Comment: How bison, moose and caribou do the cleaning work of mammoths Published on: 29 April 2020 Writing for The Conversation, Maarten van Hardenbroek van Ammerstol and Ambroise Baker discuss how ancient ecosystems responded to the extinction of certain species. Unlike mammoths, bison survived in Alaska at the end of the last ice age. , , and , The extinction of one species can create ripples that transform an ecosystem. That鈥檚 particularly true for so-called 鈥渆cosystem engineer鈥� species. Beavers are one example 鈥� they dam rivers, creating ponds and channels that . Large herbivores such as are engineers too 鈥� they break down shrubs and trees to create open grasslands, habitats that benefit a wealth of species. We know that their ancestors 鈥� such as the woolly mammoth 鈥� shaped the world around them in a similar way, but what happened to those ancient ecosystems when they died out? Our studied the extinction of mammoth, wild horse and saiga antelope towards the end of the last ice age in interior Alaska, analysing fossilised recovered from the bottom of lakes and sediments. Read more: We wanted to know how ancient ecosystems responded to these species dying out so that it might teach us more about mass extinctions today. What we discovered could offer hope for modern ecosystems facing biodiversity loss. A museum replica of a woolly mammoth. Mammoths helped maintain open habitats by grazing herbs, trees and bushes. How ancient ecosystems coped with extinctions The late-Quaternary extinctions occurred towards the end of the last ice age. In North America, they saw the loss of large herbivores and carnivores, whose relatives still roam other continents as elephants, wild horses and tigers. This was a period of rapid climate change and growing pressure from humans. were lost from North America around this time. Similar losses were seen on other continents, . The diversity of mammal species shrank, but more significant was the , including species that survived the extinction event. showed that elsewhere in the Americas, the loss of ecosystem engineers like the woolly mammoth led to an explosion in plant growth, as trees and shrubs were no longer grazed and browsed so intensively. In turn, there were larger and more frequent wildfires. But in Alaska, our results revealed that other species of wild herbivores, including bison, moose, caribou and musk ox, increased in abundance, making up for the loss of mammoths, saiga antelopes and wild horses. Saiga antelopes used to roam North America, but they are now only found in scattered pockets of Asia. , This suggests that as extinctions occurred, other large herbivores were able to fill the gap, partially taking over the lost role of ecosystem engineer. This insight from 13,000 years ago could offer hope for modern conservationists. Substituting an extinct ecosystem engineer with a similar species still living today may work to revive lost ecological processes. Reintroducing large herbivores in this way is often referred to as 鈥溾��. Today鈥檚 landscapes on most continents are , largely because of the late Quaternary extinctions we studied. behind rewilding is that bringing some of those species back to landscapes could boost biodiversity more broadly and create more diverse, resilient ecosystems. But without resurrecting the woolly mammoth, our research indicates it may be possible to bring back some of the ecosystem engineering benefits of extinct species by reintroducing their living relatives or substitute species, ultimately helping surviving plants and animals to thrive. Read more: Our work in Alaska shows that the consequences of engineer extinctions are not always overwhelmingly negative. Studying this rare instance when ecosystems coped better with extinctions can help us design more effective conservation measures for megaherbivores today. A good example of creative thinking in conservation can be found in Columbia. Here, pet hippos that escaped from Pablo Escobar鈥檚 private collection have multiplied in the wild and now appear to be recreating processes that were when native megaherbivores died out. These hippos are technically invasive species in Colombia and are wild descendants of Pablo Escobar鈥檚 pets. This includes the creation of well trodden hippo paths between wetlands and feeding areas on firmer ground, which help deepen water channels, disperse seeds and fertilise wetlands. Over 13,000 years ago, these processes would have been carried out by the now extinct , and semi-aquatic . Notoungulata were hoofed, sometimes heavy-bodied grazing mammals that inhabited South America from 57 million years to 11,000 years ago. , Although it may seem an eternity since mammoths walked the Earth, our research suggests that some of the effects they had on the world around them can be resurrected without a Jurassic Park-style breakthrough in . , Lecturer in Biology, and , Lecturer in Physical Geography, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . Share: Latest News Comment: Assisted coral evolution Writing for The Conversation, Dr Liam Lachs, Dr Adriana Humanes and Dr James Guest, discuss how how accelerating evolution could help corals survive future heatwaves. published on: 17 April 2026 Trait choice and selection key to helping corals survive heatwaves Assisted evolution could help corals survive future heatwaves, but careful trait choice and strong repeated selection will be needed for it to be effective. published on: 17 April 2026 Lough Neagh sand mining threatens lake鈥檚 ecosystem, research warns New research involving 缅北禁地 outlines how Lough Neagh, the UK and Ireland鈥檚 largest freshwater lake, is under threat from commercial sand dredging. published on: 17 April 2026 Facts and figures
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