Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40548127›Full record

ReviewCambridge prisms. Extinction2025

Patterns of late Holocene and historical extinctions on Madagascar.

Laurie R Godfrey, Zachary S Klukkert, Brooke E Crowley, Robin R Dawson, Peterson Faina, Benjamin Z Freed, Evon Hekkala, Cortni Borgerson, Harimanjaka A M Rasolonjatovo, Patricia C Wright and 1 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cambridge prisms. Extinction, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–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. Review
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

11 authors.

Laurie R GodfreyDepartment of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9997-0207
Zachary S KlukkertDepartment of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5006-8810
Brooke E CrowleyDepartment of Geosciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8462-6806
Robin R DawsonDepartment of Earth, Geographic and Climate Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2857-7728
Peterson FainaColumbia Climate School, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3851-6913
Benjamin Z FreedDepartment of Language & Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4260-5918
Evon HekkalaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx, New York, NY, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9250-3091
Cortni BorgersonDepartment of Anthropology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3434-033X
Harimanjaka A M RasolonjatovoMention Bassins sédimentaires, Evolution, Conservation, Université d'Antananarivo, Faculté des Sciences, Antananarivo, Madagascar.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2531-1633
Patricia C WrightDepartment of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, NY, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9443-383X
Stephen J BurnsDepartment of Earth, Geographic and Climate Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4623-5326

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Around 1000 years ago, Madagascar experienced the collapse of populations of large vertebrates that ultimately resulted in many species going extinct. The factors that led to this collapse appear to have differed regionally, but in some ways, key processes were similar across the island. This review evaluates four hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the loss of large vertebrates on Madagascar: Overkill, aridification, synergy, and subsistence shift. We explore regional differences in the paths to extinction and the significance of a prolonged extinction window across the island. The data suggest that people who arrived early and depended on hunting, fishing, and foraging had little effect on Madagascar's large endemic vertebrates. Megafaunal decline was triggered initially by aridification in the driest bioclimatic zone, and by the arrival of farmers and herders in the wetter bioclimatic zones. Ultimately, it was the expansion of agropastoralism across both wet and dry regions that drove large endemic vertebrates to extinction everywhere.

Indexed as

anthropogenic impactsmegafaunapaleoclimateQuaternary extinctionssubsistence shift hypothesis

Identifiers

PMID40548127
PMCPMC12179543

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.