Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains
The Late Pleistocene landscape in northern Eurasia and North America was inhabited by a specific megafaunal complex, which largely disappeared during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Vegetation changes are considered as one of the factors responsible for these extinctions, but the structure and...
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4992252 2024-09-15T18:39:45+00:00 Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains Axmanová, Irena Robovský, Jan Tichý, Lubomír Danihelka, Jiri Troeva, Elena Protopopov, Albert Chytrý, Milan 2019-12-14 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn02zs unknown Zenodo https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04940 https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn02zs oai:zenodo.org:4992252 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode megafauna habitats mammoth steppe Pleistocene vegetation palaeobotany vegetation reconstructions Northern Siberia and Beringia info:eu-repo/semantics/other 2019 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn02zs10.1111/ecog.04940 2024-07-26T13:36:59Z The Late Pleistocene landscape in northern Eurasia and North America was inhabited by a specific megafaunal complex, which largely disappeared during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Vegetation changes are considered as one of the factors responsible for these extinctions, but the structure and composition of the Pleistocene vegetation are still poorly known. Here we complement previous studies by comparing the taxonomic composition of the plant remains found in the gastrointestinal tracts of the frozen carcasses of Pleistocene megaherbivores with the species composition of the current Siberian vegetation. We compiled a dataset of palaeobotanical records from frozen individuals of Pleistocene megaherbivores found in northern Siberia and Beringia and dated to the period from more than 50 kyr BP to 9 kyr BP. We also compiled a dataset of vegetation plots from several regions in Siberia. We analysed the similarity in taxonomic composition of plants between these two datasets using a novel method that accounts for variable taxonomic resolution in palaeobotanical data. For most megaherbivore individuals, plant remains in their gastrointestinal tracts corresponded to tundra, forest and mire vegetation, while they showed low similarity to steppe. This pattern was relatively constant over time, showing no remarkable differences between the Last Glacial Maximum and the periods before and afterwards. This suggests that during the Upper Pleistocene, a mosaic of mesic and wet vegetation types such as tundra with patches of forests and mires was common in northern Siberia and Beringia. In contrast, the steppe was rare to absent in the landscape or underused by the megaherbivores as a pasture since they found enough food in the widespread mesic and wet habitats with more productive vegetation. Funding provided by: Czech Science Foundation Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: P504/11/0454 Funding provided by: Czech Science Foundation Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: 17-15168S Funding provided by: Russian ... Other/Unknown Material Tundra Beringia Siberia Zenodo |
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topic |
megafauna habitats mammoth steppe Pleistocene vegetation palaeobotany vegetation reconstructions Northern Siberia and Beringia |
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megafauna habitats mammoth steppe Pleistocene vegetation palaeobotany vegetation reconstructions Northern Siberia and Beringia Axmanová, Irena Robovský, Jan Tichý, Lubomír Danihelka, Jiri Troeva, Elena Protopopov, Albert Chytrý, Milan Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
topic_facet |
megafauna habitats mammoth steppe Pleistocene vegetation palaeobotany vegetation reconstructions Northern Siberia and Beringia |
description |
The Late Pleistocene landscape in northern Eurasia and North America was inhabited by a specific megafaunal complex, which largely disappeared during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Vegetation changes are considered as one of the factors responsible for these extinctions, but the structure and composition of the Pleistocene vegetation are still poorly known. Here we complement previous studies by comparing the taxonomic composition of the plant remains found in the gastrointestinal tracts of the frozen carcasses of Pleistocene megaherbivores with the species composition of the current Siberian vegetation. We compiled a dataset of palaeobotanical records from frozen individuals of Pleistocene megaherbivores found in northern Siberia and Beringia and dated to the period from more than 50 kyr BP to 9 kyr BP. We also compiled a dataset of vegetation plots from several regions in Siberia. We analysed the similarity in taxonomic composition of plants between these two datasets using a novel method that accounts for variable taxonomic resolution in palaeobotanical data. For most megaherbivore individuals, plant remains in their gastrointestinal tracts corresponded to tundra, forest and mire vegetation, while they showed low similarity to steppe. This pattern was relatively constant over time, showing no remarkable differences between the Last Glacial Maximum and the periods before and afterwards. This suggests that during the Upper Pleistocene, a mosaic of mesic and wet vegetation types such as tundra with patches of forests and mires was common in northern Siberia and Beringia. In contrast, the steppe was rare to absent in the landscape or underused by the megaherbivores as a pasture since they found enough food in the widespread mesic and wet habitats with more productive vegetation. Funding provided by: Czech Science Foundation Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: P504/11/0454 Funding provided by: Czech Science Foundation Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: 17-15168S Funding provided by: Russian ... |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Axmanová, Irena Robovský, Jan Tichý, Lubomír Danihelka, Jiri Troeva, Elena Protopopov, Albert Chytrý, Milan |
author_facet |
Axmanová, Irena Robovský, Jan Tichý, Lubomír Danihelka, Jiri Troeva, Elena Protopopov, Albert Chytrý, Milan |
author_sort |
Axmanová, Irena |
title |
Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
title_short |
Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
title_full |
Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
title_fullStr |
Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
title_sort |
habitats of pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains |
publisher |
Zenodo |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn02zs |
genre |
Tundra Beringia Siberia |
genre_facet |
Tundra Beringia Siberia |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04940 https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn02zs oai:zenodo.org:4992252 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn02zs10.1111/ecog.04940 |
_version_ |
1810484094960664576 |