Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift

doi:10.1126/science.abo3594

. 2023 Aug 18;381(6659):eabo3594.

doi: 10.1126/science.abo3594. Epub 2023 Aug 18.

Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift

F Robin O'Keefe^{1

2}, Regan E Dunn^{2

3}, Elic M Weitzel⁴, Michael R Waters⁵, Lisa N Martinez⁶, Wendy J Binder^{2

7}, John R Southon⁸, Joshua E Cohen^{2

7

9}, Julie A Meachen^{2

10}, Larisa R G DeSantis^{2

11

12}, Matthew E Kirby¹³, Elena Ghezzo^{14

15}, Joan B Coltrain¹⁶, Benjamin T Fuller¹⁷, Aisling B Farrell², Gary T Takeuchi², Glen MacDonald⁶, Edward B Davis^{14

15}, Emily L Lindsey^{2

3

18}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA.
² La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
⁵ Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
⁶ Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Biology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Earth System Science, University California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Biology, Pace University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University, Des Moines, IA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹² Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹³ Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, and Statistics, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy.
¹⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, University Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁷ Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, UMR 5563, CNRS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France.
¹⁸ Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

PMID: 37590347
DOI: 10.1126/science.abo3594

Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift

F Robin O'Keefe et al. Science. 2023.

. 2023 Aug 18;381(6659):eabo3594.

doi: 10.1126/science.abo3594. Epub 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA.
² La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
⁵ Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
⁶ Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Biology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Earth System Science, University California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Biology, Pace University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University, Des Moines, IA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹² Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹³ Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, and Statistics, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy.
¹⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, University Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁷ Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, UMR 5563, CNRS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France.
¹⁸ Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

PMID: 37590347
DOI: 10.1126/science.abo3594

Abstract

The cause, or causes, of the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions have been difficult to establish, in part because poor spatiotemporal resolution in the fossil record hinders alignment of species disappearances with archeological and environmental data. We obtained 172 new radiocarbon dates on megafauna from Rancho La Brea in California spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka). Seven species of extinct megafauna disappeared by 12.9 ka, before the onset of the Younger Dryas. Comparison with high-resolution regional datasets revealed that these disappearances coincided with an ecological state shift that followed aridification and vegetation changes during the Bølling-Allerød (14.69 to 12.89 ka). Time-series modeling implicates large-scale fires as the primary cause of the extirpations, and the catalyst of this state shift may have been mounting human impacts in a drying, warming, and increasingly fire-prone ecosystem.

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Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift

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Pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift

Authors

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Abstract

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