An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska
Genetic and paleontological evidence are combining to provide a new and surprising picture of mammalian biogeography in southeastern Alaska. Prior to our study, the brown and black bears of the Alexander Archipelago were considered postglacial immigrants that never had overlapping ranges. Vertebrate...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1996
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.1996.0058 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589496900587?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589496900587?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400039314 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1006/qres.1996.0058 2024-10-06T13:44:33+00:00 An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska Heaton, Timothy H. Talbot, Sandra L. Shields, Gerald F. 1996 http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.1996.0058 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589496900587?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589496900587?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400039314 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Quaternary Research volume 46, issue 2, page 186-192 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 journal-article 1996 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1996.0058 2024-09-11T04:05:04Z Genetic and paleontological evidence are combining to provide a new and surprising picture of mammalian biogeography in southeastern Alaska. Prior to our study, the brown and black bears of the Alexander Archipelago were considered postglacial immigrants that never had overlapping ranges. Vertebrate fossils from caves on Prince of Wales Island now demonstrate that brown and black bears coexisted there (and even inhabited the same caves) both before and after the last glaciation. Differences in mtDNA sequences suggest that living brown bears of the Alexander Archipelago comprise a distinct clade and are more closely related to polar bears than to their mainland conspecifics. We conclude that brown bears, and perhaps other large mammals, have continuously inhabited the archipelago for at least 40,000 yr and that habitable refugia were therefore available throughout the last glaciation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Archipelago Prince of Wales Island Alaska Cambridge University Press Prince of Wales Island ENVELOPE(-99.001,-99.001,72.668,72.668) Quaternary Research 46 2 186 192 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Genetic and paleontological evidence are combining to provide a new and surprising picture of mammalian biogeography in southeastern Alaska. Prior to our study, the brown and black bears of the Alexander Archipelago were considered postglacial immigrants that never had overlapping ranges. Vertebrate fossils from caves on Prince of Wales Island now demonstrate that brown and black bears coexisted there (and even inhabited the same caves) both before and after the last glaciation. Differences in mtDNA sequences suggest that living brown bears of the Alexander Archipelago comprise a distinct clade and are more closely related to polar bears than to their mainland conspecifics. We conclude that brown bears, and perhaps other large mammals, have continuously inhabited the archipelago for at least 40,000 yr and that habitable refugia were therefore available throughout the last glaciation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heaton, Timothy H. Talbot, Sandra L. Shields, Gerald F. |
spellingShingle |
Heaton, Timothy H. Talbot, Sandra L. Shields, Gerald F. An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska |
author_facet |
Heaton, Timothy H. Talbot, Sandra L. Shields, Gerald F. |
author_sort |
Heaton, Timothy H. |
title |
An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska |
title_short |
An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska |
title_full |
An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska |
title_fullStr |
An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska |
title_sort |
ice age refugium for large mammals in the alexander archipelago, southeastern alaska |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1996 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.1996.0058 http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589496900587?httpAccept=text/xml http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589496900587?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400039314 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-99.001,-99.001,72.668,72.668) |
geographic |
Prince of Wales Island |
geographic_facet |
Prince of Wales Island |
genre |
Archipelago Prince of Wales Island Alaska |
genre_facet |
Archipelago Prince of Wales Island Alaska |
op_source |
Quaternary Research volume 46, issue 2, page 186-192 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1996.0058 |
container_title |
Quaternary Research |
container_volume |
46 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
186 |
op_container_end_page |
192 |
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1812182995739607040 |