Ecological transitions - But for whom? A perspective from the Pleistocene

► The end of the Middle Pleistocene appears to have been a significant boundary in respect of herbivorous mammals, which suffered a considerable depletion. In contrast, most genera and species of European birds in the Middle Pleistocene survived into the Upper Pleistocene, even to the present day. ► The most successful survivors in the Palaearctic Pleistocene were species from genera that had been the most climatically-tolerant during the late Cenozoic. ► Here we advocate an individualistic and taxon specific approach in understanding the major ecological changes that have marked the history organisms.