DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.11.025
Scopus记录号: 2-s2.0-85036451061
论文题名: A 12,000 year record of changes in herbivore niche separation and palaeoclimate (Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa)
作者: Ecker M. ; Brink J. ; Horwitz L.K. ; Scott L. ; Lee-Thorp J.A.
刊名: Quaternary Science Reviews
ISSN: 2773791
出版年: 2018
卷: 180 起始页码: 132
结束页码: 144
语种: 英语
英文关键词: C4 plants
; Faunal turnover
; Holocene
; Later Stone Age
; Paleogeography
; Southern Ocean
; Stable isotopes
; Summer rainfall
; δ13C
; δ18O
Scopus关键词: Animals
; Carbon
; Caves
; Climate change
; Isotopes
; Mammals
; Plants (botany)
; Rain
; Tooth enamel
; C4 plant
; Faunal turnover
; Holocenes
; Paleogeography
; Southern ocean
; Stable isotopes
; Stone age
; Summer rainfall
; Vegetation
; C4 plant
; carbon isotope
; data set
; enamel
; extinction
; herbivore
; Holocene
; oxygen isotope
; paleoclimate
; Pleistocene
; rainfall
; reconstruction
; species diversity
; stable isotope
; Northern Cape
; South Africa
; Southern Ocean
; Wonderwerk Cave
; Mammalia
英文摘要: The large mammalian fauna of southern Africa is characterised by strong niche separation into grazer and browser species, with few falling into the intermediate mixed-feeder niche. Moreover, the modern fauna is reduced in species diversity compared to the Pleistocene, following the extinction of several specialized grazers in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. How did this state develop, and how might it be connected to climatic change during the Holocene? To better understand this development, we obtained extensive carbon and oxygen stable light isotope data from herbivore tooth enamel samples from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, spanning about 12,000–500 cal. BP. This is a unique dataset since it is the only site in the southern Kalahari with a robust chronometric record and well-preserved faunal remains for the last 12,000 years without significant gaps. Combining the stable isotopes with pollen and micromammal data from Wonderwerk Cave, we have explored shifts in the proportions of C3 and C4 plants and moisture availability. Although climate remained generally semi-arid for much of this period, the results show significant hydrological and vegetation shifts in the sequence, particularly with the strengthening of summer rainfall in the mid-Holocene. The results for the sixteen herbivore species reveal a reinforcement of the grazer-browser niche partitioning through the Holocene and shows how niche specialization follows changes in local vegetation composition. In the light of this reconstruction of the local ecology we discuss grazer extinctions, human adaptations, and the drivers behind climatic changes in the summer rainfall zone of southern Africa. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/112332
Appears in Collections: 气候减缓与适应
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作者单位: School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; National Natural History Collections, Faculty of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Plant Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Recommended Citation:
Ecker M.,Brink J.,Horwitz L.K.,et al. A 12,000 year record of changes in herbivore niche separation and palaeoclimate (Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa)[J]. Quaternary Science Reviews,2018-01-01,180