• DOI:10.1126/SCIENCE.1111288
Corpus ID: 22761857

Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction

@article{Miller2005EcosystemCI,
  title={Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction},
  author={G. Miller and M. Fogel and J. Magee and M. Gagan and S. Clarke and B. Johnson},
  journal={Science},
  year={2005},
  volume={309},
  pages={287 - 290}
}

G. Miller, M. Fogel, +3 authors B. Johnson

Published 2005

Biology, Medicine

Science

Most of Australia's largest mammals became extinct 50,000 to 45,000 years ago, shortly after humans colonized the continent. Without exceptional climate change at that time, a human cause is inferred, but a mechanism remains elusive. A 140,000-year record of dietary δ13C documents a permanent reduction in food sources available to the Australian emu, beginning about the time of human colonization; a change replicated at three widely separated sites and in the marsupial wombat. We speculate that… CONTINUE READING

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