Millennial-scale faunal record reveals differential resilience of European large mammals to human impacts across the Holocene.

ABSTRACT: The use of short-term indicators for understanding patterns and processes of biodiversity loss can mask longer-term faunal responses to human pressures. We use an extensive database of approximately 18,700 mammalian zooarchaeological records for the last 11,700 years across Europe to reconstruct spatio-temporal dynamics of Holocene range change for 15 large-bodied mammal species. European mammals experienced protracted, non-congruent range losses, with significant declines starting in some species approximately 3000 years ago and continuing to the present, and with the timing, duration and magnitude of declines varying individually between species. Some European mammals became globally extinct during the Holocene, whereas others experienced limited or no significant range change. These fin

SUBMITTER: Crees JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4822451 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature