Megafauna

As megafauna, the proportion of animals is called, which is the physically largest organisms in a habitat. The next lower category is the macrofauna and the smallest micro fauna.

In order to delineate the megafauna at the land-living vertebrates, there are different definitions with different weight limits between 2 and 1000 kg.

Groups of animals

Soil-dwelling animals, which are greater than 20 mm are called mega fauna of the soil. The megafauna of European soils comprised of various animal groups in the humus layer or Erdbaue Taking advantage such as belts worms, large snails, large arthropods (such as millipedes, spiders, woodlice, ants, beetles and their larvae ) and all vertebrates ( amphibians, such as newts, reptiles, and mammals such as voles, moles, rabbits, mice, badgers, marmots ). In tropical soils, for example, caecilians ( amphibians), in dry soils, eg aardvark or meerkats.

Also in aquatic habitats, or benthos is spoken by Megafaunen.

On remote islands are common flightless birds as megafauna, which can be explained by the absence of major land predators over long periods.

Megafaunen in recent Earth history

Under the megafauna of the Cenozoic communities be understood that period, which are characterized by a remarkably large number of species with more than a ton of weight. Such faunas occur mainly in large habitats on without mobility barriers for large species such as trees and mountains, steppes and tundras about.

Prehistoric Megafaunen were found in the African steppes, in the tundra of the Ice Age, the steppes of Asia, the prehistoric Australia, the prairies of the American continents and vast tropical islands like Luzon, Madagascar and New Zealand.

The typical species composition of megafauna is composed in the Old World and North America, consisting of representatives of elephants, rhinos and cattle in South America come first primarily giant marsupials and Dental arms on before about the Central American land bridge held a faunal exchange with the megafauna of North America.

End of the Quaternary extinctions found a place in the Megafaunen the northern hemisphere.

In Australia, mainly develop wombats and kangaroos giant forms. The megafauna of Australia, consisting of 24 known species died out until the kangaroo about 46,000 years ago. This also includes the huge Diprotodon, which weighed up to 2800 kg, and the marsupial lion.

Presence

Megafaunen terrestrial large mammals have been preserved in the present only in the plains of Africa and southern Asia.

Impact on the habitat

The Megaherbivorenhypothese postulated that megafauna of large herbivores education and preservation favored a half-open park and meadows.

Experimentally, the influence of megafauna is examined for the biotope in the Pleistocene Park in Siberia.