Fungal remains in Pleistocene ground squirrel dung from Yukon Territory, Canada

Fungi in dung of the Arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) collected near Dominion Creek, Yukon Territory, Canada, have a radiocarbon age of 12,200 ± 100 yr B.P. Most of the fungal remains are assignable to modern taxa, and most of these are either widespread saprobes or nonspecific coprophiles. However, specimens identified as Chaetomium simile and Thecaphora deformans represent fungi that may be more characteristic of rodent dung than that of other animals, inviting consideration of dung fungi as a potential source of paleontological data.     

Extinct mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) in Southeastern Utah

The extinct Harrington's mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni Stock) is predominantly known from dry cave localities in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, in addition to two sites in the Great Basin, Nevada, and from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. A dry shelter in Natural Bridges National Monument, on the central Colorado Plateau, southeastern Utah, preserves numerous remains of the extinct mountain goat in addition to pack rat middens. Remains from a 100-cm stratigraphic profile indicate that O. harringtoni lived on the plateau >39,800 yr B.P., the oldest directly dated find of extinct mountain goat. Plant macrofossils indicate that Engelmann's spruce (Picea engelmannii), limber pine (Pinus flexilis), rose (Rosa cf. woodsii), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grew during the late Pleistocene where a riparian and a pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) community now predominates; Douglas fir are found only in mesic, protected, north-facing areas. Limber pine, Douglas fir, bark, and grasses were the major dietary components in the dung. A springtime diet of birch (Betula) is determined from pollen clumps in dung pellets.     

Measuring Late Quaternary Ursid Diminution in the Midwest

Paleobiologists generally agree that within the past 10,000 yr North American black bears (Ursus americanus) have decreased in body and tooth size. Some researchers infer that diminution was gradual and continuous; thus, one might infer that a specimen is old if it is larger than an average-size modern bear. Ursid remains recovered in the 1950s from Lawson Cave, Missouri, that are larger than some modern bears have been reported to date to the late Pleistocene, but association with modern taxa, taphonomic considerations, and a radiocarbon date of 200 yr B.P. indicate that they are modern. Modern specimens from Lawson Cave and other parts of the American Midwest are relatively large compared to modern North American black bears from other areas, suggesting that many supposed late Pleistocene bears from the area might be modern also.     

Pollen analysis of hyena coprolites and sediments from Equus Cave,Taung, southern Kalahari (South Africa)

Equus Cave, in Quaternary tufa near Taung in the semiarid woodland of the southern Kalahari, yielded 2.5 m of sediment in which a rich assemblage of bones and coprolites was preserved. The fossils were accumulated mainly by hyenas during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Pollen from coprolites reflects diet as well as vegetation over relatively large areas visited by hyenas, while pollen from sediments represents more local sources. The pollen sequence derived from coprolites and sediments demonstrates how the vegetation evolved from open grassland with small shrubs and occasional trees during the late Pleistocene, to open savanna with more small shurbs, then, during the last 7500 yr, to modern savanna. Temperatures were not more than 4°C cooler and it was slightly moister than today during the late Pleistocene phase; it became gradually warmer but relatively dry before optimal temperature and moisture conditions developed around 7500 yr B.P. Climatic conditions slightly less favorable for woodland occurred during part of the late Holocene.     

The last 30,000 years of faunal history within the Grand Canyon, Arizona

The vertebrate fauna of the last 30,000 radiocarbon years in the Grand Canyon is reviewed. Faunas accompanied with 92 ¹⁴C dates have been analyzed from nine cave sites (four systematically excavated) and 50 packrat middens. Reasonably precise chronological and environmental data of late Pleistocene and Holocene age were obtained through dung studies in Rampart, Muav, and Stanton's Caves; from the numerous packrat middens; and from a ringtail refuse deposit in Vulture Cave. The desert tortoise, 8 species of lizards, 12 species of snakes, 68 species of birds, and 33 species of mammals are identified. Extinct animals include the avian carrion feeder, Teratornis merriami, and the mammalian herbivores, Oreamnos harringtoni, Camelops cf. hesternus, Equus sp., and Nothrotheriops shastense. There is no apparent abrupt end to the late Pleistocene as observed in the Grand Canyon fossil faunal or floral record. Animal and plant taxa of the Grand Canyon responded individually to the changes in climate of the last 30,000 yr. Both animal and plant fossil assemblages indicate that a pre-full glacial, a full glacial, and a late glacial woodland community with many less dominant desert taxa were slowly replaced by a Holocene desert community. All woodland taxa were absent from the lower elevations of the Grand Canyon by 8500 yr B.P.     

Phylogeny, diet, and habitat of an extinct ground sloth from Cuchillo Curá, Neuquén Province, southwest Argentina

Advancements in ancient DNA analyses now permit comparative molecular and morphological studies of extinct animal dung commonly preserved in caves of semiarid regions. These new techniques are showcased using a unique dung deposit preserved in a late glacial vizcacha (Lagidium sp.) midden from a limestone cave in southwestern Argentina (38.5° S). Phylogenetic analyses of the mitochondrial DNA show that the dung originated from a small ground sloth species not yet represented by skeletal material in the region, and not closely related to any of the four previously sequenced extinct and extant sloth species. Analyses of pollen and plant cuticles, as well as analyses of the chloroplast DNA, show that the Cuchillo Curá ground sloth browsed on many of the same herb, grass, and shrub genera common at the site today, and that its habitat was treeless Patagonian scrub-steppe. We envision a day when molecular analyses are used routinely to supplement morphological identifications and possibly to provide a time-lapse view of molecular diversification.     

Integrating Stalagmite, Vertebrate, and Pollen Sequences to Investigate Holocene Vegetation and Climate Change in the Southern Midwestern United States

Speleothem carbon and oxygen isotopic records from Onondaga Cave, south-central Missouri, and Beckham Creek Cave, north-central Arkansas, are compared with the Cupola Pond and Oldfield Swamp pollen series from southeastern Missouri and the Rodgers Shelter and Modoc Shelter vertebrate biostratigraphic sequences from central Missouri and southwestern Illinois. Similar, and roughly contemporaneous, shifts between deciduous forest and steppe indicators throughout the Holocene are revealed in each database. These independent proxies record steppe conditions between approximately 9000 and 1500 cal yr B.P. A shift toward lighter speleothem carbon may reflect a change from warm and dry to cool and dry conditions between 4500 and 3000 yr B.P. The sensitive response of speleothem δ¹³C to changes in vegetation emphasizes their importance as paleoclimate records in an area containing few other millenial-scale climate proxies.     

Spores of the dung fungus Sporormiella: Increased abundance in historic sediments and before Pleistocene megafaunal extinction

Spores of the dung fungus Sporormiella become abundant following the historic introduction of grazing herbivores at seven sites in the western United States. During the Holocene they are generally rare, but at six sites Sporormiella spores are abundant before the extinction of Pleistocene megaherbivores ca. 11,000 yr B.P. Sporormiella spores are directly linked to extinct megaherbivores by their presence in mammoth dung preserved in Bechan Cave, Southern Utah. Their abundance in late-glacial sediments may reflect the abundance of megaherbivores during Quaternary, thereby indicating the age of Pleistocene extinctions where other indicators are absent.     

Small-Mammal Data on Early and Middle Holocene Climates and Biotic Communities in the Bonneville Basin, USA

Archaeological investigations in Camels Back Cave, western Utah, recovered a series of small-mammal bone assemblages from stratified deposits dating between ca. 12,000 and 500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The cave's early Holocene fauna includes a number of species adapted to montane or mesic habitats containing grasses and/or sagebrush (e.g., Lepus townsendii, Marmota flaviventris, Reithrodontomys megalotis, and Brachylagus idahoensis) which suggest that the region was relatively cool and moist until after 8800 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Between ca. 8600 and 8100 ¹⁴C yr B.P. these mammals became locally extinct, taxonomic diversity declined, and there was an increase in species well-adapted to xeric, low-elevation habitats, including ground squirrels, Lepus californicus and Neotoma lepida. The early small-mammal record from Camels Back Cave is similar to the 11,300–6000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. mammalian sequence from Homestead Cave, northwestern Utah, and provides corroborative data on Bonneville Basin paleoenvironments and mammalian responses to middle Holocene desertification.     

Late Pleistocene woodlands in the Bolson de Mapimi: A refugium for the Chihuahuan Desert Biota?

Packrat middens radiocarbon dated at 12,280 ± 345 and 12,700 ± 165 yr B.P. record expansions of junipers and papershell pinyon (Pinus remota) into the desert lowlands of Durango and Coahuila, Mexico (26° N). Extralocal trees and shrubs presently occur 24–580 km in nearly all directions including more subtropical areas to the northeast and southeast. An equable Late Wisconsin climate marked by mild winters with increased precipitation and by cool summers with reduced summer monsoons is proposed. The extensive playas of the Bolson de Mapimi probably held water at that time. The Bolson de Mapimi was not a geographical refugium unaffected by glacial climates, although many Chihuahuan Desert plants and animals probably remain in situ as members of equable woodlands. Equable climates, low extinction rates, and repeated, rapid glacial/interglacial climatic fluctuations may have been important in the evolution and accumulation of species at lower latitudes.     

Latest Pleistocene paleoecology of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose (Cervalces scotti) in northern Illinois

New records of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose (Cervalces scotti) from Lang Farm provide the first precise temporal correlation of these taxa with the specific environments inhabited by them near the time of their extinction. Six AMS ¹⁴C measurements establish an age of 11,405 ± 50 ¹⁴C yr B.P. for Lang Farm Cervalces and an age of 11,430 ± 60 or 11,485 ± 40 ¹⁴C yr B.P. for the Megalonyx. These measurements represent the youngest ¹⁴C dates for these two genera based on direct dating. Comparison of the dates with pollen data from northern Illinois indicates that these species inhabited a nonanalog environment that was transitional from mid-latitude tundra to mixed conifer and deciduous woodland. Although spruce (Picea sp.) was dominant, it was less abundant than prior to 12,500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The presence of black ash (Fraxinus nigra) and fir (Abies sp.) indicates a wet climate and heavy winter precipitation. This may have been the preferred habitat for Cervalces because of its narrow geographic range. However, this habitat type was only one of many occupied by Megalonyx as indicated by its broad geographic distribution.     

Associated terrestrial and marine fossils in the late-glacial Presumpscot Formation, southern Maine, USA, and the marine reservoir effect on radiocarbon ages

Excavations in the late-glacial Presumpscot Formation at Portland, Maine, uncovered tree remains and other terrestrial organics associated with marine invertebrate shells in a landslide deposit. Buds of Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar) occurred with twigs of Picea glauca (white spruce) in the Presumpscot clay. Tree rings in Picea logs indicate that the trees all died during winter dormancy in the same year. Ring widths show patterns of variation indicating responses to environmental changes. Fossil mosses and insects represent a variety of species and wet to dry microsites. The late-glacial environment at the site was similar to that of today's Maine coast. Radiocarbon ages of 14 tree samples are 11,907 ± 31 to 11,650 ± 50 ¹⁴C yr BP. Wiggle matching of dated tree-ring segments to radiocarbon calibration data sets dates the landslide occurrence at ca. 13,520 + 95/−20 cal yr BP. Ages of shells juxtaposed with the logs are 12,850 ± 65 ¹⁴C yr BP (Mytilus edulis) and 12,800 ± 55 ¹⁴C yr BP (Balanus sp.), indicating a marine reservoir age of about 1000 yr. Using this value to correct previously published radiocarbon ages reduces the discrepancy between the Maine deglaciation chronology and the varve-based chronology elsewhere in New England.     

Extinction of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) in Eurasia: Review of chronological and environmental issues

Kuzmin, Y. V. 2009: Extinction of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) in Eurasia: Review of chronological and environmental issues. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2009.00122.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The current evidence for date and environmental preferences of the extinction of two middle–late Pleistocene megafaunal species, the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blum.), is presented in this review. It is suggested that extinction of these large herbivores in Eurasia was closely related to landscape changes near the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary (c. 12 000–9000 uncalibrated radiocarbon years ago, yr BP), mainly involving the widespread forest formations in the temperate and arctic regions of northern Eurasia and the loss of grasslands crucial to the existence of woolly mammoth and rhinoceros. However, some woolly mammoth populations survived well into the Holocene (up to c. 3700 yr BP), showing that the process of final extinction was fairly complex, with delays in some regions of up to several millennia. The possible role of Palaeolithic humans in the extinction of Late Pleistocene megafauna is also considered.     

AMS Radiocarbon Age of the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt

Accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon ages of the Roxana Silt (loess) along the Upper Mississippi Valley of Wisconsin and Minnesota indicate that loess sedimentation of the Roxana Silt occurred between about 55,000 and 27,000 ¹⁴ C yr B.P. However, due to local environmental controls, the basal age at any given site may range from 55,000 to 35,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The radiocarbon ages presented here are in agreement with previous radiocarbon ages for the Roxana Silt in its type area of west-central Illinois, but indicate that long-term sedimentation rates along the bluffline of the Upper Mississippi Valley were very slow (4-8 cm/1000 yr) compared to long-term sedimentation rates along the bluffline of the type area (40-70 cm/1000 yr). Comparison of radiocarbon ages for midcontinent middle Wisconsinan loess deposits indicates that sedimentation along the Mississippi River valley may have preceded loess sedimentation along the Missouri River valley by as much as 20,000 yr or that basal ages for middle Wisconsinan loess along the Missouri Valley are erroneously young. The bracketing ages for the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt indicate that the Mississippi River valley was receiving outwash sedimentation between 55,000 and 27,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.     

Dung, diet, and the paleoenvironment of the extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) on the Colorado Plateau, USA

Fossil remains of Euceratherium collinum (extinct shrub-ox) have been found throughout North America, including the Grand Canyon. Recent finds from the Escalante River Basin in southern Utah further extend the animal's range into the heart of the Colorado Plateau. E. collinum teeth and a metapodial condyle (foot bone) have been recovered in association with large distinctively shaped dung pellets, a morphology similar to a ‘Hershey's Kiss’ (HK), from a late Pleistocene dung layer in Bechan Cave. HK dung pellets have also been recovered from other alcoves in the Escalante River Basin including Willow and Fortymile canyons. Detailed analyses of the HK pellets confirmed them to be E. collinum and indicate a browser-type diet dominated (> 95%) by trees and shrubs: Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush), Acacia sp. (acacia), Quercus (oak), and Chrysothamnus (rabbit brush). The retrieval of spring and fall pollen suggests E. collinum was a year-round resident in the Escalante River Basin.     

Chronology of glacial Lake Agassiz meltwater routed to the Gulf of Mexico

Sediment cores with new radiocarbon dates from the southern outlet of glacial Lake Agassiz indicate that meltwater delivery to the Mississippi valley was disrupted at 10,800 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and the outlet was abandoned by 9400 ¹⁴C yr B.P. These findings confirm the timing of generally accepted terminations of the Lockhart and Emerson Phases of Lake Agassiz. Additionally, the radiocarbon chronology indicates that the spillway was fully formed by 10,800 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and that the occupancy in late-Emerson time was likely short-lived with minimal spillway erosion.     

Cave bear occupation in Schwabenreith Cave,Austria, during the early last glacial: constraints from 230Th/U‐dated speleothems

The cave bear was a prominent member of the Upper Pleistocene fauna in Eurasia. While breakthroughs were recently achieved with respect to its phylogeny using ancient DNA techniques, it is still challenging to date cave bear fossils beyond the radiocarbon age range. Without an accurate and precise chronological framework, however, key questions regarding the palaeoecology cannot be addressed, such as the extent to which large climate swings during the last glacial affected the habitat and possibly even conditioned the final extinction of this mammal. Key to constraining the age of cave bear fossils older than the lower limit of radiocarbon dating is to date interlayered speleothems using ²³⁰Th/U. Here we report new results from one such site in the Eastern European Alps (Schwabenreith Cave), which yielded the highest density of bones of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus eremus). Although dating of the flowstones overlying this fossiliferous succession was partly compromised by diagenetic alteration, the ²³⁰Th/U dates indicate that the bear hibernated in this cave after about 113 ka and before about 109 ka. This time interval coincides with the equivalent of Greenland Stadial 25, suggesting possible climate control on the cave bear's habitat and behaviour. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Twentieth century changes in montane vegetation in the eastern Free State,South Africa,derived from palynology of hyrax dung middens

The dating and pollen analysis of a hyrax dung deposit in a mountain rock shelter (Rooiberg Shelter II) are compared with that in a previous study from the same mountain range at the rural town Clarens, in South Africa. Calibration of radiocarbon measurements from the dung deposit provides different possibilities for the age of the sequence. Unlikely dates can be eliminated on the basis of pollen stratigraphy, comparisons with a previously studied accumulation from the last 30 yr, artificially increased radiocarbon levels in the upper samples as result of nuclear arms testing after 1954, the presence of historically introduced exotic elements, and the assumption of a relatively constant rate of dung accumulation. According to these considerations we suggest that the dung started accumulating at the beginning of the twentieth century. The pollen contents show marked changes in composition, indicating mainly open grass vegetation with fynbos in the first half of this century and woody vegetation in the second half. A first marked increase of the woody component is estimated to have occurred around 1950, but it only became permanent in the 1960s. The fluctuating pollen sequence can best be interpreted in terms of the combined effects of rainfall changes, fire and stock grazing, the latter of which increased together with town expansion in the area during the course of this century. Considering historical events recorded in the area and the region in general, the results suggest that pollen in hyrax dung is a good recorder of vegetation change. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ecological implications of a Yakutian mammoth's last meal

Part of a large male woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was preserved in permafrost in northern Yakutia. It was radiocarbon dated to ca. 18,500 ¹⁴C yr BP (ca. 22,500 cal yr BP). Dung from the lower intestine was subjected to a multiproxy array of microscopic, chemical, and molecular techniques to reconstruct the diet, the season of death, and the paleoenvironment. Pollen and plant macro-remains showed that grasses and sedges were the main food, with considerable amounts of dwarf willow twigs and a variety of herbs and mosses. Analyses of 110-bp fragments of the plastid rbcL gene amplified from DNA and of organic compounds supplemented the microscopic identifications. Fruit-bodies of dung-inhabiting Ascomycete fungi which develop after at least one week of exposure to air were found inside the intestine. Therefore the mammoth had eaten dung. It was probably mammoth dung as no bile acids were detected among the fecal biomarkers analysed. The plant assemblage and the presence of the first spring vessels of terminal tree-rings of dwarf willows indicated that the animal died in early spring. The mammoth lived in extensive cold treeless grassland vegetation interspersed with wetter, more productive meadows. The study demonstrated the paleoecological potential of several biochemical analytical techniques.     

Late Quaternary dietary shifts of the Cape grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis) in southern Africa

The Cape grysbok is endemic to southern Africa's Cape Floral Region where it selectively browses various species of dicotyledonous vegetation. Fossil evidence indicates that the grysbok persisted under glacial and interglacial conditions throughout the late Quaternary and inhabited a range of environments. This study employs mesowear analysis to reconstruct grysbok diets over time and in response to changing environments at Nelson Bay Cave, Die Kelders Cave 1, Klasies River Mouth, and Swartklip 1. Results indicate that the amount of grasses (monocots) versus leafy vegetation (dicots) included in the diet fluctuated over time and largely in agreement with changes in faunal community structure. The case for dietary flexibility is particularly clear at Nelson Bay Cave, where there is a significant trend from mixed feeding towards increased browsing from the late Pleistocene (~ 18,500 ¹⁴C yr BP) through the Holocene. Dietary shifts at Nelson Bay Cave are consistent with the hypothesis that declining grassland productivity is responsible for the terminal Pleistocene extinction of several large ungulates in southern Africa. Furthermore, the short-term dietary shifts demonstrated here (100s to 1000s of years) provide an important caution against relying on taxonomic uniformitarianism when reconstructing the dietary preferences of fossil ungulates, both extant and extinct.