Climate Records and Mammal Structure (IMAGE)

Arizona State University

Climate Records and Mammal Structure

Caption

Temperature, vegetation and human population growth changes over the last 22,000 years. The cool and arid Last Glacial Maximum saw the expansion of desert environments at the expense of forests, whereas the warm and wet mid-Holocene was characterized by an expansion of savannas and forests. These environmental changes greatly influenced the distribution of African mammal communities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects up to 4°C increase by 2100 and the United Nations (UN) projects human population growth to exceed 11 million people by then.

Credit

Modified with permission from Railsbeck's "Fundamentals of Quaternary Science" http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/FQS/FQS.html

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