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Science 31 May 1985:
Vol. 228. no. 4703, pp. 1110 - 1112
DOI: 10.1126/science.228.4703.1110
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Articles

Late Pleistocene Faunal Extinctions in Southern Patagonia

VERA MARKGRAF 1

1 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309

Major environmental changes recorded in pollen records from various sites in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are also reflected in pollen and cuticle data from dung of the late Pleistocene groundsloth. The most prominent change was the large-scale reduction of steppe environment about 10,000 years ago, which coincides with the latest dates for extinctions of many large grazers such as the giant groundsloth. Stress on food resources for all the large grazers may well have hastened their extinction. Hunting pressure by paleoindians may have been the final blow.

Submitted on January 22, 1985
Accepted on March 4, 1985


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands.
D. W. Steadman, P. S. Martin, R. D. E. MacPhee, A. J. T. Jull, H. G. McDonald, C. A. Woods, M. Iturralde-Vinent, and G. W. L. Hodgins (2005)
PNAS 102, 11763-11768
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