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Life histories and niche dynamics in late Quaternary proboscideans from midwestern North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Chris Widga Open the ORCID record for Chris Widga [Opens in a new window] ,
Greg Hodgins ,
Kayla Kolis ,
Stacey Lengyel ,
Jeff Saunders ,
J. Douglas Walker  and
Alan D. Wanamaker
Chris Widga*
Affiliation:
Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology, East Tennessee State University, 1212 Suncrest Dr., Gray, TN, 37615 Research and Collections Center, Illinois State Museum, 1011 E. Ash St., Springfield, IL, 62703
Greg Hodgins
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Arizona, 1118 E. Fourth St., Tucson, AZ, 85721
Kayla Kolis
Affiliation:
Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS, 66045
Stacey Lengyel
Affiliation:
Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology, East Tennessee State University, 1212 Suncrest Dr., Gray, TN, 37615 Research and Collections Center, Illinois State Museum, 1011 E. Ash St., Springfield, IL, 62703
Jeff Saunders
Affiliation:
Research and Collections Center, Illinois State Museum, 1011 E. Ash St., Springfield, IL, 62703 The Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, University of Arizona, 1675 W. Anklam Rd., Tucson, AZ, 85745
J. Douglas Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1414 Naismuth Dr., Lawrence, KS, 66045
Alan D. Wanamaker
Affiliation:
Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, 253 Science, Ames, IA, 50011
*
*Corresponding author at: 1212 Suncrest Dr., Gray, TN37615. E-mail address: widgac@etsu.edu (C. Widga)
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Abstract

Stable isotopes of mammoths and mastodons have the potential to illuminate ecological changes in late Pleistocene landscapes and megafaunal populations as these species approached extinction. The ecological factors at play in this extinction remain unresolved, but isotopes of bone collagen (δ13C, δ15N) and tooth enamel (δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) from midwestern North America are leveraged to examine ecological and behavioral changes that occurred during the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Both species had significant C3 contributions to their diets and experienced increasing levels of niche overlap as they approached extinction. A subset of mastodons after the last glacial maximum exhibit low δ15N values that may represent expansion into a novel ecological niche, perhaps densely occupied by other herbivores. Stable isotopes from serial and microsampled enamel show increasing seasonality and decreasing temperatures as mammoths transitioned from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e to glacial conditions (MIS 4, MIS 3, MIS 2). Isotopic variability in enamel suggests mobility patterns and life histories have potentially large impacts on the interpretation of their stable isotope ecology. This study further refines the ecology of midwestern mammoths and mastodons demonstrating increasing seasonality and niche overlap as they responded to landscape changes in the final millennia before extinction.

Keywords

MammothsMastodonsStable isotopesPaleoecologyMidwestMobility
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 100 , March 2021 , pp. 224 - 239
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Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020

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