Megafaunal Extinctions: The Conservation Message from 11,000 Years B.P.

Abstract

At the end of the Pleistocene, the Americas, northern Eurasia: and Australia experienced a vast decline in large mammal diversity, while Africa and tropical Asia were hardly affected. The elimination of the megaberbivores (animals weighing >1000 kg, probably by human predation, removed the vegetation impact of these species. The resultant reduction in habitat mosaic diversity and in forage quality probably precipitated the extinctions of lesser large mammalian species. Surviving megaherbivores in the form of elephants and rhinoceroses are currently being exterminated from many African conservation areas. African savanna ecosystems could prove more resistant to species losses than north temperate ecosystems, because geomorphic factors plus low and erratic rainfall enhance spatial heterogeneity and vegetation quality independently of large herbivore impact Nevertheless, the history of the Hluhluwe Game Reserve in South Africa suggests that certain African ecosystems may become susceptible to an inexorable decline in populations of some large herbivores following the extermination of elephants. If elephants and rhinoceroses cannot be conserved active habitat manipulation will be needed to retain a diverse fauna of large mammals in such regions.