Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
9-20-2019
Citation
Published in Science 365 (20 September 20190, pp 1305–1308
doi 10.1126/science.aaw1605
Abstract
Large mammals are at high risk of extinction globally. To understand the consequences of their demise for community assembly, we tracked community structure through the end- Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in North America.We decomposed the effects of biotic and abiotic factors by analyzing co-occurrence within the mutual ranges of species pairs. Although shifting climate drove an increase in niche overlap, co-occurrence decreased, signaling shifts in biotic interactions. Furthermore, the effect of abiotic factors on cooccurrence remained constant over time while the effect of biotic factors decreased. Biotic factors apparently played a key role in continental-scale community assembly before the extinctions. Specifically, large mammals likely promoted co-occurrence in the Pleistocene, and their loss contributed to the modern assembly pattern in which co-occurrence frequently falls below random expectations.
Includes supplementary materials.
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Animal Sciences Commons, Biodiversity Commons, Biology Commons, Paleobiology Commons, Paleontology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
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