1
|
Poquérusse J, Brown CL, Gaillard C, Doughty C, Dalén L, Gallagher AJ, Wooller M, Zimov N, Church GM, Lamm B, Hysolli E. Assessing contemporary Arctic habitat availability for a woolly mammoth proxy. Sci Rep 2024; 14:9804. [PMID: 38684726 PMCID: PMC11058768 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60442-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Interest continues to grow in Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering, but, since the mass extinction of megafauna ~ 12-15 ka, key physiographic variables and available forage continue to change. Here we sought to assess the extent to which contemporary Arctic ecosystems are conducive to the rewilding of megaherbivores, using a woolly mammoth (M. primigenius) proxy as a model species. We first perform a literature review on woolly mammoth dietary habits. We then leverage Oak Ridge National Laboratories Distributive Active Archive Center Global Aboveground and Belowground Biomass Carbon Density Maps to generate aboveground biomass carbon density estimates in plant functional types consumed by the woolly mammoth at 300 m resolution on Alaska's North Slope. We supplement these analyses with a NASA Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment dataset to downgrade overall biomass estimates to digestible levels. We further downgrade available forage by using a conversion factor representing the relationship between total biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) for arctic vegetation types. Integrating these estimates with the forage needs of woolly mammoths, we conservatively estimate Alaska's North Slope could support densities of 0.0-0.38 woolly mammoth km-2 (mean 0.13) across a variety of habitats. These results may inform innovative rewilding strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Camille Gaillard
- School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
| | - Chris Doughty
- School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
| | - Love Dalén
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Svante Arrhenius Väg 20C, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Matthew Wooller
- College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
| | - Nikita Zimov
- North-East Science Station, Pacific Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chersky, Russia
| | - George M Church
- Colossal Biosciences Inc, Austin, TX, 78701, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Ben Lamm
- Colossal Biosciences Inc, Austin, TX, 78701, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Mychajliw AM, Adams AJ, Brown KC, Campbell BT, Hardesty-Moore M, Welch ZS, Page HM, Southon JR, Cooper SD, Alagona PS. Coupled social and ecological change drove the historical extinction of the California grizzly bear ( Ursus arctos californicus). Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20230921. [PMID: 38196370 PMCID: PMC10777157 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Large carnivores (order Carnivora) are among the world's most threatened mammals due to a confluence of ecological and social forces that have unfolded over centuries. Combining specimens from natural history collections with documents from archival records, we reconstructed the factors surrounding the extinction of the California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus), a once-abundant brown bear subspecies last seen in 1924. Historical documents portrayed California grizzlies as massive hypercarnivores that endangered public safety. Yet, morphological measurements on skulls and teeth generate smaller body size estimates in alignment with extant North American grizzly populations (approx. 200 kg). Stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N) of pelts and bones (n = 57) revealed that grizzlies derived less than 10% of their nutrition from terrestrial animal sources and were therefore largely herbivorous for millennia prior to the first European arrival in this region in 1542. Later colonial land uses, beginning in 1769 with the Mission era, led grizzlies to moderately increase animal protein consumption (up to 26% of diet), but grizzlies still consumed far less livestock than otherwise claimed by contemporary accounts. We show how human activities can provoke short-term behavioural shifts, such as heightened levels of carnivory, that in turn can lead to exaggerated predation narratives and incentivize persecution, triggering rapid loss of an otherwise widespread and ecologically flexible animal.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexis M. Mychajliw
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA
- Environmental Studies Program, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA
- La Brea Tar Pits & Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Andrea J. Adams
- Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Kevin C. Brown
- Environmental Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Beau T. Campbell
- Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Molly Hardesty-Moore
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Zoë S. Welch
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Henry M. Page
- Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - John R. Southon
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Scott D. Cooper
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Peter S. Alagona
- Environmental Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Reade H, Tripp JA, Frémondeau D, Sayle KL, Higham TFG, Street M, Stevens RE. Nitrogen palaeo-isoscapes: Changing spatial gradients of faunal δ15N in late Pleistocene and early Holocene Europe. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0268607. [PMID: 36745587 PMCID: PMC9901814 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/22/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Nitrogen isotope ratio analysis (δ15N) of animal tissue is widely used in archaeology and palaeoecology to investigate diet and ecological niche. Data interpretations require an understanding of nitrogen isotope compositions at the base of the food web (baseline δ15N). Significant variation in animal δ15N has been recognised at various spatiotemporal scales and related to changes both in baseline δ15N, linked to environmental and climatic influence on the terrestrial nitrogen cycle, and animal ecology. Isoscapes (models of isotope spatial variation) have proved a useful tool for investigating spatial variability in biogeochemical cycles in present-day marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but so far, their application to palaeo-data has been more limited. Here, we present time-sliced nitrogen isoscapes for late Pleistocene and early Holocene Europe (c. 50,000 to 10,000 years BP) using herbivore collagen δ15N data. This period covers the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition, during which significant variation in the terrestrial nitrogen cycle occurred. We use generalized linear mixed modelling approaches for interpolation and test models which both include and exclude climate covariate data. Our results show clear changes in spatial gradients of δ15N through time. Prediction of the lowest faunal δ15N values in northern latitudes after, rather than during, the Last Glacial Maximum is consistent with the Late Glacial Nitrogen Excursion (LGNE). We find that including climatic covariate data does not significantly improve model performance. These findings have implications for investigating the drivers of the LGNE, which has been linked to increased landscape moisture and permafrost thaw, and for understanding changing isotopic baselines, which are fundamental for studies investigating diets, niche partitioning, and migration of higher trophic level animals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hazel Reade
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Jennifer A. Tripp
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Delphine Frémondeau
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kerry L. Sayle
- Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas F. G. Higham
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Martin Street
- Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Forschungsinstitut für Archäologie Kompetenzbereich Pleistozäne und Frühholozäne Archäologie, Neuwied, Germany
| | - Rhiannon E. Stevens
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Biogeographic problem-solving reveals the Late Pleistocene translocation of a short-faced bear to the California Channel Islands. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15172. [PMID: 32938967 PMCID: PMC7494929 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71572-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
An accurate understanding of biodiversity of the past is critical for contextualizing biodiversity patterns and trends in the present. Emerging techniques are refining our ability to decipher otherwise cryptic human-mediated species translocations across the Quaternary, yet these techniques are often used in isolation, rather than part of an interdisciplinary hypothesis-testing toolkit, limiting their scope and application. Here we illustrate the use of such an integrative approach and report the occurrence of North America's largest terrestrial mammalian carnivore, the short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, from Daisy Cave (CA-SMI-261), an important early human occupation site on the California Channel Islands. We identified the specimen by corroborating morphological, protein, and mitogenomic lines of evidence, and evaluated the potential natural and anthropogenic mechanisms of its transport and deposition. While representing just a single specimen, our combination of techniques opened a window into the behavior of an enigmatic species, suggesting that A. simus was a wide-ranging scavenger utilizing terrestrial and marine carcasses. This discovery highlights the utility of bridging archaeological and paleontological datasets to disentangle complex biogeographic scenarios and reveal unexpected biodiversity for island systems worldwide.
Collapse
|
5
|
Mychajliw AM, Rice KA, Tewksbury LR, Southon JR, Lindsey EL. Exceptionally preserved asphaltic coprolites expand the spatiotemporal range of a North American paleoecological proxy. Sci Rep 2020; 10:5069. [PMID: 32193515 PMCID: PMC7081288 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61996-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
As fossilized feces, coprolites represent direct evidence of animal behavior captured in the fossil record. They encapsulate past ecological interactions between a consumer and its prey and, when they contain plant material, can also guide paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Here we describe the first coprolites from the lagerstätte Rancho La Brea (RLB) in Los Angeles, California, which also represent the first confirmed coprolites from an asphaltic (“tar pit”) context globally. Combining multiple lines of evidence, including radiocarbon dating, body size reconstructions, stable isotope analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and sediment analyses, we document hundreds of rodent coprolites found in association with plant material, and tentatively assign them to the woodrat genus Neotoma. Neotoma nests (i.e., middens) and their associated coprolites inform paleoclimatic reconstructions for the arid southwestern US but are not typically preserved in coastal areas due to environmental and physiological characteristics. The serendipitous activity of an asphalt seep preserved coprolites and their original cellulosic material for 50,000 years at RLB, yielding a snapshot of coastal California during Marine Isotope Stage 3. This discovery augments the proxies available at an already critical fossil locality and highlights the potential for more comprehensive paleoenvironmental analyses at other asphaltic localities globally.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexis M Mychajliw
- La Brea Tar Pits & Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 90036, USA. .,Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan. .,Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019, USA.
| | - Karin A Rice
- La Brea Tar Pits & Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 90036, USA
| | - Laura R Tewksbury
- La Brea Tar Pits & Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 90036, USA
| | - John R Southon
- Department of Earth System Science, UC Irvine, Keck CCAMS Group, Irvine, California, 92697, USA
| | - Emily L Lindsey
- La Brea Tar Pits & Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 90036, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Abstract
This is a multi-individual (n = 11), stable carbon and nitrogen isotope study of bone collagen (δ13Ccol and δ15Ncol) from the giant beaver (genus Castoroides). The now-extinct giant beaver was once one of the most widespread Pleistocene megafauna in North America. We confirm that Castoroides consumed a diet of predominantly submerged aquatic macrophytes. These dietary preferences rendered the giant beaver highly dependent on wetland habitat for survival. Castoroides' δ13Ccol and δ15Ncol do not support the hypothesis that the giant beaver consumed trees or woody plants, which suggests that it did not share the same behaviours as Castor (i.e., tree-cutting and harvesting). The onset of warmer, more arid conditions likely contributed to the extinction of Castoroides. Six new radiocarbon dates help establish the chronology of the northward dispersal of the giant beaver in Beringia, indicating a correlation with ice sheet retreat.
Collapse
|