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. 2009 Dec 8;106(49):20641-5.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0908153106. Epub 2009 Nov 23.

Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals

J Tyler Faith  1 , Todd A Surovell
Affiliations

Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals

J Tyler Faith et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

The late Pleistocene witnessed the extinction of 35 genera of North American mammals. The last appearance dates of 16 of these genera securely fall between 12,000 and 10,000 radiocarbon years ago (approximately 13,800-11,400 calendar years B.P.), although whether the absence of fossil occurrences for the remaining 19 genera from this time interval is the result of sampling error or temporally staggered extinctions is unclear. Analysis of the chronology of extinctions suggests that sampling error can explain the absence of terminal Pleistocene last appearance dates for the remaining 19 genera. The extinction chronology of North American Pleistocene mammals therefore can be characterized as a synchronous event that took place 12,000-10,000 radiocarbon years B.P. Results favor an extinction mechanism that is capable of wiping out up to 35 genera across a continent in a geologic instant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Relationship between the log (base 10) of the number of stratigraphic occurrences of a taxon and its last appearance date in radiocarbon years. Reliably dated taxa, following Meltzer and Mead (29), are represented by solid squares. Horizontal lines are at 10,000 and 12,000 years.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Relative frequency histograms illustrating the number of terminal Pleistocene genera in the (A) continental simulation and (B) biogeographic simulation. The black bar represents the empirical observation of 16 terminal Pleistocene genera. The biogeographic simulation recognizes seven physiographic zones (C): 1, Pacific Mountain System; 2, Intermontane Plateau; 3, Rocky Mountain System; 4, Interior Plains; 5, Interior Highlands; 6, Atlantic Plains; 7, Appalachian Highlands.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Relative frequency histograms illustrating the number of terminal Pleistocene genera in the (A) continental simulation and (B) biogeographic simulation, when radiocarbon dates of intermediate reliability are excluded. The black bar represents the empirical observation of 11 terminal Pleistocene genera associated with highly reliable radiocarbon dates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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