Ecosystem functioning is dependent a lot on large mammals, which are, however, vulnerable and facing extinction risks due to human impacts mainly. Megafauna of Asia has been declining for a long, not only in numbers but also in their distribution ranges. In the current study, we collected information on past and current occurrence and distribution records of Asia’s megafauna species. We reconstructed the historical distribution ranges of the six herbivores and four carnivores for comparison with their present ranges, to quantify spatially explicit levels of mega-defaunation. Results revealed that historically the selected megafauna species were more widely distributed than at current. Severe range contraction was observed for the Asiatic lion, three rhino species, Asian elephant, tigers, and tapirs. Defaunation maps generated have revealed the vanishing of megafauna from parts of the East, Southeast, and Southwest Asia, even some protected Areas losing up to eight out of ten megafaunal species. These defaunation maps can help develop future conservation policies, to save the remaining distribution ranges of large mammals.

中文翻译：

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亚洲大型食草动物和食肉动物的历史和当前分布范围以及损失

生态系统的功能在很大程度上取决于大型哺乳动物，但是大型哺乳动物非常脆弱，主要由于人类的影响而面临灭绝的风险。亚洲的大型动物已经下降了很长时间，不仅在数量上而且在分布范围上。在本研究中，我们收集了有关亚洲巨型动物物种过去和现在的发生以及分布记录的信息。我们重建了六个草食动物和四个食肉动物的历史分布范围，以与它们的当前范围进行比较，以量化巨型毁灭的空间明确水平。结果表明，从历史上看，大型动植物物种的分布比当前更为广泛。观察到亚洲狮，三种犀牛，亚洲象，老虎和tap的剧烈范围收缩。生成的毁灭地图显示东亚，东南亚和西南亚部分地区的巨型动物消失了，甚至一些保护区丧失了十分之八的巨型动物。这些毁损图可以帮助制定未来的保护政策，以节省大型哺乳动物的剩余分布范围。