Was the steppe bison a grazing beast in Pleistocene landscapes?

• Published in: Royal Society Open Science
• Main Authors: Hofman-Kamińska, Emilia, Merceron, Gildas, Bocherens, Hervé, Boeskorov, Gennady, G, Krotova, Oleksandra, O, Protopopov, Albert, V, Shpansky, Andrei, V, Kowalczyk, Rafał
• Other Authors: Polska Akademia Nauk = Polish Academy of Sciences = Académie polonaise des sciences (PAN), Laboratoire de paléontologie, évolution, paléoécosystèmes, paléoprimatologie UMR 7262 (Palevoprim Poitiers ), Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers (UP)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut für Geowissenschaften Tübingen, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen = University of Tübingen, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine = Національна академія наук України = Académie nationale des sciences d'Ukraine (NASU / НАН України), Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha, Tomsk State University Tomsk, Polish National Science Centre (2015/17/N/ST10/01707 and 2013/11/B/NZ8/00914), ANR-13-JSV7-0008,TRIDENT,TRIbologie DENTaire et contrôles alimentaires : une combinaison innovante pour caractériser l'évolution des communautés de mammifères herbivores(2013), European Project: 247652,EC:FP7:PEOPLE,FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES,BIOGEAST(2011)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Earth and environmental Science palaeontology; ecology; evolution Bison priscus; Bb1 bison; dental microwear textures; diet; habitat use; vegetation modelling; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Tundra; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-04686160; https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-04686160v1/document; https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-04686160v1/file/2024-Hofman%20Kami%C5%84ska-Royal%20Soc%20Open%20Science.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240317

International audience The history and palaeoecology of the steppe bison ( Bison priscus ) remain incompletely understood despite its widespread distribution. Using dental microwear textural analysis (DMTA) and vegetation modelling, we reconstructed the diet and assessed the habitat of steppe bison inhabiting Eurasia and Alaska since the Middle Pleistocene. During the Late Pleistocene, steppe bison occupied a variety of biome types: from the mosaic of temperate summergreen forest and steppe/temperate grassland (Serbia) to the tundra biomes (Siberia and Alaska). Despite the differences in the identified biome types, the diet of steppe bison did not differ significantly among populations in Eurasia. DMTA classified it as a mixed forager in all populations studied. The DMTA of Bb1 bison—a recently identified genetically extinct sister-clade of Bison bonasus —was typical of a highly grazing bovid species and differed from all B. priscus populations. The results of the study temper the common perception that steppe bison were grazers in steppe habitats. The dietary plasticity of the steppe bison was lower when compared with modern European bison and may have played an important role in its extinction, even in the stable tundra biome of eastern Siberia, where it has survived the longest in all of Eurasia.