The Environmental Context of Megafungal Extinction in Australia

The relative roles of climate change and humans in the late Quaternary extinction of the Australian large animal fauna(megafauna), has long been a contentious debate. Recently, a better chronology for key events, namely megafauna demise at 50 5 ka soon after human arrival at 55 - 60 ka suggests, but does not prove, a human cause for megafaunal extinction. This project will investigate the human megafauna link and examine the role of climate change in the extinction by improving the chronology for the events and by a detailed investigation of environmental conditions, before during and after the extinction event at four key sites.