life on land ,biology.organism_classification ,POPULATION VIABILITY ANALYSIS ,030104 developmental biology ,Population viability analysis ,13. Climate action ,Other ,vombatiformes ,Chronology - Abstract
The causes of Sahul’s megafauna extinctions remain uncertain, although several interacting factors were likely responsible. To examine the relative support for hypotheses regarding plausible ecological mechanisms underlying these extinctions, we constructed the first stochastic, age-structured models for 13 extinct megafauna species from five functional/taxonomic groups, as well as 8 extant species within these groups for comparison. Perturbing specific demographic rates individually, we tested which species were more demographically susceptible to extinction, and then compared these relative sensitivities to the fossil-derived extinction chronology. Our models show that the macropodiformes were the least demographically susceptible to extinction, followed by carnivores, monotremes, vombatiform herbivores, and large birds. Five of the eight extant species were as or more susceptible than the extinct species. There was no clear relationship between extinction susceptibility and the extinction chronology for any perturbation scenario, while body mass and generation length explained much of the variation in relative risk. Our results reveal that the actual mechanisms leading to the observed extinction chronology were unlikely related to variation in demographic susceptibility per se, but were possibly driven instead by finer-scale variation in climate change and/or human prey choice and relative hunting success.
- Published
- 2021
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