The volume contains summaries of facts, theories, and unsolved problems pertaining to the unexplained extinction of dozens of genera of mostly large terrestrial mammals, which occurred ca. 13,000 calendar years ago in North America and about 1,000 years later in South America. Another equally mysterious wave of extinctions affected large Caribbean islands around 5,000 years ago. The coupling of these extinctions with the earliest appearance of human beings has led to the suggestion that foraging humans are to blame, although major climaticshifts were also taking place in the Americas during some of the extinctions.The last published volume with similar (but not identical) themes - Extinctions in Near Time - appeared in 1999; since then a great deal of innovative, exciting new research has been done but has not yet been compiled and summarized.Contains summaries of facts, theories, and unsolved problems pertaining to the unexplained extinction of mostly large terrestrial mammals Features such topics as the chronology of the extinctions, ancient DNA analysis, archaeology, ecological theory, and biogeographic theory Includes geographic coverage of North and South America INDICE: 1: Introduction to the volume. 2: Sudden deaths: the chronology ofTerminal Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. 3: Estimates of Clovis-era megafaunal populations. 4: Paleobiology and extinction of proboscideans in the GreatLakes region of North America. 5: Human prey choice in the Late Pleistocene and its relation to megafaunal extinctions. 6: Ancient DNA and the genetic consequences of Late Pleistocene extinctions. 7: Did humans cause the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene mammalian extinctions in South America in a context of shrinking open areas?. 8: The elusive evidence: the archeological record of the South American extinct megamammals. 9: Insulae infortunatae: establishing a chronology for Late Quaternary mammal extinctions in the West Indies. 10: Afterword, and thoughts about the future literature.
- ISBN: 978-1-4020-8792-9
- Editorial: Springer
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 360
- Fecha Publicación: 01/10/2008
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés