1. Reorganization of surviving mammal communities after the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction.
- Author
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Tóth AB, Lyons SK, Barr WA, Behrensmeyer AK, Blois JL, Bobe R, Davis M, Du A, Eronen JT, Faith JT, Fraser D, Gotelli NJ, Graves GR, Jukar AM, Miller JH, Pineda-Munoz S, Soul LC, Villaseñor A, and Alroy J
- Subjects
- Animals, Climate Change, North America, Paleontology, Population Dynamics, Ecosystem, Extinction, Biological, Fossils, Mammals
- Abstract
Large mammals are at high risk of extinction globally. To understand the consequences of their demise for community assembly, we tracked community structure through the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in North America. We decomposed the effects of biotic and abiotic factors by analyzing co-occurrence within the mutual ranges of species pairs. Although shifting climate drove an increase in niche overlap, co-occurrence decreased, signaling shifts in biotic interactions. Furthermore, the effect of abiotic factors on co-occurrence remained constant over time while the effect of biotic factors decreased. Biotic factors apparently played a key role in continental-scale community assembly before the extinctions. Specifically, large mammals likely promoted co-occurrence in the Pleistocene, and their loss contributed to the modern assembly pattern in which co-occurrence frequently falls below random expectations., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)
- Published
- 2019
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