Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis newtoni : Human Impact on Australian Megafauna-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis newtoni : Human Impact on Australian Megafauna

Published:1999-01-08 Issue:5399 Volume:283 Page:205-208
ISSN:0036-8075
Container-title:Science
language:en
Short-container-title:Science

Author:

Miller Gifford H.¹,Magee John W.¹,Johnson Beverly J.¹,Fogel Marilyn L.¹,Spooner Nigel A.¹,McCulloch Malcolm T.¹,Ayliffe Linda K.¹

Affiliation:

1. G. H. Miller and B. J. Johnson, Center for Geochronical Research, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0450, USA. J. W. Magee, Department of Geology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. M. L. Fogel, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road, NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA. N. A. Spooner, M. T. McCulloch, L. K. Ayliffe, Research School of...

Abstract

More than 85 percent of Australian terrestrial genera with a body mass exceeding 44 kilograms became extinct in the Late Pleistocene. Although most were marsupials, the list includes the large, flightless mihirung Genyornis newtoni . More than 700 dates on Genyornis eggshells from three different climate regions document the continuous presence of Genyornis from more than 100,000 years ago until their sudden disappearance 50,000 years ago, about the same time that humans arrived in Australia. Simultaneous extinction of Genyornis at all sites during an interval of modest climate change implies that human impact, not climate, was responsible.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference46 articles.

1. Pleistocene faunal loss: implications of the aftershock for Australia's past and future

2. P. Vickers-Rich in The Antipodean Ark: Creatures from Prehistoric Australia S. Hand and M. Archer Eds. (Angus and Robertson Sydney 1987) pp. 48–50.

3. Direct dating of megafaunal bone by radiocarbon remains hampered by the poor preservation of collagen and most dates on faunal remains are close to the radiocarbon limit. Although collagen constitutes 25% by weight in modern bone under alternately wet and dry conditions in warm regions like Australia it is rapidly denatured into soluble gelatin and leached from the bone (41). Baynes (42) reviewed 91 published radiocarbon dates on megafaunal remains or sediments containing them; ages as young as 6000 14 C yr B.P. have been accepted by some authors. After applying rigorous criteria to assess the reliability of a radiocarbon date and its association with faunal remains (43) he rejected most dates including all those younger than 28 000 14 C yr B.P. The few remaining sites with apparent finite 14 C ages between 28 000 and 40 000 yr B.P. were not directly on megafaunal remains and either the association of the megafauna with the dated level remains debated or there are uncertainties in the source of the actual carbon that was dated leaving the timing of extinction unresolved.

4. Tate R., Trans. Proc. Philos. Soc. S. Aust. 2, 13 (1879).

5. R. Owen Researches on the Fossil Remains of the Extinct Mammals of Australia (Erxleben London 1877).

Cited by 291 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. The <i>Homines</i> Fossilization: Brief Review of Anthropocene;Open Journal of Geology;2024

2. Quaternary stratigraphy overview;Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences;2024

3. Conservation implications of a new fossil species of hopping-mouse, Notomys magnus sp. nov. (Rodentia: Muridae), from the Broken River Region, northeastern Queensland;Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology;2023-06-04

4. Amino Acid Dating;Handbook of Archaeological Sciences;2023-02-10

5. Dating the Paleolithic: Trapped charge methods and amino acid geochronology;Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences;2022-10-17