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Palaeoecology

Megafauna as a nutrient pump

The end of the Pleistocene epoch saw the extinction of large-bodied herbivores around the world. Numerical modelling suggests that continental-scale effects of this extinction on nutrient transport are ongoing.

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Figure 1: The megafauna of South America.

© NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY / CORBIS

References

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Correspondence to Tanguy Daufresne.

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Daufresne, T. Megafauna as a nutrient pump. Nature Geosci 6, 679–680 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1932

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