Extinction of large mammals in the Late Quaternary Ice Age

We are researching the cause of megafaunal extinction in the last major extinction event.

Hundreds of large mammal species disappeared during the transition from the last glaciation to the present interglacial period, from around 50,000 to 5,000 years ago. We are looking at the effects of climate change, changing vegetation and human hunting on this mass extinction.

We are focusing on extinct species from Europe and northern Asia, along with some from North America, including:

• woolly mammoths
• woolly rhinoceros
• giant deer (Irish elk)
• cave bears
• cave lions
• spotted hyenas

These are being compared with living species to understand why some species survived and others didn’t, such as:

• Red deer
• Elk (moose)
• Reindeer
• Horse
• Bison
• Aurochs (extinct later)
• European wild ass (extinct later)

Methods

Radiocarbon dates

We are using large compilations of carefully audited radiocarbon dates for each mammal species to help us reconstruct their Late Quaternary distributions.

We are also developing a similar database of direct and indirect radiocarbon dates for modern humans (Homo sapiens) and neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) to reconstruct their spread and density across northern Eurasia and North America during this time.

Climate data

Our collaborators at the University of Bristol have developed a unique, high resolution climate dataset for the past 60,000 years for the northern hemisphere.

Dynamic vegatation modelling

Our collaborators at the University of Exeter and Lund University will use this climate data to reconstruct the distribution of different types of vegetation (primarily grass, shrubs and trees) using dynamic vegetation models, accounting for migratory lags in response to climatic change.

Ecological niche models

We will then combine these datasets into ecological niche models (ENMs) in order to identify the most important factors (climatic change, vegetation change, humans) for determining the past distribution and extinction of different megafaunal mammals.

Our colleagues in Frankfurt are also using the climatic and vegetation data in combination with mammalian life history parameters to develop population dynamics models simulating survival and extinction of large herbivores over the last 50,000 years.