IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Owen-Smith, N. | |
| Megafaunal Extinctions: The Conservation Message from 11,000 Years B.P | |
| 1989 Conservation Biology (5): 405-412 | |
At the end of the Pleistocene, the Americas, northern Eurasia, and Australia experienced a vast decline in large mammal diversity, while African and tropical Asia were hardly affected. The elimination of the megaherbivores (animals weighing over 1000kg), probably by human predation, removed the vegetation impact of these species. The resultant reduction in habitat mosaic diversity and in forage quality probably precipitated the extinctions of leer large mammalian species. Surviving megaherbivores in the form of elephants and rhinoceroses are currently behind exterminated from many African conservation areas. African savannah ecosystems could prove more resistant to species losses than north temperate ecosystems, because geomorphic factors plus low and erratic rainfall enhance spatial heterogeneity and vegetation quality independently of large herbivore impact. Nevertheless, the history of the Hlubluwe Game Reserve in South Africa suggests that certain African ecosystems may become susceptible to an inexorable decline in populations of some large herbivores following the extermination of elephants. If elephants and rhinoceroses cannot be conserves, active habitat manipulation will be needed to retain a divers fauna of large mammals in such regions. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |