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Small mammal diversity loss in response to late-Pleistocene climatic change

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  • Jessica L. Blois

    (Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
    Present address: Center for Climatic Research and Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1225 W. Dayton Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1695, USA.)

  • Jenny L. McGuire

    (University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA)

  • Elizabeth A. Hadly

    (Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA)

Abstract

Small-mammal survivors The worldwide extinctions of large mammals (megafauna) at the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 years ago are the stuff of headlines. Did they fall victim to human slaughter or climate change? But what of smaller mammals — rodents, insectivores and the like — which often provide much more comprehensive fossil records than megafauna, and which are much less likely to be the targets of hunting? A study of a rich small-mammal fauna from northern California shows that small mammals were much less likely to respond to the Pleistocene–Holocene transition by becoming extinct. Instead, diversity and evenness suffered, so that less abundant species became rarer, with more generalist 'weed-like' species becoming more common.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica L. Blois & Jenny L. McGuire & Elizabeth A. Hadly, 2010. "Small mammal diversity loss in response to late-Pleistocene climatic change," Nature, Nature, vol. 465(7299), pages 771-774, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:465:y:2010:i:7299:d:10.1038_nature09077
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09077
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    Cited by:

    1. Ariel E Marcy & Scott Fendorf & James L Patton & Elizabeth A Hadly, 2013. "Morphological Adaptations for Digging and Climate-Impacted Soil Properties Define Pocket Gopher (Thomomys spp.) Distributions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Danielle Fraser & Amelia Villaseñor & Anikó B. Tóth & Meghan A. Balk & Jussi T. Eronen & W. Andrew Barr & A. K. Behrensmeyer & Matt Davis & Andrew Du & J. Tyler Faith & Gary R. Graves & Nicholas J. Go, 2022. "Late quaternary biotic homogenization of North American mammalian faunas," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

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