The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America

Autores
Tonni, Eduardo Pedro; Cione, Alberto Luis; Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
Año de publicación
2003
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
During the latest Pleistocene-earliest Holocene, South American terrestrial vertebrate faunas suffered one of the largest (and probably the youngest) extinction in the world for this lapse. Megamammals, most of the large mammals and a giant terrestrial tortoise became extinct in the continent, and several complete ecological guilds and their predators disappeared. This mammal extinction had been attributed mainly to overkill, climatic change or a combination of both. We agree with the idea that human overhunting was the main cause of the extinction in South America. However, according to our interpretation, the slaughtering of mammals was accom- plished in a particular climatic, ecological and biogeographical frame. During most of the middle and late Pleis- tocene, dry and cold climate and open areas predominated in South America. Nearly all of those megamammals and large mammals that became extinct were adapted to this kind of environments. The periodic, though rela- tively short, interglacial increases in temperature and humidity may have provoked the dramatic shrinking of open areas and extreme reduction of the biomass (albeit not in diversity) of mammals adapted to open habitats. Many populations were surely close to a minimum level of population viability. During the longer glacial periods, mammals populations recovered. This alternation of low and high biomass of mammals from open and closed areas is what we refer to as the Zig-Zag. During the present interglacial, humans entered South America and broke the Zig-Zag when killed all the megamammals and almost all the large mammals during their less favourable periodic lapse.
Museo de La Plata
Materia
Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
Extinción Biológica
climate; extinction; holocene; mammalia; man; pleistocene; south america
Tortugas
Biología
Mamíferos
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/5371

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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South AmericaTonni, Eduardo PedroCione, Alberto LuisSoibelzon, Leopoldo HéctorPaleontologíaCiencias NaturalesExtinción Biológicaclimate; extinction; holocene; mammalia; man; pleistocene; south americaTortugasBiologíaMamíferosDuring the latest Pleistocene-earliest Holocene, South American terrestrial vertebrate faunas suffered one of the largest (and probably the youngest) extinction in the world for this lapse. Megamammals, most of the large mammals and a giant terrestrial tortoise became extinct in the continent, and several complete ecological guilds and their predators disappeared. This mammal extinction had been attributed mainly to overkill, climatic change or a combination of both. We agree with the idea that human overhunting was the main cause of the extinction in South America. However, according to our interpretation, the slaughtering of mammals was accom- plished in a particular climatic, ecological and biogeographical frame. During most of the middle and late Pleis- tocene, dry and cold climate and open areas predominated in South America. Nearly all of those megamammals and large mammals that became extinct were adapted to this kind of environments. The periodic, though rela- tively short, interglacial increases in temperature and humidity may have provoked the dramatic shrinking of open areas and extreme reduction of the biomass (albeit not in diversity) of mammals adapted to open habitats. Many populations were surely close to a minimum level of population viability. During the longer glacial periods, mammals populations recovered. This alternation of low and high biomass of mammals from open and closed areas is what we refer to as the Zig-Zag. During the present interglacial, humans entered South America and broke the Zig-Zag when killed all the megamammals and almost all the large mammals during their less favourable periodic lapse.Museo de La Plata2003info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/5371enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T10:49:36Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/5371Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 10:49:37.127SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
title The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
spellingShingle The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
Tonni, Eduardo Pedro
Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
Extinción Biológica
climate; extinction; holocene; mammalia; man; pleistocene; south america
Tortugas
Biología
Mamíferos
title_short The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
title_full The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
title_fullStr The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
title_full_unstemmed The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
title_sort The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extintion in South America
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Tonni, Eduardo Pedro
Cione, Alberto Luis
Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
author Tonni, Eduardo Pedro
author_facet Tonni, Eduardo Pedro
Cione, Alberto Luis
Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
author_role author
author2 Cione, Alberto Luis
Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
Extinción Biológica
climate; extinction; holocene; mammalia; man; pleistocene; south america
Tortugas
Biología
Mamíferos
topic Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
Extinción Biológica
climate; extinction; holocene; mammalia; man; pleistocene; south america
Tortugas
Biología
Mamíferos
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv During the latest Pleistocene-earliest Holocene, South American terrestrial vertebrate faunas suffered one of the largest (and probably the youngest) extinction in the world for this lapse. Megamammals, most of the large mammals and a giant terrestrial tortoise became extinct in the continent, and several complete ecological guilds and their predators disappeared. This mammal extinction had been attributed mainly to overkill, climatic change or a combination of both. We agree with the idea that human overhunting was the main cause of the extinction in South America. However, according to our interpretation, the slaughtering of mammals was accom- plished in a particular climatic, ecological and biogeographical frame. During most of the middle and late Pleis- tocene, dry and cold climate and open areas predominated in South America. Nearly all of those megamammals and large mammals that became extinct were adapted to this kind of environments. The periodic, though rela- tively short, interglacial increases in temperature and humidity may have provoked the dramatic shrinking of open areas and extreme reduction of the biomass (albeit not in diversity) of mammals adapted to open habitats. Many populations were surely close to a minimum level of population viability. During the longer glacial periods, mammals populations recovered. This alternation of low and high biomass of mammals from open and closed areas is what we refer to as the Zig-Zag. During the present interglacial, humans entered South America and broke the Zig-Zag when killed all the megamammals and almost all the large mammals during their less favourable periodic lapse.
Museo de La Plata
description During the latest Pleistocene-earliest Holocene, South American terrestrial vertebrate faunas suffered one of the largest (and probably the youngest) extinction in the world for this lapse. Megamammals, most of the large mammals and a giant terrestrial tortoise became extinct in the continent, and several complete ecological guilds and their predators disappeared. This mammal extinction had been attributed mainly to overkill, climatic change or a combination of both. We agree with the idea that human overhunting was the main cause of the extinction in South America. However, according to our interpretation, the slaughtering of mammals was accom- plished in a particular climatic, ecological and biogeographical frame. During most of the middle and late Pleis- tocene, dry and cold climate and open areas predominated in South America. Nearly all of those megamammals and large mammals that became extinct were adapted to this kind of environments. The periodic, though rela- tively short, interglacial increases in temperature and humidity may have provoked the dramatic shrinking of open areas and extreme reduction of the biomass (albeit not in diversity) of mammals adapted to open habitats. Many populations were surely close to a minimum level of population viability. During the longer glacial periods, mammals populations recovered. This alternation of low and high biomass of mammals from open and closed areas is what we refer to as the Zig-Zag. During the present interglacial, humans entered South America and broke the Zig-Zag when killed all the megamammals and almost all the large mammals during their less favourable periodic lapse.
publishDate 2003
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2003
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url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/5371
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
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dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
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