Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40092907›Full record

ArticleEcology and evolution2025

The Late-Quaternary Extinctions Gave Rise to Functionally Novel Herbivore Assemblages.

Simon D Schowanek, Matt Davis, Erick J Lundgren, Owen Middleton, John Rowan, Daniel Ramp, Christopher J Sandom, Jens-Christian Svenning

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Ecology and evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Simon D SchowanekCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6036-7507
Matt DavisCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5949-3044
Erick J LundgrenCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9893-3324
Owen MiddletonSchool of Life Sciences University of Sussex Sussex UK.
John RowanDepartment of Archaeology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK.
Daniel RampCentre for Compassionate Conservation, Transdisciplinary School University of Technology Sydney Ultimo Australia.
Christopher J SandomSchool of Life Sciences University of Sussex Sussex UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2294-1648
Jens-Christian SvenningCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Various authors have suggested that extinctions and extirpations of large mammalian herbivores during the last ca. 50,000 years have altered ecological processes. Yet, the degree to which herbivore extinctions have influenced ecosystems has been difficult to assess because past changes in herbivore impact are difficult to measure directly. Here, we indirectly estimated changes in (theorised) herbivore impact by comparing the functional composition of current large (≥ 10 kg) mammalian herbivore assemblages to those of a no-extinction scenario. As an assemblage's functional composition determines how it interacts with its environment, changes in functional compositions should correspond to changes in ecological impacts. We quantified functional composition using the body mass, diet and life habit of all wild herbivorous mammal species (

Indexed as

biome shiftsecological noveltyfunctional ecologylarge herbivoremegafauna extinctions

Identifiers

PMID40092907
PMCPMC11906253

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.