Professor Alan Cooper

A new paper titled ‘The effect of climate and environmental change on the megafaunal moa of New Zealand in the absence of humans‘ investigates using ancient DNA to assess the effect of climate and environmental changes on the now extinct Giant Moa. The researchers discovered that climate and environmental changes did not have a signifcant impact on the population of the extinct New Zealand bird.

The paper involves Environment Institute members Nicolas Rawlence (also of the University of Waikato), Jeremy Austin (also of Museum Victoria) and Alan Cooper as well as Jessica Metcalf (University of Colorado), Jamie Wood (Landcare Research), Trevor Worthy (Australian Centre for Ancient DNA) and has been published in Quaternary Science Reviews.

Download the paper to read about their findings
Read the University of Adelaide’s media release