Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population
The world's last population of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) lived on Wrangel Island persisting well into the Holocene, going extinct at ca. 4000 cal BP. According to the frequency of 'radiocarbon dated mammoth remains from the island, the extinction appears fairly abrupt. This s...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10138/309133 |
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ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/309133 2024-04-21T08:13:03+00:00 Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population Arppe, Laura Karhu, Juha A. Vartanyan, Sergey Drucker, Dorothée G. Etu-Sihvola, Heli Bocherens, Hervé Natural Sciences Unit Finnish Museum of Natural History Department of Geosciences and Geography Stable Isotope Systematics 2020-01-09T02:39:32Z 15 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/309133 eng eng Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105884 Arppe , L , Karhu , J A , Vartanyan , S , Drucker , D G , Etu-Sihvola , H & Bocherens , H 2019 , ' Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population ' , Quaternary Science Reviews , vol. 222 , 105884 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105884 RIS: urn:5F379AECE877FD36EA5AF5DE2FA899ED ORCID: /0000-0001-6669-797X/work/67135266 ORCID: /0000-0003-4445-6096/work/90051687 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/309133 54ef2203-ab47-4978-9734-6f868771141c 000491685900021 cc_by info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess openAccess 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology Holocene Pleistocene Paleoclimatology Paleoecology Russia Beringia Stable isotopes Radiogenic isotopes Mammoths Extinction MAMMUTHUS-PRIMIGENIUS RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY STABLE CARBON DELTA-N-15 VALUES BONE-COLLAGEN TRACKING C-13 LATE PLEISTOCENE NITROGEN ISOTOPES PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS PALEOLITHIC SITE 1171 Geosciences Article publishedVersion 2020 ftunivhelsihelda 2024-03-27T17:51:23Z The world's last population of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) lived on Wrangel Island persisting well into the Holocene, going extinct at ca. 4000 cal BP. According to the frequency of 'radiocarbon dated mammoth remains from the island, the extinction appears fairly abrupt. This study investigates the ecology of the Wrangel Island mammoth population by means of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotope analyses. We report new isotope data on 77 radiocarbon dated mammoth specimens from Wrangel Island and Siberia, and evaluate them in relation to previously published isotope data for Pleistocene mammoths from Beringia and lower latitude Eurasia, and the other insular Holocene mammoth population from St. Paul Island. Contrary to prior suggestions of gradual habitat deterioration, the nitrogen isotope values of the Wrangel Island mammoths do not support a decline in forage quality/quantity, and are in fact very similar to their north Beringian forebears right to the end. However, compared to Siberian mammoths, those from Wrangel Island show a difference in their energy economy as judged by the carbon isotope values of structural carbonate, possibly representing a lower need of adaptive strategies for survival in extreme cold. Increased mid-Holocene weathering of rock formations in the central mountains is suggested by sulfur isotope values. Scenarios related to water quality problems stemming from increased weathering, and a possibility of a catastrophic starvation event as a cause of, or contributing factor in their demise are discussed. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Wrangel Island Beringia Siberia HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Quaternary Science Reviews 222 105884 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
1181 Ecology evolutionary biology Holocene Pleistocene Paleoclimatology Paleoecology Russia Beringia Stable isotopes Radiogenic isotopes Mammoths Extinction MAMMUTHUS-PRIMIGENIUS RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY STABLE CARBON DELTA-N-15 VALUES BONE-COLLAGEN TRACKING C-13 LATE PLEISTOCENE NITROGEN ISOTOPES PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS PALEOLITHIC SITE 1171 Geosciences |
spellingShingle |
1181 Ecology evolutionary biology Holocene Pleistocene Paleoclimatology Paleoecology Russia Beringia Stable isotopes Radiogenic isotopes Mammoths Extinction MAMMUTHUS-PRIMIGENIUS RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY STABLE CARBON DELTA-N-15 VALUES BONE-COLLAGEN TRACKING C-13 LATE PLEISTOCENE NITROGEN ISOTOPES PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS PALEOLITHIC SITE 1171 Geosciences Arppe, Laura Karhu, Juha A. Vartanyan, Sergey Drucker, Dorothée G. Etu-Sihvola, Heli Bocherens, Hervé Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population |
topic_facet |
1181 Ecology evolutionary biology Holocene Pleistocene Paleoclimatology Paleoecology Russia Beringia Stable isotopes Radiogenic isotopes Mammoths Extinction MAMMUTHUS-PRIMIGENIUS RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY STABLE CARBON DELTA-N-15 VALUES BONE-COLLAGEN TRACKING C-13 LATE PLEISTOCENE NITROGEN ISOTOPES PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS PALEOLITHIC SITE 1171 Geosciences |
description |
The world's last population of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) lived on Wrangel Island persisting well into the Holocene, going extinct at ca. 4000 cal BP. According to the frequency of 'radiocarbon dated mammoth remains from the island, the extinction appears fairly abrupt. This study investigates the ecology of the Wrangel Island mammoth population by means of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotope analyses. We report new isotope data on 77 radiocarbon dated mammoth specimens from Wrangel Island and Siberia, and evaluate them in relation to previously published isotope data for Pleistocene mammoths from Beringia and lower latitude Eurasia, and the other insular Holocene mammoth population from St. Paul Island. Contrary to prior suggestions of gradual habitat deterioration, the nitrogen isotope values of the Wrangel Island mammoths do not support a decline in forage quality/quantity, and are in fact very similar to their north Beringian forebears right to the end. However, compared to Siberian mammoths, those from Wrangel Island show a difference in their energy economy as judged by the carbon isotope values of structural carbonate, possibly representing a lower need of adaptive strategies for survival in extreme cold. Increased mid-Holocene weathering of rock formations in the central mountains is suggested by sulfur isotope values. Scenarios related to water quality problems stemming from increased weathering, and a possibility of a catastrophic starvation event as a cause of, or contributing factor in their demise are discussed. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Natural Sciences Unit Finnish Museum of Natural History Department of Geosciences and Geography Stable Isotope Systematics |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arppe, Laura Karhu, Juha A. Vartanyan, Sergey Drucker, Dorothée G. Etu-Sihvola, Heli Bocherens, Hervé |
author_facet |
Arppe, Laura Karhu, Juha A. Vartanyan, Sergey Drucker, Dorothée G. Etu-Sihvola, Heli Bocherens, Hervé |
author_sort |
Arppe, Laura |
title |
Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population |
title_short |
Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population |
title_full |
Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population |
title_fullStr |
Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population |
title_sort |
thriving or surviving? the isotopic record of the wrangel island woolly mammoth population |
publisher |
Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/309133 |
genre |
Wrangel Island Beringia Siberia |
genre_facet |
Wrangel Island Beringia Siberia |
op_relation |
10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105884 Arppe , L , Karhu , J A , Vartanyan , S , Drucker , D G , Etu-Sihvola , H & Bocherens , H 2019 , ' Thriving or surviving? The isotopic record of the Wrangel Island woolly mammoth population ' , Quaternary Science Reviews , vol. 222 , 105884 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105884 RIS: urn:5F379AECE877FD36EA5AF5DE2FA899ED ORCID: /0000-0001-6669-797X/work/67135266 ORCID: /0000-0003-4445-6096/work/90051687 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/309133 54ef2203-ab47-4978-9734-6f868771141c 000491685900021 |
op_rights |
cc_by info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess openAccess |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
222 |
container_start_page |
105884 |
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1796933420318720000 |