An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa

Richard N. Holdaway; Morten Erik Allentoft; Christopher Jacomb; Charlotte L. Oskam; Nancy Beavan; Michael Bunce

doi:10.1038/ncomms6436

An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa

Richard N. Holdaway, Morten Erik Allentoft, Christopher Jacomb, Charlotte L. Oskam, Nancy Beavan, Michael Bunce

30 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

New Zealand moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) are the only late Quaternary megafauna whose extinction was clearly caused by humans. New Zealand offers the best opportunity to estimate the number of people involved in a megafaunal extinction event because, uniquely, both the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and moa extinction are recent enough to be dated with a high degree of precision. In addition, the founding human population can be estimated from genetic evidence. Here we show that the Polynesian population of New Zealand would not have exceeded 2,000 individuals before extinction of moa populations in the habitable areas of the eastern South Island. During a brief (<150 years) period and at population densities that never exceeded ~0.01 km^-2, Polynesians exterminated viable populations of moa by hunting and removal of habitat. High human population densities are not required in models of megafaunal extinction.

Originalsprog	Dansk
Artikelnummer	5436
Tidsskrift	Nature Communications
Vol/bind	5
Antal sider	8
ISSN	2041-1723
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6436
Status	Udgivet - 2014

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10.1038/ncomms6436

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Citationsformater

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abstract = "New Zealand moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) are the only late Quaternary megafauna whose extinction was clearly caused by humans. New Zealand offers the best opportunity to estimate the number of people involved in a megafaunal extinction event because, uniquely, both the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and moa extinction are recent enough to be dated with a high degree of precision. In addition, the founding human population can be estimated from genetic evidence. Here we show that the Polynesian population of New Zealand would not have exceeded 2,000 individuals before extinction of moa populations in the habitable areas of the eastern South Island. During a brief (<150 years) period and at population densities that never exceeded ~0.01 km-2, Polynesians exterminated viable populations of moa by hunting and removal of habitat. High human population densities are not required in models of megafaunal extinction.",

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AU - Holdaway, Richard N.

AU - Allentoft, Morten Erik

AU - Jacomb, Christopher

AU - Oskam, Charlotte L.

AU - Beavan, Nancy

AU - Bunce, Michael

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

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AB - New Zealand moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) are the only late Quaternary megafauna whose extinction was clearly caused by humans. New Zealand offers the best opportunity to estimate the number of people involved in a megafaunal extinction event because, uniquely, both the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and moa extinction are recent enough to be dated with a high degree of precision. In addition, the founding human population can be estimated from genetic evidence. Here we show that the Polynesian population of New Zealand would not have exceeded 2,000 individuals before extinction of moa populations in the habitable areas of the eastern South Island. During a brief (<150 years) period and at population densities that never exceeded ~0.01 km-2, Polynesians exterminated viable populations of moa by hunting and removal of habitat. High human population densities are not required in models of megafaunal extinction.

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