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Solving an Eons-Old Mystery: Paleontologists Shed New Light on the Extinction of the Wooly Rhinoceros

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Monday, June 10, 2024

Woolly rhinoceroses were once widely distributed across northern and central Eurasia, before going extinct some 10,000 years ago. Credit: Mauricio AntonAdvanced computer modeling reveals that sustained human hunting contributed to the woolly rhinoceros’s extinction by blocking their migration to new habitats during post-Ice Age warming, highlighting the ongoing impact of human activity on large animal species.Researchers found that persistent hunting by humans restricted the woolly rhinoceros from reaching preferred habitats as the Earth warmed after the Last Ice Age.An international team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Adelaide and University of Copenhagen, used computer modelling to make the discovery, shedding light on an aeons-old mystery. “Using computer models, fossils and ancient DNA, we traced 52,000 years of population history of the woolly rhinoceros across Eurasia at a resolution not previously considered possible,” said lead author Associate Professor Damien Fordham, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute. “This showed that from 30,000 years ago, a combination of cooling temperatures and low but sustained hunting by humans caused the woolly rhinoceros to contract its distribution southward, trapping it in a scattering of isolated and rapidly deteriorating habitats at the end of the Last Ice Age. As Earth thawed and temperatures rose, populations of woolly rhinoceros were unable to colonise important new habitats opening up in the north of Eurasia, causing them to destabilise and crash, bringing about their extinction.”An iconic species of megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros had thick skin and long fur, and it once roamed the mammoth step of northern and central Eurasia, before its extinction around 10,000 years ago.Contradictory Findings and Human ImpactThis recent discovery, published in PNAS, contradicts previous research that found humans had no role in the extinction of the woolly rhinoceros – despite the animal co-occurring with humans for tens of thousands of years prior to its extinction.“The demographic responses revealed by our analysis were at a much higher resolution to those captured in previous genetic studies,” said Professor Eline Lorenzen, from the University of Copenhagen’s Globe Institute. “This allowed us to pinpoint important interactions that woolly rhinoceroses had with humans and document how these changed through space and time. One of these largely overlooked interactions was persistent low levels of hunting by humans, probably for food.”Humans pose a similar environmental threat today. Populations of large animals have been pushed into fragmented and suboptimal habitat ranges due to over hunting and human land-use change.There were 61 species of large terrestrial herbivores – weighing more than one tonne – alive in the late Pleistocene, and only eight of these exist today. Five of those surviving species are rhinoceroses.“Our findings reveal how climate change and human activities can lead to megafauna extinctions,” said Professor David Nogues-Bravo, from the University of Copenhagen, who was a co-author of this study. “This understanding is crucial for developing conservation strategies to protect currently threatened species, like vulnerable rhinos in Africa and Asia. By studying past extinctions, we can provide valuable lessons for safeguarding Earth’s remaining large animals.”Reference: “52,000 years of woolly rhinoceros population dynamics reveal extinction mechanisms” by Damien A. Fordham, Stuart C. Brown, Elisabetta Canteri, Jeremy J. Austin, Mark V. Lomolino, Sean Haythorne, Edward Armstrong, Hervé Bocherens, Andrea Manica, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Carsten Rahbek, David Nogués-Bravo and Eline D. Lorenzen, 3 June 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2316419121

Advanced computer modeling reveals that sustained human hunting contributed to the woolly rhinoceros’s extinction by blocking their migration to new habitats during post-Ice Age warming,...

Woolly Rhinoceroses

Woolly rhinoceroses were once widely distributed across northern and central Eurasia, before going extinct some 10,000 years ago. Credit: Mauricio Anton

Advanced computer modeling reveals that sustained human hunting contributed to the woolly rhinoceros’s extinction by blocking their migration to new habitats during post-Ice Age warming, highlighting the ongoing impact of human activity on large animal species.

Researchers found that persistent hunting by humans restricted the woolly rhinoceros from reaching preferred habitats as the Earth warmed after the Last Ice Age.

An international team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Adelaide and University of Copenhagen, used computer modelling to make the discovery, shedding light on an aeons-old mystery.

“Using computer models, fossils and ancient DNA, we traced 52,000 years of population history of the woolly rhinoceros across Eurasia at a resolution not previously considered possible,” said lead author Associate Professor Damien Fordham, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute. “This showed that from 30,000 years ago, a combination of cooling temperatures and low but sustained hunting by humans caused the woolly rhinoceros to contract its distribution southward, trapping it in a scattering of isolated and rapidly deteriorating habitats at the end of the Last Ice Age. As Earth thawed and temperatures rose, populations of woolly rhinoceros were unable to colonise important new habitats opening up in the north of Eurasia, causing them to destabilise and crash, bringing about their extinction.”

An iconic species of megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros had thick skin and long fur, and it once roamed the mammoth step of northern and central Eurasia, before its extinction around 10,000 years ago.

Contradictory Findings and Human Impact

This recent discovery, published in PNAS, contradicts previous research that found humans had no role in the extinction of the woolly rhinoceros – despite the animal co-occurring with humans for tens of thousands of years prior to its extinction.

“The demographic responses revealed by our analysis were at a much higher resolution to those captured in previous genetic studies,” said Professor Eline Lorenzen, from the University of Copenhagen’s Globe Institute. “This allowed us to pinpoint important interactions that woolly rhinoceroses had with humans and document how these changed through space and time. One of these largely overlooked interactions was persistent low levels of hunting by humans, probably for food.”

Humans pose a similar environmental threat today. Populations of large animals have been pushed into fragmented and suboptimal habitat ranges due to over hunting and human land-use change.

There were 61 species of large terrestrial herbivores – weighing more than one tonne – alive in the late Pleistocene, and only eight of these exist today. Five of those surviving species are rhinoceroses.

“Our findings reveal how climate change and human activities can lead to megafauna extinctions,” said Professor David Nogues-Bravo, from the University of Copenhagen, who was a co-author of this study. “This understanding is crucial for developing conservation strategies to protect currently threatened species, like vulnerable rhinos in Africa and Asia. By studying past extinctions, we can provide valuable lessons for safeguarding Earth’s remaining large animals.”

Reference: “52,000 years of woolly rhinoceros population dynamics reveal extinction mechanisms” by Damien A. Fordham, Stuart C. Brown, Elisabetta Canteri, Jeremy J. Austin, Mark V. Lomolino, Sean Haythorne, Edward Armstrong, Hervé Bocherens, Andrea Manica, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Carsten Rahbek, David Nogués-Bravo and Eline D. Lorenzen, 3 June 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2316419121

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Once Feared Extinct, 1,329 Pea-Sized Snails Have Been Released on an Atlantic Island After Captive Breeding Effort

Goats, rodents and habitat loss threatened the snails on Deserta Grande Island, so the mollusks were reintroduced on a neighboring island that’s free of invasive species

More than 1,300 tiny snails were released into the wild after a captive breeding effort. One baby snail is shown here on a British five pence coin. Chester Zoo / Cover Images via AP Just a few years ago, the outlook for island snails on the Portuguese Madeira archipelago appeared grim, at best. These animals were buckling under extinction pressures, and several species hadn’t been observed for more than a century. Biologists thought those snails had all but disappeared, with only empty shells and fossils left as evidence that they ever slid across the Earth. Now, the fates of those snails have taken a positive turn: In the last decade or so, scientists found live members of species long thought to be extinct on the islands, kicking off a flurry of rescue initiatives for these floundering mollusks. In the latest page of their story, a massive rewilding effort has released more than 1,300 captive-bred snails onto wild ground. It marks a new chapter of survival—and a second lease at life—for the rare, endangered snails. Scientists have a term for animals found alive after their kind was thought to have gone extinct: Lazarus species, named after the biblical figure from the New Testament who was resurrected. The discovery of some Madeira snails to be alive and breathing, in a way, felt similarly miraculous to conservationists. The Desertas Islands lie off the coast of Morocco and make up part of Madeira, like a row of jagged teeth sprouting up from the Atlantic Ocean. With steep cliffs and scant tree cover, the mountainous and windswept terrain might seem hostile to the tiny, shell-toting inhabitants there, but nature’s challenges are nothing compared to the threats that humans have introduced. Invasive species such as goats have annihilated local vegetation. Mice and rats have also feasted on the snails, tanking their population. Despite these hurdles, the snails somehow managed to cling to survival. Researchers at the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (IFCN) in Madeira led expeditions between 2012 and 2017 and discovered a trove of 200 snails representing two endangered species on Deserta Grande, the largest of the Desertas Islands. Worried the snails were the last of their kind, the researchers brought the shell-toting creatures into captivity in several zoos across the United Kingdom and France. One of the sanctuaries was Chester Zoo in England. From a pool of 60 of the snails, the staff embarked on a mighty journey to parse their biological secrets, including how to multiply their numbers. “It was a huge responsibility to begin caring for them,” says Gerardo Garcia, Chester Zoo’s head of ectotherms, per the Guardian’s Mattha Busby. “As a zoo conservation community, we knew nothing about them. They’d never been in human care before, and we had to start from a blank piece of paper and try to figure out what makes them tick.” The zookeepers spent “countless” hours caring for each individual, he adds, and now, all that effort has paid off. A total of 1,329 of the snails’ offspring were released onto Bugio, another of the Desertas Islands. Unlike Deserta Grande, Bugio is free of goats and rodents, thanks to eradication interventions. Before the snails’ release, the researchers dotted their shells with an ultraviolet marker for easier tracking later on. “For 100 years we thought they’d gone forever, but now there’s new hope,” says IFCN conservationist Dinarte Teixeira, who was involved in the first discovery of the snails, per the Agence France-Presse. “We’re striving to do everything we can to give them the best possible chance for the future.” These dull-colored snails, no bigger than a pea, might not be much to look at, but they constitute important members of a healthy ecosystem. They’re a key food source for the native fauna, and they feed on dead plants, thus helping with nutrient cycling and soil fertility for other plants to grow robustly. As some students once described, snails “poop out fertilizer packets,” reported Joshua Rapp Learn for the Wildlife Society in 2021. “All of that is dependent on the little guys—the insects and the snails that so often get overlooked,” Heather Prince, an invertebrate specialist at Chester Zoo, tells Victoria Gill of BBC News. Snails are particularly vulnerable to environmental threats. Their slow-moving lifestyle means they are limited to narrow geographic areas, leaving them susceptible to the dangers of habitat loss. Island snails also evolved when their homes were free of predators, so they typically have few defenses against new invaders. But, given their relative insulation from the outside world, islands have become biodiversity hotspots for snails. Half of all documented land snail species live on islands, and among these roughly 11,000 species, another half dwell on only seven islands. The Madeira archipelago harbors more than 320 land snail species, with most of them found nowhere else in the world. But worldwide, land snails constitute some 40 percent of all animal extinctions since 1500. The Madeiran snails may yet escape this dire fate. Four additional snail reintroduction projects in the Desertas Islands are slated for this year and 2026. In the meantime, the researchers will monitor the snails’ survival rate to gauge the success of the current rewilding effort. “If it goes as well as we hope, more snails will follow them next spring,” says Garcia, per BBC News. “It’s a huge team effort, which shows that it is possible to turn things around for highly threatened species.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

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Costa Rica Sharks Face Extinction as Scientists Race Against Time

Costa Rica is home to 93 species of sharks and rays, representing 8% of the global diversity of these marine animals. However, over half of these species (56%) are endangered. Locally, they face challenges such as high fishing pressure, lack of information, illegal fishing, and limited resources for monitoring and control. On Tuesday, December 3, […] The post Costa Rica Sharks Face Extinction as Scientists Race Against Time appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Costa Rica is home to 93 species of sharks and rays, representing 8% of the global diversity of these marine animals. However, over half of these species (56%) are endangered. Locally, they face challenges such as high fishing pressure, lack of information, illegal fishing, and limited resources for monitoring and control. On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, LCI Veritas University, in collaboration with its BIOMOL Laboratory, hosted a scientific event to address shark conservation in Costa Rica. The event brought together leading experts, students, and the public, highlighting the urgent need to protect endangered shark species and safeguard marine biodiversity. Mario Espinoza, a biologist and researcher at the Center for Marine Sciences and Limnology Research of the University of Costa Rica (CIMAR UCR), presented an updated overview of the threats facing sharks in the region. He underscored the importance of sharks in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems and the critical need for regional cooperation to conserve migratory species that transcend borders. “It is essential to improve the conservation status of migratory species that transcend borders,” Espinoza emphasized, urging a shift from identifying problems to finding comprehensive solutions. He also stressed the importance of education, research, environmental awareness campaigns, and engaging decision-makers to influence policies effectively. Mariana Elizondo Sancho, a researcher at BIOMOL Laboratory, presented her study: “Population Structure and Genetic Connectivity of Hammerhead Sharks (Sphyrna lewini) in Breeding Areas of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP).” Her findings reveal that hammerhead sharks have low genetic diversity, with pups in nursery areas more closely related than expected. This suggests that females may return to specific areas to reproduce, making the species more vulnerable to fishing activities. Similarly, marine biologist Allison Centeno, a master’s student at Florida Atlantic University, analyzed shark landing data from longline fishing in the Pacific between 2015 and 2021. She discovered that silky sharks were the most commonly caught species, and over 50% of the landings involved bycatch—species not targeted by fisheries. These findings highlight the need for collaboration among government agencies, fishing communities, and conservation organizations to ensure sustainable fishing practices. Juan Carlos Delgado, director of BIOMOL Laboratory, concluded the event with his research on “Identification of Species Composition from Shark Products in Costa Rica.” He demonstrated how molecular tools, such as DNA analysis, are revolutionizing marine research. “In our project to identify species from shark products marketed in Costa Rica, we have been able to use DNA to determine the species we consume when buying products labeled as bolillo, dogfish, or simply shark,” Delgado Carazo explained. The study revealed that 2.5% of fillets and chops sampled across the country were from hammerhead sharks, a species with special protection under a recent decree prohibiting its capture and commercialization. “Any incidental capture must be released and cannot be sold,” Delgado Carazo reminded attendees. The post Costa Rica Sharks Face Extinction as Scientists Race Against Time appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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Troubled waters: how to stop Australia’s freshwater fish species from going extinct

New research reveals a third of Australia’s freshwater fishes are at risk of extinction. That means 35 species should be added to the national list of 63 threatened species, bringing the total to 98.

The barred galaxias is already extinct across 95% of its former streams due to trout, bushfires and droughts. Steven KuiterThree-quarters of Australia’s freshwater fish species are found nowhere else on the planet. This makes us the sole custodians of remarkable creatures such as the ornate rainbowfish, the ancient Australian lungfish and the magnificently named longnose sooty grunter. So how are these national treasures faring? To find out, we undertook the first comprehensive assessment of Australia’s freshwater fish species. We examined extinction risks and drivers of decline, before reviewing existing conservation measures. Our results paint an alarming picture. More than one-third (37%) of our freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction, including 35 species not even listed as threatened. Dozens of species could become extinct before children born today even finish high school. The study also reveals Australia has been putting its eggs in the wrong basket for conservation by taking actions that don’t address immediate threats, such as pest species and changes in stream flows. Our research points to more effective solutions if governments are willing to step up their efforts. The Angalarri grunter is currently not on Australia’s threatened species list but is recommended for listing as endangered. It is declining due to degraded habitat and water quality caused by livestock and feral animals. Michael Hammer Identifying species at risk Recognising when species are in trouble is the first step in preventing their extinction. Before this study, the extinction risk of most freshwater fish species had never been assessed. The group had never been looked at overall. We evaluated the conservation risks of 241 species using globally recognised criteria (the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species). We began our assessments by gathering a team of 52 Australian freshwater fish experts for a five-day workshop in 2019. These experts came from universities, research organisations, museums, state government agencies, natural resource management, consultancies and non-government groups. Together, we used information from scientific publications, museum databases, Atlas of Living Australia records, government datasets, citizen science data, and our own knowledge of freshwater fish as it applied to the task. We identified dozens of freshwater fish species that were in trouble, but had not been recognised as threatened. This brings the proportion of our freshwater fishes at risk of extinction to a third. Some species have declined to the extent that they could disappear after a single disturbance, such as ash washed into streams after a bushfire or the arrival of an invasive non-native fish such as trout. We also found one New South Wales species, the Kangaroo River perch, is now extinct. Native fish enemy #1. A brown trout caught in NSW. Invasive fish such as brown and rainbow trout are the biggest driver of native fish loss. Lee Georgeson/iNaturalist, CC BY Get them on the list At present, 63 freshwater fish species are on Australia’s national list of species declared as threatened under federal environmental law. We identified 35 more species that should be listed, based on the available evidence. They include: ornate rainbowfish and longnosed sooty grunter (vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, the global list of threatened species) salamanderfish (endangered on the IUCN Red List) the slender carp, Drysdale and Barrow cave gudgeons in Western Australia (critically endangered on the IUCN Red List). The southwest ‘Vic’ blackfish is currently not on Australia’s threatened species list but is recommended for listing as endangered. Tarmo Raadik Maintaining an accurate threatened species list is important. When species are in trouble but not listed, they miss out on basic protections and are unlikely to receive any conservation attention. We also identified 17 already listed species that should be reassessed by the government as their risk categories need to be changed. For example, the remarkable freshwater sawfish, found in northern Australian rivers, is listed as vulnerable but all evidence indicates it’s now critically endangered. One sliver of good news is the fact that the Murray cod, a favoured sport fish across eastern Australia, is now doing better and could be assessed to be removed from Australia’s threatened species list. Mapping freshwater fish extinction risk reveals fish are in danger right around Australia. M. Lintermans, N. Whiterod and J. Dielenberg, CC BY-SA Address the causes of decline To prevent species extinctions, you need to address the causes of their declines. That might seem breathtakingly obvious, yet our review found a spectacular mismatch between the major threats to species at risk and the most common conservation actions. The top three drivers of decline are invasive fish (which threaten 92% of threatened freshwater fish species), modified stream flows and ecosystems (82%), and climate change and extreme weather (54%). For example, Australia has 40 galaxiid species, scaleless native fish shaped like slender sausages that grow to less than 15cm. But 31 of these are threatened with extinction – and rainbow and brown trout, two introduced predators, have been the biggest driver of their loss. Australia’s southern states are greatly adding to the problem by releasing millions of trout into waterways each year for recreational fishers. The endangered eastern freshwater cod has dwindled in part due to historic fish kills linked to dynamite blasting and pollution from mines and agriculture. It remains threatened by changes to river flows, removal of woody snags, and other damage to its habitat. The endangered blackstriped dwarf galaxias is being stressed by the changing climate in southwest WA. Warmer and drier conditions are resulting in lower water levels and warmer water. A waterfall has so far saved the critically endangered stocky galaxias from extinction by preventing trout from reaching its last refuge. Tarmo Raadik The other major threats facing native fish are agriculture and aquaculture (38%), pollution (38%), hunting and fishing (19%), energy production and mining (17%), and urban development (13%). For example, the endangered Utchee rainbowfish is struggling due to habitat loss and water pollution from farms surrounding the small number of north Queensland streams where it lives. In contrast, the most common conservation action was simply the fact that the species occurred in a protected area (88%) or conservation area (55%). Sadly, invasive species and climate change don’t recognise or stop at protected area boundaries. Prevention and control of invasive species has occurred for only 21% of affected threatened species, mostly in Tasmania. The Utchee rainbowfish is currently not on Australia’s threatened species list but is recommended for listing as endangered. It is struggling due to habitat loss and water pollution from agriculture surrounding the small number of streams where it occurs in north Queensland. ANGFA Qld A blueprint to end extinctions Without a major funding commitment to address the actual drivers of native fish losses, species will continue to decline, and extinctions will soon follow. The most important conservation actions for native freshwater fish are: update the national threatened species list to include all at-risk species tackle invasive species such as trout, gambusia and redfin perch identify, establish and protect additional invasive-fish-free refuge sites for species that currently occur only in a small number of locations and could be wiped out by a single event such as a bushfire halt ongoing habitat loss and improve habitats that have been damaged improve freshwater flows to maintain habitats such as wetlands and streams, improve water quality and give fish the natural cues they need to breed. In 2022, the Australian government made a commitment to end extinctions. Our study provides a blueprint for how to do that for our overlooked native freshwater fish. This waterfall in NSW has protected the native galaxias fish above it from trout. To prevent extinctions we need to find or create more invasive-fish-free refuges for native fish. Mark Lintermans Mark Lintermans was a member of the ACT Scientific Committee and the NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee, a previous convener of the Australian Society for Fish Biology Threatened Fishes Committee, and the Alien Fishes Committee. He now provides research, monitoring and advice for threatened freshwater fish management as director of a small consultancy company. He receives funding from New South Wales and national government departments for threatened fish projects. Jaana Dielenberg was employed by the now-ended Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program, which led an earlier stage of this research. She is a Charles Darwin University Fellow and is employed by the University of Melbourne and the Biodiversity Council.Nick Whiterod works for the Goyder Institute for Water Research, Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Research Centre, which is funded by the national government to delivery research in the region. He is a member of the New South Wales Fisheries Scientific Committee.

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Fourth Mass Coral Bleaching Prompts UN Emergency Session at Colombia Biodiversity Summit

Coral reefs are in the midst of an ecological crisis and are at risk of extinction, according to the United Nations Capital Development Fund

CALI, Colombia (AP) — The United Nations, scientists and governments made an urgent call Wednesday for increased funding to protect coral reefs under threat of extinction. Research this year shows that 77% of the world’s reefs are affected by bleaching, mainly due to warming ocean waters amid human-caused climate change. It's the largest and fourth mass global bleaching on record and is impacting both hemispheres, United Nations Capital Development Fund said. The findings prompted a U.N. special emergency session — typically called to address escalating conflicts or natural disasters — on corals to be convened on sidelines of the U.N. biodiversity summit, known as COP16, nearing its end after two weeks in Cali, Colombia. Coral reefs are vital ecosystems that support over 25% of marine life and nearly a billion people, many relying on reefs for food security, coastal protection and livelihoods, the U.N. development fund said. After the emergency session, the governments of New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany and France made new pledges totaling around $30 million to the U.N. fund for coral reefs established in 2020. By 2030, the fund seeks to leverage up to $3 billion in public and private finance to support coral reef conservation efforts. Around $225 million has been raised to date.“Protecting our ocean and its precious habitats is fundamental to life on earth," said U.K. Minister for Nature Mary Creagh. "But without urgent action, the world’s coral reefs face extinction from global heating, acidification, disease, and pollution; a vital ecosystem lost within our lifetime.” Next year, a U.N. ocean conference will take place in Nice, France, and countries are being urged beforehand to pledge more to the U.N. global fund for coral reefs with the aim of mobilizing an additional $150 million in donations by the conference. “In 2024, climate change and other human impacts triggered the fourth mass coral reef bleaching event, the most extensive and devastating on record," said Peter Thomson, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. "With the window to protect these ecosystems closing rapidly, world leaders must act now." "We must secure a sustainable future for coral reefs and the countless lives that rely on them —before it’s too late,” Thomson said. The first mass bleaching happened in 1998, the second between 2011-2013, the third in 2016, said Kenyan marine ecologist David Obura, who heads Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean East Africa.“They're lasting more than one year at a time, which is worrying,” Obura said at the U.N. emergency session at COP16.The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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Large herbivores have been living in Yellowstone for 2,300 years: Study

Large herbivores, such as bison and elk, have lived continuously in Yellowstone National Park for more than two millennia, a new study has confirmed. Despite the near-extinction of bison in North American in the 19th and 20th centuries, these big plant-eaters and others have persisted in the park region since around 238 B.C., according to...

Large herbivores, such as bison and elk, have lived continuously in Yellowstone National Park for more than two millennia, a new study has confirmed. Despite the near-extinction of bison in North American in the 19th and 20th centuries, these big plant-eaters and others have persisted in the park region since around 238 B.C., according to the study, published on Wednesday in PLOS ONE. Since little was known about where and how these animals lived before European colonization, the researchers decided to figure out which large herbivores dominated the Yellowstone region. Understanding the population makeup, they explained, could provide insight into long-term ecosystem dynamics, past herbivore communities and environmental influences in this area and elsewhere. To paint a clearer picture of the park's past, researchers from multiple universities analyzed the steroids present in animal dung — unearthed from lake sediments that range from around 238 B.C. to the present day. Their first task in conducting this analysis was to identify which types of steroids occur in the feces of large herbivores, including bison, elk, moose, mule deer and pronghorn. Although they found that they recognize moose, pronghorn and mule deer based on steroids alone, the scientists saw that bison and elk were harder to differentiate from each other. Upon evaluating the steroids within different layers of lake sediments, they observed that either bison, elk or a combination of the two were the primary large plant-eaters that inhabited the watershed for the past 2,300 years. Steroid levels were particularly high during the 20th century, when hunting was banned and bison and elk were discouraged from migrating in the winter, according to the scientists, from Montana State University, Oklahoma State University and Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Based on plant pollen, microalgae and plankton detected in the dung, the researchers concluded that these expanded populations likely consumed local forage plants. In turn, their dung may have fertilized the growth of certain types of algae in the lake and thereby altered the local ecosystem. Stocks of winter hay provided by nearby park managers also kept the animals in the area longer and may have likewise caused changes in the watershed, the researchers noted. The scientists expressed optimism that their results could help wildlife managers and conservationists understand how communities of hoofed animals shift over time. Extending this approach of lake sediment analysis to other watershed could provide much-needed insight into past grazing habits of large herbivores in Yellowstone and elsewhere, per the study. "This information is critical for understanding long-term dynamics of ecologically and culturally important herbivores such as bison and elk," the authors added.

Extinction
Animals
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