Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F20%3A43901965" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/20:43901965 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/67985939:_____/20:00533640 RIV/00216224:14310/20:00114204

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecog.04940" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecog.04940</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04940" target="_blank" >10.1111/ecog.04940</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Habitats of Pleistocene megaherbivores reconstructed from the frozen fauna remains

Original language 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.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2020

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Ecography

ISSN

0906-7590

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

43

Issue of the periodical within the volume

5

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

703-713

UT code for WoS article

000507386800001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85077856624