TY - JOUR
T1 - Past and present distributions and community evolution of Muridae and Soricidae from MIS 9 to MIS 1 on the edge of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (south coast, South Africa)
AU - Matthews, Thalassa
AU - Marean, Curtis W.
AU - Cleghorn, Naomi
N1 - Funding Information:
The support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (COE-Pal) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Financial support was also received from the National Research Foundation of South Africa, and is duly acknowledged. Excavations of material from KEH1 was supported by grants from the University of Texas at Arlington , the Louis B. Leakey Foundation , the John Templeton Foundation , the US National Science Foundation , and the Hyde Family Foundation . CWM recognizes the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation ( BCS-0524087 , BCS-113807 3 and BCS-1460376 ), Hyde Family Foundations, the Institute of Human Origins (IHO) at Arizona State University , and the John Templeton Foundation to the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University . The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of any of these funding organizations.
Funding Information:
The support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (COE-Pal) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Financial support was also received from the National Research Foundation of South Africa, and is duly acknowledged. Excavations of material from KEH1 was supported by grants from the University of Texas at Arlington, the Louis B. Leakey Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the US National Science Foundation, and the Hyde Family Foundation. CWM recognizes the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0524087, BCS-1138073 and BCS-1460376), Hyde Family Foundations, the Institute of Human Origins (IHO) at Arizona State University, and the John Templeton Foundation to the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of any of these funding organizations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - This paper reviews past and present distributions of murid (mice and rats) and soricid (shrew) species from the Pinnacle Point fossil sites PP5-6N, PP9C, PP13B, and PP30, as well as the coastal site of Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1. The positioning of these sites on the edge of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain resulted in the micromammal communities being exposed to rapid landmass changes through sea-level regressions and transgressions, as well as climatic and environmental fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycling. Together, Pinnacle Point and Knysna preserve a composite coastal sequence from MIS 9 to MIS 1, and provide an opportunity to assess the long term sensitivity of micromammals to environmental change. Modern distributional information for the south coast region was obtained from owl pellet and small-carnivore scat assemblages, and extended the known current distributions of six murids. A uniform suite of micromammals was pervasive throughout all the fossil sites, during both glacial and inter-glacial cycling, and the composition of the majority of fossil micromammal assemblages remained unchanged, despite fluctuations in rainfall amount, seasonality, and the proportion of C3 versus C4 vegetation. This suggests an ability to adapt to, and cope with, climatic and environmental changes with relative ease. The fact that the fossil evidence indicates that many murid taxa occupied different ranges in the past, and, in some cases, had considerably more extensive ranges, and lived in a greater variety of habitats, raises a note of caution regarding using current biogeographies to elucidate palaeoenvironmental and climatic change, and for biogeographic and species distribution modelling.
AB - This paper reviews past and present distributions of murid (mice and rats) and soricid (shrew) species from the Pinnacle Point fossil sites PP5-6N, PP9C, PP13B, and PP30, as well as the coastal site of Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1. The positioning of these sites on the edge of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain resulted in the micromammal communities being exposed to rapid landmass changes through sea-level regressions and transgressions, as well as climatic and environmental fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycling. Together, Pinnacle Point and Knysna preserve a composite coastal sequence from MIS 9 to MIS 1, and provide an opportunity to assess the long term sensitivity of micromammals to environmental change. Modern distributional information for the south coast region was obtained from owl pellet and small-carnivore scat assemblages, and extended the known current distributions of six murids. A uniform suite of micromammals was pervasive throughout all the fossil sites, during both glacial and inter-glacial cycling, and the composition of the majority of fossil micromammal assemblages remained unchanged, despite fluctuations in rainfall amount, seasonality, and the proportion of C3 versus C4 vegetation. This suggests an ability to adapt to, and cope with, climatic and environmental changes with relative ease. The fact that the fossil evidence indicates that many murid taxa occupied different ranges in the past, and, in some cases, had considerably more extensive ranges, and lived in a greater variety of habitats, raises a note of caution regarding using current biogeographies to elucidate palaeoenvironmental and climatic change, and for biogeographic and species distribution modelling.
KW - Fossil micromammal distributions
KW - Holocene
KW - Knysna
KW - Micromammals
KW - Muridae
KW - Paleoclimatology
KW - Pinnacle point
KW - Pleistocene
KW - Soricidae
KW - Southern Africa
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U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.026
DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.026
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068464820
SN - 0277-3791
VL - 235
JO - Quaternary Science Reviews
JF - Quaternary Science Reviews
M1 - 105774
ER -