Homogenization of carnivorous mammal ensembles caused by global range reductions of large-bodied hypercarnivores during the late Quaternary.

ABSTRACT: Carnivorous mammals play crucial roles in ecosystems by influencing prey densities and behaviour, and recycling carrion. Yet, the influence of carnivores on global ecosystems has been affected by extinctions and range contractions throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene (approx. 130 000 years ago to the current). Large-bodied mammals were particularly affected, but how dietary strategies influenced species' susceptibility to geographical range reductions remains unknown. We investigated (i) the importance of dietary strategies in explaining range reductions of carnivorous mammals (greater than or equal to 5% vertebrate meat consumption) and (ii) differences in functional diversity of continental carnivore ensembles by comparing current, known ranges to current, expected ranges under a

SUBMITTER: Middleton OS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7329025 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature