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Rapid range shifts and megafaunal extinctions associated with late Pleistocene climate change

Seersholm, Frederik V., Werndly, Daniel J., Grealy, Alicia, Johnson, Taryn, Keenan Early, Erin M., Lundelius, Ernest L., Winsborough, Barbara, Farr, Grayal Earle, Toomey, Rickard, Hansen, Anders J., Shapiro, Beth, Waters, Michael R., McDonald, Gregory, Linderholm, Anna, Stafford, Thomas W., Bunce, Michael·2020·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-16502-3PMC PMC7265304
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Abstract

Large-scale changes in global climate at the end of the Pleistocene significantly impacted ecosystems across North America. However, the pace and scale of biotic turnover in response to both the Younger Dryas cold period and subsequent Holocene rapid warming have been challenging to assess because of the scarcity of well dated fossil and pollen records that covers this period. Here we present an ancient DNA record from Hall’s Cave, Texas, that documents 100 vertebrate and 45 plant taxa from bulk fossils and sediment. We show that local plant and animal diversity dropped markedly during Younger Dryas cooling, but while plant diversity recovered in the early Holocene, animal diversity did not. Instead, five extant and nine extinct large bodied animals disappeared from the region at the end of the Pleistocene. Our findings suggest that climate change affected the local ecosystem in Texas over the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, but climate change on its own may not explain the disappearance of the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene.

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  • eDNA allows detection of all domains of life, from microbes to vertebrate species, even in absence of macrofossils.

    “One of the great benefits of eDNA is that it allows the detection of all domains of life, from microbes to vertebrate species alike, even in the absence of macrofossils 326,327 .”

    From Ancient DNA analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [327]

    The Results (Overall biodiversity at Hall’s Cave; page unavailable) report detecting felid DNA in sediment samples far more often than in bulk-bone samples, supporting detection of vertebrates without corresponding bone evidence in those samples. The paper also reports plant DNA from sediments, but our copy does not establish detection of microbes or all domains of life, or make a general claim about detection in the absence of macrofossils. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • eDNA has proved a powerful approach to assess first and last appearance of taxa in fossil record.

    “Environmental DNA has proved a powerful approach to assess the first and last appearance of taxa in the fossil record, and it has been applied to investigate the timing of the extinction of woolly mammoths in mainland Alaska 327 and Yukon 326 , and the survival of spruce in Scandinavian refugia during the last Ice Age 130 .”

    From Ancient DNA analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [327]

    The Results section, “Biotic shifts in response to temperature fluctuations” (page unavailable), uses ancient DNA detections to track when taxa appear and disappear in dated layers at Hall’s Cave, supporting the general point. But this paper studies Texas, not the timing of woolly mammoth extinction in mainland Alaska—the specific example to which citation 327 is attached. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • eDNA has been applied to investigate timing of extinction of woolly mammoths in mainland Alaska and Yukon.

    “Environmental DNA has proved a powerful approach to assess the first and last appearance of taxa in the fossil record, and it has been applied to investigate the timing of the extinction of woolly mammoths in mainland Alaska 327 and Yukon 326 , and the survival of spruce in Scandinavian refugia during the last Ice Age 130 .”

    From Ancient DNA analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [327]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says the paper uses sedimentary ancient DNA to study biodiversity turnover at Hall’s Cave, Texas. The Discussion (page unavailable) examines when several large mammals disappeared from that region. It does not support the specific claim about the timing of woolly mammoth extinction in mainland Alaska or Yukon. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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  • Ancient DNA analysis

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Metadata

Authors
Seersholm, F. V., Werndly, D. J., Grealy, A., Johnson, T., Keenan Early, E. M., Lundelius, E. L., Winsborough, B., Farr, G. E., Toomey, R., Hansen, A. J., Shapiro, B., Waters, M. R., McDonald, G., Linderholm, A., Stafford, T. W., & Bunce, M.
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-06-02
Volume
11
Issue
1
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-020-16502-3
PMC
PMC7265304
Cited by
92
References
5
Language
en
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