Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: O'Keefe, F. Robin; Dunn, Regan E.; Weitzel, Elic M.; Waters, Michael R.; Martinez, Lisa N.; Binder, Wendy J.; Southon, John R.; Cohen, Joshua E.; Meachen, Julie A.; Desantis, Larisa R. G.; Kirby, Matthew E.; Ghezzo, Elena; Coltrain, Joan B.; Fuller, Benjamin T.; Farrell, Aisling B.; Takeuchi, Gary T.; Macdonald, Glen; Davis, Edward B.; Lindsey, Emily L.
• 署名单位: Marshall University; University of Southern California; University of Connecticut; Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; Loyola Marymount University; University of California System; University of California Irvine; Pace University; Des Moines University; Vanderbilt University; Vanderbilt University; California State University System; California State University Fullerton; Universita Ca Foscari Venezia; University of Oregon; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - National Institute for Earth Sciences & Astronomy (INSU); Universite de Toulouse; Universite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier; Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD); University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8823
• DOI: 10.1126/science.abo3594
• 发表日期: 2023-08-18
• 页码: 746-+
• 关键词: southern california; CLIMATE-CHANGE; extinction time; north-america; body-size; tar pits; record; vegetation; models; proxy

摘要

The cause, or causes, of the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions have been difficult to establish, in part because poor spatiotemporal resolution in the fossil record hinders alignment of species disappearances with archeological and environmental data. We obtained 172 new radiocarbon dates on megafauna from Rancho La Brea in California spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka). Seven species of extinct megafauna disappeared by 12.9 ka, before the onset of the Younger Dryas. Comparison with high-resolution regional datasets revealed that these disappearances coincided with an ecological state shift that followed aridification and vegetation changes during the B & oslash;lling-Aller & oslash;d (14.69 to 12.89 ka). Time-series modeling implicates large-scale fires as the primary cause of the extirpations, and the catalyst of this state shift may have been mounting human impacts in a drying, warming, and increasingly fire-prone ecosystem.