Australia's Mammal Extinctions

A 50,000-Year History

By: Chris Johnson

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Hardcover | 2 November 2006

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Hardcover
310 Pages

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22.2 x 35.6 x 1.9

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Of the forty mammal species known to have vanished in the world in the last 200 years, almost half have been Australian. Our continent has the worst record of mammal extinctions, with over 65 mammal species having vanished in the last 50 000 years. It began with the great wave of megafauna extinctions in the last ice-age, and continues today, with many mammal species vulnerable to extinction. The question of why mammals became extinct, and why so many became extinct in Australia has been debated by experts for over a century and a half and we are no closer to agreement on the causes. This book introduces readers to the great mammal extinction debate. Chris Johnson takes us on a detective-like tour of these extinctions, uncovering how, why and when they occurred.

Industry Reviews

'This book makes a very well argued case for patterns and causes of mammal extinctions in Australia from the late Pleistocene into the period of European occupation. It gives an impressive range of evidence - palaeontological, palaeoenvironmental, archaeological, historical, ecological - to make the case. I thoroughly recommend it.' Bruno David, Monash University

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Preface	p. vii
A brief history of Australia's mammals	p. 1
Oolacunta	p. 1
The extinction problem	p. 2
Origins and evolution	p. 3
Mammals and People in Ice-Age Australia
The Pleistocene megafauna	p. 16
Australia's Pleistocene bestiary	p. 16
Some problems and controversies	p. 30
Size and destiny	p. 33
What caused the megafauna extinctions?	p. 36
Early ideas 1860-1968	p. 36
The modern debate	p. 38
Overview	p. 50
Complex hypotheses	p. 51
Explaining extinction	p. 53
Two dating problems: human arrival and megafauna extinction	p. 55
Fixing dates on the past	p. 55
The beginning of Australian prehistory	p. 57
The end of the megafauna	p. 62
The changing environment of the Pleistocene	p. 76
Ice age climates	p. 76
Vegetation and climate change	p. 81
People, fire and vegetation	p. 90
The last glacial cycle in perspective	p. 94
Testing hypotheses on megafauna extinction	p. 96
Timing of extinctions	p. 96
The living and the dead	p. 98
The power of late Pleistocene hunters	p. 106
The ecological aftermath	p. 115
Photographs of ghosts	p. 116
Plant responses to megafauna extinction	p. 121
Conclusions	p. 129
The Late Prehistoric Period
Environmental change and Aboriginal history	p. 132
The glacial maximum and the great flood	p. 132
Population growth	p. 136
A Holocene revolution: intensification	p. 137
'Fire is for kangaroos'	p. 142
Conclusions	p. 146
Dingoes, people and other mammals	p. 148
History of the dingo	p. 148
Dingoes and people	p. 150
Mainland extinction of the thylacine and devil	p. 153
A role for people?	p. 159
Other mammal declines	p. 162
The transition to Terra Australis	p. 165
Europeans and Their New Mammals
Mammal extinction in European Australia	p. 168
The extinction pattern	p. 168
The extinct species	p. 175
Mammal decline and ecosystem decay	p. 181
What caused the recent extinctions?	p. 187
Some good ideas that don't work	p. 188
The power of introduced predators	p. 197
Interactions: rabbits, sheep and dingoes	p. 207
The grey blanket	p. 207
The sheep plague	p. 209
Introduced herbivores versus introduced predators	p. 210
Hyperpredation	p. 212
Why Australia needs more dingoes	p. 216
A complete model and its implications	p. 222
Conclusions	p. 228
Extraordinary predators?	p. 229
A fragile fauna?	p. 230
Accidents of history	p. 233
References	p. 237
Glossary	p. 264
List of Illustrations	p. 267
Index	p. 270
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Australia's Mammal Extinctions

A 50,000-Year History

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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Paperback

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