Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west

Abstract Aim To examine the issue of Beringian steppe‐tundra from an entomological standpoint, using fossil beetle data collected from late Pleistocene sites. Location North‐eastern Siberia (Western Beringia), the Bering Land Bridge (Central Beringia), and Alaska and the Yukon Territory (Eastern Ber...

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Published in:Journal of Biogeography
Main Authors: Elias, Scott A., Berman, Daniil, Alfimov, Arkady
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2000
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x
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spelling crwiley:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x 2024-06-02T08:04:18+00:00 Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west Elias, Scott A. Berman, Daniil Alfimov, Arkady 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2699.2000.00503.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Journal of Biogeography volume 27, issue 6, page 1349-1363 ISSN 0305-0270 1365-2699 journal-article 2000 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x 2024-05-03T11:06:24Z Abstract Aim To examine the issue of Beringian steppe‐tundra from an entomological standpoint, using fossil beetle data collected from late Pleistocene sites. Location North‐eastern Siberia (Western Beringia), the Bering Land Bridge (Central Beringia), and Alaska and the Yukon Territory (Eastern Beringia). Methods Analysis of habitat preferences of beetle species found in fossil assemblages, leading to classification of major habitat types characterized by the faunal assemblages. Results Fossil beetle assemblages indicative of steppe‐tundra are found mainly in the interior regions of Eastern Beringia, whereas these assemblages dominate nearly all late Pleistocene fossil sites in Western Beringia. Eastern Beringian faunas contain a much larger proportion of mesic to hygrophilous species and very few arid‐habitat species. In contrast to this, the habitat requirements of the Western Beringian faunas are more evenly spread across the moisture spectrum. Main conclusions The taxonomic patterns of the two sets of fossil assemblages are remarkably different. Eastern Beringian faunal assemblages contain substantial numbers of mesic tundra and riparian rove beetles (Staphylinidae); this element is almost entirely lacking in the Western Beringian fossil assemblages. Taphonomic bias tends to overemphasize moisture‐loving species at the expense of dry, upland species in the fossil record. Both Western and Eastern Beringian landscapes undoubtedly contained mosaics of habitats ranging from dry uplands (steppe‐tundra) through mesic tundra to bogs and riparian corridors. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Land Bridge Tundra Alaska Beringia Siberia Yukon Wiley Online Library Yukon Journal of Biogeography 27 6 1349 1363
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
description Abstract Aim To examine the issue of Beringian steppe‐tundra from an entomological standpoint, using fossil beetle data collected from late Pleistocene sites. Location North‐eastern Siberia (Western Beringia), the Bering Land Bridge (Central Beringia), and Alaska and the Yukon Territory (Eastern Beringia). Methods Analysis of habitat preferences of beetle species found in fossil assemblages, leading to classification of major habitat types characterized by the faunal assemblages. Results Fossil beetle assemblages indicative of steppe‐tundra are found mainly in the interior regions of Eastern Beringia, whereas these assemblages dominate nearly all late Pleistocene fossil sites in Western Beringia. Eastern Beringian faunas contain a much larger proportion of mesic to hygrophilous species and very few arid‐habitat species. In contrast to this, the habitat requirements of the Western Beringian faunas are more evenly spread across the moisture spectrum. Main conclusions The taxonomic patterns of the two sets of fossil assemblages are remarkably different. Eastern Beringian faunal assemblages contain substantial numbers of mesic tundra and riparian rove beetles (Staphylinidae); this element is almost entirely lacking in the Western Beringian fossil assemblages. Taphonomic bias tends to overemphasize moisture‐loving species at the expense of dry, upland species in the fossil record. Both Western and Eastern Beringian landscapes undoubtedly contained mosaics of habitats ranging from dry uplands (steppe‐tundra) through mesic tundra to bogs and riparian corridors.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Elias, Scott A.
Berman, Daniil
Alfimov, Arkady
spellingShingle Elias, Scott A.
Berman, Daniil
Alfimov, Arkady
Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west
author_facet Elias, Scott A.
Berman, Daniil
Alfimov, Arkady
author_sort Elias, Scott A.
title Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west
title_short Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west
title_full Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west
title_fullStr Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west
title_full_unstemmed Late Pleistocene beetle faunas of Beringia: where east met west
title_sort late pleistocene beetle faunas of beringia: where east met west
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2000
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2699.2000.00503.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x
geographic Yukon
geographic_facet Yukon
genre Bering Land Bridge
Tundra
Alaska
Beringia
Siberia
Yukon
genre_facet Bering Land Bridge
Tundra
Alaska
Beringia
Siberia
Yukon
op_source Journal of Biogeography
volume 27, issue 6, page 1349-1363
ISSN 0305-0270 1365-2699
op_rights http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00503.x
container_title Journal of Biogeography
container_volume 27
container_issue 6
container_start_page 1349
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