Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Last Glacial Maximum, inferred from insect fossils from a tephra buried soil at Tempest Lake, Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Sediments and vegetation dated 21,570 cal yr BP were buried under tephra on the northern Seward Peninsula. This buried surface has yielded plant macrofossils in growth position, as well as numerous insect excellently preserved in permafrost. It appears that many of the insects were buried alive by t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Main Authors: Kuzmina, Svetlana, Elias, Scott, Matheus, Paul, Storer, John E., Sher, Andrei
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Alaska
Insect fossils
Seward Peninsula
Last glacial maximum
SEASONAL TEMPERATURES
NORTHWEST ALASKA
TUNDRA-STEPPE
LAND-BRIDGE
BERINGIA
ENVIRONMENT
ASSEMBLAGES
INSIGHTS
CLIMATE
Faculty of Science\Geography
Research Groups and Centres\Geography\Centre for Quaternary Research
permafrost
Tundra
Beringia
Online Access:https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/ed8787af-205c-bca4-4fb0-83c50423585d/5/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.07.007
Description
Summary:Sediments and vegetation dated 21,570 cal yr BP were buried under tephra on the northern Seward Peninsula. This buried surface has yielded plant macrofossils in growth position, as well as numerous insect excellently preserved in permafrost. It appears that many of the insects were buried alive by the fossils, excellently preserved in permafrost. It appears that many of the insects were buried alive by the volcanic ash. The species composition and ecological affinities of this fossil fauna are typical of Alaskan Late Pleistocene steppe-tundra environments. The assemblages are dominated by the weevil Lepidophorus one of the most common species in Eastern Beringian Pleistocene fossil assemblages. Many other lineaticollis, one of the most common species in Eastern Beringian Pleistocene fossil assemblages. Many other members of the ancient steppe-tundra insect community are preserved in these assemblages, including the pill beetle Morychus sp. and weevils of the genus Coniocleonus. In Alaska, most of these species (but not all of them) survived the Pleistocene/Holocene environmental transition, but are restricted today to relict patches of steppe-like vegetation. Faunal diversity is low, in spite of the recovery of more than 1000 individual insects and mites including more than 600 beetles. This reflects the small number of species adapted to the cold, dry environments of the LGM in Eastern Beringia. They represent an ecosystem which no longer exists. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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