澳大利亚麦考瑞大学Anikó B. Tóth团队的一项最新研究，提出了在更新世末期大灭绝之后幸存哺乳动物群落的重组。相关论文2019年9月20日发表于国际学术期刊《科学》。

为了解种群聚集中消亡的后果，研究人员通过北美更新世大灭绝后的巨型动物灭绝来追踪群体结构。他们通过分析物种对的相互范围内的共生现象，来分解生物和非生物因子的影响。尽管气候变化推动了生态位重叠的增加，但共生现象减少了，这表明生物相互作用发生了变化。此外，非生物因素对共生的影响随着时间的推移保持不变，而生物因子的影响减少。在灭绝之前，生物因素显然在大陆规模的群体聚集中发挥了关键作用。具体而言，大型哺乳动物可能促进了更新世的共生，并且它们的丧失促成了现代组装模式，其中共生现象经常低于随机期望。

据悉，大型哺乳动物在全球范围内面临高灭绝风险。 

附：英文原文

Title: Reorganization of surviving mammal communities after the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction

Author: Anikó B. Tóth, S. Kathleen Lyons, W. Andrew Barr, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Jessica L. Blois, René Bobe, Matt Davis, Andrew Du, Jussi T. Eronen, J. Tyler Faith, Danielle Fraser, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Gary R. Graves, Advait M. Jukar, Joshua H. Miller, Silvia Pineda-Munoz, Laura C. Soul, Amelia Villaseor, John Alroy

Issue&Volume: Volume 365 Issue 6459

Abstract: 

Large mammals are at high risk of extinction globally. To understand the consequences of their demise for community assembly, we tracked community structure through the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in North America. We decomposed the effects of biotic and abiotic factors by analyzing co-occurrence within the mutual ranges of species pairs. Although shifting climate drove an increase in niche overlap, co-occurrence decreased, signaling shifts in biotic interactions. Furthermore, the effect of abiotic factors on co-occurrence remained constant over time while the effect of biotic factors decreased. Biotic factors apparently played a key role in continental-scale community assembly before the extinctions. Specifically, large mammals likely promoted co-occurrence in the Pleistocene, and their loss contributed to the modern assembly pattern in which co-occurrence frequently falls below random expectations.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1605

Source:https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6459/1305