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A gradual dying out of large herbivores about 15,000 years ago led to certain plants disappearing.
A gradual dying out of large herbivores about 15,000 years ago lead to the disappearance of certain plant populations, a new study says. The findings contradict previous ideas that climate change could have killed off these plant communities. Here, mastodons graze on black ash trees in a Pleistocene swamp.
Credit: Barry Carlsen; courtesy University of Wisconsin Board of Regents
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Related story: Mass Animal Extinctions, Not Climate Change, Caused Major Shifts in Plant Communities