Palaeontologists characterize mass extinctions as times when the Earth loses more than
three-quarters of its species in a geologically short interval, as has happened only five times in …

BACKGROUND The pace and magnitude of human-caused global change has accelerated
dramatically over the past 50 years, overwhelming the capacity of many ecosystems and …

South America lost more genera in the Quaternary megafaunal extinction than any other
continent, but how it fits into the worldwide extinction has been unclear largely due to the lack of …

Loss of megafauna, an aspect of defaunation, can precipitate many ecological changes over
short time scales. We examine whether megafauna loss can also explain features of lasting …

South America lost around 52 genera of mammals during a worldwide event known as the
Late Quaternary Extinction episode. More than 80% of South American mammals weighing > …

The cause, or causes, of the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions have been difficult to establish,
in part because poor spatiotemporal resolution in the fossil record hinders alignment of …

The extinction of Pleistocene megafauna and the role played by humans have been subjects
of constant debate in American archeology. Previous evidence from the Pampas region of …

Fossil deposits in the petroleum-rich sediments of the Santa Elena Peninsula in southwestern
Ecuador contain some of the largest and best-preserved assemblages of Pleistocene …

Biogenic habitat can structure marine communities by serving as both a complex substrate
and food source for adult and recruiting organisms. We investigated the role played by …

Extinct giant ground sloths are a common taxon in New World Quaternary deposits, but
relatively little is known about individual species' behavior or social structure. In this paper, we …