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Chronology of Holocene vertebrate extinction in the Galápagos Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David W. Steadman ,
Thomas W. Stafford Jr. ,
Douglas J. Donahue  and
A. J. Jull
David W. Steadman
Affiliation:
New York State Museum, 3140 Cultural Education Center, Albany, New York 12230
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Affiliation:
Center for Geochronological Research, INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Douglas J. Donahue
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
A. J. Jull
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
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Abstract

Eleven conventional and 15 AMS (accelerator mass spectrometer) radiocarbon dates establish chronologies for nine Holocene vertebrate fossil sites in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. A Holocene fossil record approaching 500,000 bones, more than 90% of which predate the arrival of people, shows that most or all cases of extinction or extirpation in the Galápagos occurred after first human contact in AD 1535. This is especially significant for two species of large rodents (Megaoryzomys spp.) that are known only from bones found in lava tubes. The highest rate of background (prehuman) extinction interpreted from the Galápagos fossil record is probably hundreds of times less than the modern rate of human-related extinction.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , July 1991 , pp. 126 - 133
Copyright
University of Washington

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