globalchange  > 气候减缓与适应
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1856
论文题名:
Abrupt vegetation change after the Late Quaternary megafaunal extinction in southeastern Australia
作者: Lopes Dos Santos R.A.; De Deckker P.; Hopmans E.C.; Magee J.W.; Mets A.; Sinninghe Damsté J.S.; Schouten S.
刊名: Nature Geoscience
ISSN: 17520894
出版年: 2013
卷: 6, 期:8
起始页码: 627
结束页码: 631
语种: 英语
Scopus关键词: abundance ; biomarker ; biomass burning ; extinction ; fauna ; human settlement ; Quaternary ; stable isotope ; vegetation cover ; vegetation structure ; Australia ; Embryophyta
英文摘要: A substantial extinction of megafauna occurred in Australia between 50 and 45 kyr ago, a period that coincides with human colonization of Australia. Large shifts in vegetation also occurred around this time, but it is unclear whether the vegetation changes were driven by the human use of fire - and thus contributed to the extinction event - or were a consequence of the loss of megafaunal grazers. Here we reconstruct past vegetation changes in southeastern Australia using the stable carbon isotopic composition of higher plant wax n-alkanes and levels of biomass burning from the accumulation rates of the biomarker levoglucosan from a well-dated sediment core offshore from the Murray-Darling Basin. We find that from 58 to 44 kyr ago, the abundance of plants with the C 4 carbon fixation pathway was generally high - between 60 and 70%. By 43 kyr ago, the abundance of C 4 plants dropped to 30% and biomass burning increased. This transient shift lasted for about 3,000 years and came after the period of human arrival and directly followed megafauna extinction at 48.9-43.6 kyr ago. We conclude that the vegetation shift was not the cause of the megafaunal extinction in this region. Instead, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that vegetation change was the consequence of the extinction of large browsers and led to the build-up of fire-prone vegetation in the Australian landscape.
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资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/106724
Appears in Collections:气候减缓与适应
科学计划与规划

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作者单位: NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Netherlands; Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Recommended Citation:
Lopes Dos Santos R.A.,De Deckker P.,Hopmans E.C.,et al. Abrupt vegetation change after the Late Quaternary megafaunal extinction in southeastern Australia[J]. Nature Geoscience,2013-01-01,6(8)
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