Gourds and squashes ( Cucurbita spp.) adapted to megafaunal extinction and ecological anachronism through domestication

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1516109112
• Publication Date: 2015-11-17T03:03:41Z
• Authors: Logan Kistler; Lee A. Newsom; Timothy M. Ryan; Andrew C. Clarke; Bruce D. Smith; George H. Perry
• Keywords: Megafauna; Cucurbita

Significance Squashes, pumpkins, and gourds belonging to the genus Cucurbita were domesticated on several occasions throughout Americas, beginning around 10,000 years ago. The wild forms of these species are unpalatably bitter humans other extant mammals, but their seeds present in mastodon dung deposits, demonstrating that they may have been dispersed by large-bodied herbivores undeterred bitterness. However, poorly adapted a landscape lacking large dispersal partners. Our study proposes link between disappearance megafaunal mammals from landscape, decline populations, and, ultimately, evolution alongside human cultivators.