Late Pleistocene shrub expansion preceded megafauna turnover and extinctions in eastern Beringia
Alistair Monteath, Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Mary E. Edwards, Duane Froese
Abstract
Significance Megafauna strongly influence vegetation structure, and population declines can alter ecosystem functioning. Overhunting of grazing megafauna is argued to have driven the collapse of widespread, northern steppe-tundra and its replacement by woody vegetation at the end of the ice age. However, in Alaska and Yukon, mammoth and horse became extinct around the time that steppe-tundra was replaced by shrub tundra, leaving it unclear whether this vegetation change caused, or was caused by, reduced megafauna populations. Comparison of accurately dated pollen records with a radiocarbon-dated bone chronology shows that shrubs began expanding before grazer populations declined. This indicates that climate was the primary control of steppe-tundra persistence and that climate-driven vegetation change may pose threats to faunal diversity in the future.