The Caribbean archipelago is a hotspot of biodiversity characterized by a high rate of extinction. Recent studies have examined these losses, but the causes of the Antillean Late Quaternary vertebrate extinctions, and especially the role of humans, are still unclear. Current results provide support for climate-related and human-induced extinctions, but often downplaying other complex bio-ecological factors that are difficult to model or to detect from the fossil and archaeological record. Here, we discuss Caribbean vertebrate extinctions and the potential role of humans derived from new and existing fossil and archaeological data from Cuba. Our results indicate that losses of Cuba’s native fauna occurred in three waves: one during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, a second during the middle Holocene, and a third one during the last 2 ka, coinciding with the arrival of agroceramists and the early Europeans. The coexistence of now-extinct species with multiple cultural groups in Cuba for over 4 ka implies that Cuban indigenous non-ceramic cultures exerted far fewer extinction pressures to native fauna than the later agroceramists and Europeans that followed. This suggests a determinant value to increased technological sophistication and demographics as the most plausible effective extinction drivers.

中文翻译：

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评估人类在大安的列斯群岛脊椎动物灭绝中的作用：来自古巴的新见解

加勒比群岛是生物多样性的热点，其灭绝速度很高。最近的研究已经检查了这些损失，但是尚不清楚安提尔晚期第四纪脊椎动物灭绝的原因，尤其是人类的作用。目前的结果为与气候有关的灭绝和人为灭绝提供了支持，但往往低估了其他复杂的生物生态因素，这些因素很难通过化石和考古记录来建模或检测。在这里，我们讨论了加勒比海脊椎动物的灭绝以及人类从古巴获得的新的和现有的化石与考古数据所起的潜在作用。我们的结果表明，古巴本地动物群的损失发生了三波：一次在更新世晚期和全新世早期，第二次在中全新世，第三次在最后2 ka，与农艺师和早期欧洲人的到来相吻合。现已灭绝的物种与多个文化群体并存于古巴超过4 ka，这意味着古巴本土的非陶瓷文化对本土动物的灭绝压力要比随后的后来的农学家和欧洲人少得多。这表明增加技术复杂性和人口统计学的决定性价值是最合理的有效灭绝驱动因素。