Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

Big data little help in megafauna mysteries

Too many meta-analyses of extinctions of giant kangaroos or huge sloths use data that are poor or poorly understood, warn Gilbert J. Price and colleagues.
  1. Gilbert J. Price

    1. Gilbert J. Price is a senior lecturer in palaeontology at The University of Queensland, Australia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Julien Louys

    1. Julien Louys is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. J. Tyler Faith

    1. J. Tyler Faith is a curator of archaeology and an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  4. Eline Lorenzen

    1. Eline Lorenzen is a curator and associate professor at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, København.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  5. Michael C. Westaway

    1. Michael C. Westaway is a senior research fellow at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

In March, the last male northern white rhinoceros died. The sub-species joins a long list of large land animals that have gone extinct over the past 100,000 years.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 558, 23-25 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05330-7

References

  1. Flannery, T. Q. Essay 48, 1–80 (2012).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Turvey, S. T., Tong, H., Stuart, A. J. & Lister, A. M. Quat. Sci. Rev. 76, 156–166 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Stuart, A. J. & Lister, A. M. Quat. Sci. Rev. 51, 1–17 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bartlett, L. J. et al. Ecography 39, 152–161 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wan, X. & Zhang, Z. Proc. R. Soc. B 284, 20162438 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. van den Bergh, G. D., de Vos, J. & Sondaar, P. Y. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 171, 385–408 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Westaway, M. C. & Groves, C. P. Archaeol. Oceania 44, 84–95 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Sandom, C., Faurby, S., Sandel, B. & Svenning, J.-C. Proc. R. Soc. B 281, 20133254 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Wroe, S. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 110, 8777–8781 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Stuart, A. J. Geol. J. 50, 338–363 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gill, J. L., Williams, J. W., Jackson, S. T., Lininger, K. B. & Robinson, G. S. Science 326, 1100–1103 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Ahmed, S. I. & Cain, R. F. Can. J. Bot. 50, 419–477 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Johnson, C. N. Proc. R. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 269, 2221–2227 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Saltré, F. et al. Nature Commun. 7, 10511 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Terlato, G. et al. Histor. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1448395 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Faith, J. T. et al. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 361–362, 84–93 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cooper, A. et al. Science 349, 602–606 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Shapiro, B. et al. Science 306, 1561–1565 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Ríos-Saldaña, C. A., Delibes-Mateos, M. & Ferreira, C. C. Glob. Ecol. Conserv. 14, e00389 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links