Bigger Kill Than Chill: The Uneven Roles of Humans and Climate on Late Quaternary Megafaunal Extinctions

As human populations spread out of Africa to other continents starting around 50,000-years ago, the greatest extinction event since the dinosaurs occurred. The “Great Debate” over the Pleistocene Extinctions (when 80% of America’s genera abruptly disappeared) is whether the extinctions were caused by humans, or by changing climate. This paper says people were primarily responsible.

 

This finding goes against the popular belief that early humans were ‘conservationists’ living in harmony with nature.

NOTE: this article was originally published to Academia.edu on June 12, 2023. It was written by Bernardo B.A. Araujo, Luiz Gustavo R. Oliveira-Santos, Matheus S. Lima-Ribeiro , Jose Alexandre Diniz-Filho, Fernando A.S.Fernandez.

The timing of human arrival to each region was the best explanation for the extinctions.Climatic effects, where present, were additive rather than synergistic.

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