Drying lakes linked to extinctions

Climate change in Australia may have played a part in the extinction of many large animals some 50,000 years ago. The cause of the mass die-off is debated, with some saying that ecological

collapse was sparked by human use of fire 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Climate-related factors had been dismissed because there seemed to be little change in Australia's climate at that

time. However, Tim Cohen of the University of Wollongong in Australia and his colleagues looked at sediments along the shores of two huge lakes, Eyre and Frome, and found that their water

levels decreased drastically around the time when megafauna went extinct. Lakes that shrank under a changing climate could have led to the demise of plants and herbivorous animals, the

authors say. _Geology_ http://doi.org/z8n (2015) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Drying lakes linked to extinctions. _Nature_ 518, 277

(2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/518277a Download citation * Published: 18 February 2015 * Issue Date: 19 February 2015 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/518277a SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you

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