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

Frederik V. Seersholm (), Daniel J. Werndly, Alicia Grealy, Taryn Johnson, Erin M. Keenan Early, Ernest L. Lundelius, Barbara Winsborough, Grayal Earle Farr, Rickard Toomey, Anders J. Hansen, Beth Shapiro, Michael R. Waters, Gregory McDonald, Anna Linderholm, Thomas W. Stafford and Michael Bunce ()
Additional contact information
Frederik V. Seersholm: Curtin University
Daniel J. Werndly: Curtin University
Alicia Grealy: Curtin University
Taryn Johnson: Texas A&M University
Erin M. Keenan Early: The University of Texas at Austin
Ernest L. Lundelius: The University of Texas at Austin
Barbara Winsborough: The University of Texas
Grayal Earle Farr: Florida State University
Rickard Toomey: Mammoth Cave National Park
Anders J. Hansen: University of Copenhagen
Beth Shapiro: University of California Santa Cruz
Michael R. Waters: Texas A&M University
Gregory McDonald: Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Office
Anna Linderholm: Texas A&M University
Thomas W. Stafford: Stafford Research LLC
Michael Bunce: Curtin University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16502-3

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