A Method for Comparison of Northern Fossil Insect Assemblages

• Published in: Géographie physique et Quaternaire
• Main Author: Matthews, John V.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal 1983
• Subjects: Arctic; Yukon; Arctique*; Subarctic; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/032524ar; https://doi.org/10.7202/032524ar

The paleoenvironmental resolving power of late CenozoicColeoptera fossils from arctic and subarctic sites is hindered by the fact that the fossil assemblages often differgreatly in taxonomic diversity and minimum number of individuals represented. In order to compare faunas of different age and from different sites, the fossil insect assemblages must first be normalized. One method of doing this is to group the fossils according to the ecological requirements of the taxa that they represent and then compare assemblages on the basis of the percentage of individual insects in each group. Eight such groups are defined in this paper and then used to compare fossil assemblages from the Yukon Territory, Alaska and eastern Siberia. Such comparisons reveal differences related to local site-of-deposition conditions but they also reflect the character of the regional late Pleistocene beetle fauna. The grouping procedure supports conclusions based on other information, such as taxonomic content, but it masks certain assemblage characteristics that may also be of paleoenvironmental significance. Thus grouping insect fossils as a means of normalizing the dataf or purposes of comparison should not be used in lieu of other analytical approaches. Il est difficile de reconstituer les paléoenvironnements à partir des coléoptères fossiles du Cénozoïque supérieur provenant de sites de l'Arctique et du sub-Arctique, étant donné que les associations de fossiles ont souvent une grande diversité taxonomique et que le nombre d'individus représentés varie beaucoup. Afin de pouvoir comparer les faunes d'âges variés qui proviennent de sites différents, il faut d'abord normaliser les associations d'insectes fossiles. Une des méthodes consiste à regrouper les fossiles selon les exigences écologiques des taxons et comparer les associations en fonction du pourcentage d'individus dans chaque groupe. Le présent rapport définit huit de ces groupes et les utilise pour comparer des associations de de la Sibérie orientale. Ces comparaisons ...