TY - JOUR

T1 - Micro Methods for Megafauna

T2 - Novel Approaches to Late Quaternary Extinctions and Their Contributions to Faunal Conservation in the Anthropocene

AU - Swift, Jillian A

AU - Bunce, Michael

AU - Dortch, Joe

AU - Douglass, Kristina

AU - Faith, J Tyler

AU - Fellows Yates, James A

AU - Field, Judith

AU - Haberle, Simon G

AU - Jacob, Eileen

AU - Johnson, Chris N

AU - Lindsey, Emily

AU - Lorenzen, Eline D

AU - Louys, Julien

AU - Miller, Gifford

AU - Mychajliw, Alexis M

AU - Slon, Viviane

AU - Villavicencio, Natalia A

AU - Waters, Michael R

AU - Welker, Frido

AU - Wood, Rachel

AU - Petraglia, Michael

AU - Boivin, Nicole

AU - Roberts, Patrick

N1 - © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Drivers of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions are relevant to modern conservation policy in a world of growing human population density, climate change, and faunal decline. Traditional debates tend toward global solutions, blaming either dramatic climate change or dispersals of Homo sapiens to new regions. Inherent limitations to archaeological and paleontological data sets often require reliance on scant, poorly resolved lines of evidence. However, recent developments in scientific technologies allow for more local, context-specific approaches. In the present article, we highlight how developments in five such methodologies (radiocarbon approaches, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, ancient proteomics, microscopy) have helped drive detailed analysis of specific megafaunal species, their particular ecological settings, and responses to new competitors or predators, climate change, and other external phenomena. The detailed case studies of faunal community composition, extinction chronologies, and demographic trends enabled by these methods examine megafaunal extinctions at scales appropriate for practical understanding of threats against particular species in their habitats today.

AB - Drivers of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions are relevant to modern conservation policy in a world of growing human population density, climate change, and faunal decline. Traditional debates tend toward global solutions, blaming either dramatic climate change or dispersals of Homo sapiens to new regions. Inherent limitations to archaeological and paleontological data sets often require reliance on scant, poorly resolved lines of evidence. However, recent developments in scientific technologies allow for more local, context-specific approaches. In the present article, we highlight how developments in five such methodologies (radiocarbon approaches, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, ancient proteomics, microscopy) have helped drive detailed analysis of specific megafaunal species, their particular ecological settings, and responses to new competitors or predators, climate change, and other external phenomena. The detailed case studies of faunal community composition, extinction chronologies, and demographic trends enabled by these methods examine megafaunal extinctions at scales appropriate for practical understanding of threats against particular species in their habitats today.

U2 - 10.1093/biosci/biz105

DO - 10.1093/biosci/biz105

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31719710

VL - 69

SP - 877

EP - 887

JO - BioScience

JF - BioScience

SN - 0006-3568

IS - 11

ER -