Editing Megafauna (section)

==== Effect on nutrient transport ====
Megafauna play a significant role in the lateral transport of mineral nutrients in an ecosystem, tending to translocate them from areas of high to those of lower abundance. They do so by their movement between the time they consume the nutrient and the time they release it through elimination (or, to a much lesser extent, through decomposition after death).<ref name="Wolf2013">{{cite journal|last1=Wolf|first1=A.|last2=Doughty|first2=C. E.|last3=Malhi|first3=Y.|author-link3=Yadvinder Malhi|title=Lateral Diffusion of Nutrients by Mammalian Herbivores in Terrestrial Ecosystems|journal=[[PLoS ONE]]|volume= 8|issue= 8|year= 2013|pages= e71352|doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0071352|pmid=23951141|pmc=3739793|bibcode=2013PLoSO...871352W|doi-access=free}}</ref> In South America's [[Amazon Basin]], it is estimated that such lateral diffusion was reduced over 98% following the megafaunal extinctions that occurred roughly 12,500 years ago.<ref name = "Marshall_2013">{{cite magazine | last = Marshall | first = M. | title = Ecosystems still feel the pain of ancient extinctions | magazine = [[New Scientist]] | date = 2013-08-11 | url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24026-ecosystems-still-feel-the-pain-of-ancient-extinctions.html | access-date = 2013-08-12 | archive-date = 2015-07-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150704181952/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24026-ecosystems-still-feel-the-pain-of-ancient-extinctions.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="DoughtyWolf2013">{{cite journal|last1=Doughty|first1=C. E.|last2=Wolf|first2=A.|last3=Malhi|first3=Y.|author-link3=Yadvinder Malhi|title=The legacy of the Pleistocene megafauna extinctions on nutrient availability in Amazonia|journal= [[Nature Geoscience]]|date= 2013-08-11|doi= 10.1038/ngeo1895|volume= 6|issue= 9|pages= 761–764|bibcode= 2013NatGe...6..761D}}</ref> Given that [[phosphorus]] availability is thought to limit productivity in much of the region, the decrease in its transport from the western part of the basin and from floodplains (both of which derive their supply from the uplift of the [[Andes]]) to other areas is thought to have significantly impacted the region's ecology, and the effects may not yet have reached their limits.<ref name="DoughtyWolf2013"/> In the sea, cetaceans and pinnipeds that feed at depth are thought to translocate nitrogen from deep to shallow water, enhancing [[Primary production#Oceanic production|ocean productivity]], and counteracting the activity of [[zooplankton]], which tend to do the opposite.<ref name="Roman2010">{{cite journal|last1= Roman|first1= J.|last2= McCarthy|first2= J.J.|title=The Whale Pump: Marine Mammals Enhance Primary Productivity in a Coastal Basin |journal=PLOS ONE|volume= 5|issue= 10|year= 2010|page= e13255|doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0013255|pmc= 2952594|pmid= 20949007|bibcode= 2010PLoSO...513255R|doi-access= free}}</ref>