Extinction of Giant Mammals Changed Landscape Dramatically

Live Science ^ | Nov 19, 2009 | Jeanna Bryner

[decimon]

The last breaths of mammoths and mastodons some 13,000 years ago have garnered plenty of research and just as much debate. What killed these large beasts in a relative instant of geologic time?

A question asked less often: What happened when they disappeared?

A new study, based partly on dung fungus, provides some answers to both questions. The upshot: The landscape changed dramatically.

"As soon as herbivores drop off the landscape, we see different plant communities," said lead researcher Jacquelyn Gill of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adding the result was an "ecosystem upheaval."

Gill and her colleagues found that once emptied of a diversity of large animals equaling or surpassing that of Africa's Serengeti, the landscape completely changed. Trees once kept in check by the mammoth gang popped up and so did wildfires sparked by the woody debris.

[decimon]

Dung fungus upshot ping.

[Ancient Drive]

t' was the Eeevil SUV!

[decimon]

t' was the Eeevil SUV!

Actually, it was the weevil SUV. Incredibly destructive things.

[central_va]

Ask Helen, she’ll know.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Ahhh...the Cenozoic. My favorite. Much more fascinating than rehashing all that reptilian crud. Give me giant mammals any day.

Dinohyus. Now there was a beastie.

[hellbender]

Imagine the carbon footprint of these giant beasts. The Clovis people must have killed them off to prevent global warming and boiling of the oceans. Good riddance.

[SunkenCiv]

---

The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire, and Famine in the History of Civilization by Richard Firestone, Allen West, and Simon Warwick-Smith

---

• What killed the mammoths and other behemoths?
• Ancient Atomic Warfare - Religious texts and geological evidence
• Supernova debris found on Earth
• Deep freeze dealt death knell to bison (Ice Age)
• Supernova Storm Wiped Out Mammoths?
• Supernova Storm Wiped Out Mammoths?
• Scientist: Comets Blasted Early Americans
• Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times
• Did comet start deadly cold snap?
• Diamonds tell tale of comet that killed off the cavemen
• Catastrophic Comet Chilled and Killed Ice Age Beasts (and Clovis people)
• Oregon Researchers Involved In New Clovis-Age Impact Theory (More)
• Comet May Have Doomed Mammoths
• Ice Age Ends Smashingly: Did A Comet Blow Up Over Eastern Canada? (More) (Carolina Bays)
• Climate alarmists lose another piece of evidence
• Comet Theory Collides With Clovis Research, May Explain Disappearance of Ancient People
• NSF Press Release: Comet May Have Exploded Over North America 13,000 Years Ago
• Research Team Says Extraterrestrial Impact To Blame For Ice Age Extinctions (More)
• Cosmic blast may have killed off megafauna: Scientists say early humans doomed, too
• Cosmic blast may have killed off megafauna: Scientists say early humans doomed, too
• Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago
• Site Provides Evidence For Ancient Comet Explosion (Topper - SC)
• The End of Eden: The Comet That Changed Civilization
• Great beasts peppered from space
• Did Comets Cause Ancient American Extinctions?
• Al Goodyear And The Secrets Of Ancient Americans
• The mysterious forest rings of northern Ontario
• Life Survived Catastrophic Space Rock Impact [Chesapeake Bay area]
• Research Casts New Light On History Of North America
• Exploding Asteroid Theory Strengthened By New Evidence Located In Ohio, Indiana
• First Humans To Settle Americas Came From Europe, Not From Asia....
• Diamonds Rained Down During Ice Age
• Diamonds Rained Down During Ice Age ($$$)
• First Humans To Settle Americas Came From Europe, Not From Asia Over Bering Strait -
• Tracking down abrupt climate changes (Rapid natural climate change 12,700 years ago)
• Mammoth Mystery: The Beasts' Final Years
• Scientists find signs of 13,000-year-old extinction event
• Scientists say comet killed off mammoths, saber-toothed tigers
• Diamonds Linked to Quick Cooling Eons Ago
• Six North American sites hold 12,900-year-old nanodiamond-rich soil
• Did a Comet Hit Earth 12,000 Years Ago?
• Mammoths wiped out by 'perfect storm?'
• Laser mapping may help solve the mystery of the Mima Mounds
• Humans to Blame for Extinction? - Not Necessarily So ...
• Did a Comet Cause a North American Die-Off around 13,000 Years Ago?
• Carolina bays gouged into the ground at a magnetic reversal
• North America comet theory questioned
• Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months
• Car-Sized Creature Whacked with Tail's Sweet Spot (until 10,000 years ago)
• Starvation 'wiped out' giant deer
• Prehistoric man, giant animal coexisted
• Extinction of Giant Mammals Changed Landscape Dramatically

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks decimon!

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[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks decimon. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[ozark hilljilly]

“Dung fungus”
Cool! I’ve got a new phrase to add to my favorite insults list!

[B.O. Plenty]

Bump

[Salgak]

Canyonero!!!

[SatinDoll]

I love that book! And that’s despite the pukey cover and less than adequate title.

[blam]

"Ask Helen, she’ll know."

Well shoot...There's the problem, I asked Alice.

[null and void]

Dung fungus upshot ping.

Mundungus ping...

[goseminoles]

“Dung Fungus” is a cool rock band name.

[ozark hilljilly]

Dung Fungus?
Wasn’t he the drummer for Spinal Tap?

[count-your-change]

Anyone that raises livestock knows what happens when pasture land is left ungrazed, it grows up in brush and finally trees. It only takes a few years as I've seen land that I once plowed now covered in trees several inches in diameter.
Another fifty years and no one will ever guess that the soil there was ever turned.

On the other hand place hogs in a lot and they'll kill every plant there in a short time.
Now where do I collect my grant money?

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Now they call it Daeodon. What a porker! Ribs for everyone.