Ive jumped off your truck there.
How many species came along, lived and quietly went extinct without any help from humans??
Perhaps the most conspicuous aspect of the diversity of life on the planet is the enormous range of the diversity of sizes of organisms. Indeed, large animals and trees (such as elephants, rhinos, whales, and large trees such as redwoods, sequoias, and mountain ash) are also often seen as charismatic and are often used as flagship species for conservation decisions. Large animals and trees are often highlighted as they have inspired much conservation effort and policy and effectively convey conservation principles to the public1,2. However, there is debate on if the charismatic nature of a species is a good indicator of conservation value or even a good predictor of conservation efficiency1,3,4.
One of the primary signatures of the Anthropocene has been a progressive elimination of the largest organisms5,6,7,8, especially if one of the first antecedents of the Anthropocene is argued to be the decimation of the Pleistocene megafauna9. Throughout most of the Phanerozoic, large animals and trees have been ubiquitous across the globe, except immediately following major extinction events in Earth history. Human activities are now disproportionately impacting the largest animals and trees2,8. This downsizing of the biosphere started in the Late Pleistocene with the extinction of much of the megafauna and continued through the rise of human societies marked by the exploitation of forests, ongoing hunting of large animals and clearing of land for agriculture and industry10. Here we coin the term megabiota to refer collectively to the largest plants and animals in the biosphere (i.e. the megafauna and megaflora). The megabiota are disproportionately impacted by land clearing, landscape fragmentation, hunting, overfishing, selective logging, human conflict, and climate change. As a result, populations of free ranging biodiverse megabiota on the planet have continued to be whittled down.
