New Findings Suggest Forest Growth Played a Key Role in Central Europe Megafauna Decline
Researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz propose that shifts in forest cover helped drive the disappearance of large prehistoric mammals in Central Europe. Megafauna such as mammoths, woolly rhinos, bison, horses, and reindeer roamed the expansive plains of what is now Central Europe for tens of thousands of years. They vanished from the region roughly 11,000 years ago, and the exact cause remains a topic of scientific discussion and ongoing study.
In pursuit of answers, the team examined sediment layers from two maars in the Eifel Highlands. Maars are volcanic craters that later filled with water, forming lakes that capture a long record of environmental change. By analyzing these sediment deposits, the researchers reconstructed patterns in megafauna populations and landscape transformation over a 60,000-year span. The team focused on pollen to trace past vegetation and on fungal spores. Pollen records illuminate which plants dominated over time, while spores of fungi that colonize the dung of large herbivores offer indirect evidence of the presence of big mammals in the ecosystem.
Their findings indicate that humans and large herbivores coexisted in the Eifel region for many millennia. The researchers emphasize that the lake and soil records from the Eifel maars do not reveal a clear signal that human hunting alone caused the extinction of these animals. Consequently, the overfishing hypothesis proposed to explain the North American megafauna’s demise does not apply straightforwardly to Central Europe in this case. The conclusions point to a more nuanced interplay of environmental change and megafauna dynamics rather than a single, decisive trigger. [Source: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz]
Based on pollen analyses, the researchers reconstruct a sequence in the Eifel landscape. Between about 60,000 and 48,000 years ago, spruce forests dominated. As climate cooling progressed, these forests opened into a forest-steppe landscape that remained prevalent until about 43,000 to 30,000 years ago. Following this period, the region experienced a forest-tundra phase before eventually giving way to the Arctic-like grasslands of the Ice Age. This sequence reflects a broad shift from densely treed environments to more open habitats with seasonal grasses and exposed soils.
The spores connected to megafaunal feces indicate that large mammals persisted in this colder, more open environment from around 48,000 to 11,000 years ago. Fossil bones discovered in Belgian caves and gravel deposits along the Rhine Valley demonstrate that species such as mammoths, woolly rhinos, bison, horses, and reindeer were well adapted to cold conditions. During warmer intervals, deer and bison found refuge in the sparser forest cover. The study highlights how changes in vegetation and climate modulated food resources for these animals, influencing their distribution and survival prospects over thousands of years.
The authors explain that as tree cover expanded, the availability of grasses—the preferred staple forage for many megafauna—diminished. This shift in habitat and forage likely constrained large herbivores more than dramatic climate shifts or volcanic activity did. In their view, the extinction pattern in Central Europe appears to reflect long-term ecological change rather than a sudden event. The work contributes to a growing understanding that regional megafauna losses result from complex ecological dynamics rather than a single catastrophic cause. [Source: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz]