Changes in the large carnivore community structure of the Judean Desert in connection to Holocene human settlement dynamics

Abstract

Investigating historical anthropogenic impacts on faunal communities is key to understanding present patterns of biodiversity and holds important implications for conservation biology. While several studies have demonstrated the human role in the extinction of large herbivores, effective methods to study human interference on large carnivores in the past are limited by the small number of carnivoran remains in the paleozoological record. Here, we integrate a systematic paleozoological survey of biogenic cave assemblages with the archaeological and paleoenvironmental records of the Judean Desert, to reveal historical changes in the large carnivore community. Our results show a late Holocene (~ 3400 years ago) faunal reassembly characterized by the diminishment of the dominant large carnivoran, the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus sbsp. nimr), and the spread of the Syrian striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena sbsp. syriaca). We suggest that increased hunting pressure in combination with regional aridification were responsible for the decrease in the number of leopards, while the introduction of domestic animals and settlement refuse brought new scavenging opportunities for hyenas. The recent extirpation of leopards from the region has been a final note to the Holocene human impact on the ecosystem.

Cave paleozoology in the Judean Desert: assembling records of Holocene wild mammal communities

“…There, the punctuated settlement history at the major oasis in the region, Ein Gedi, is known from years of survey and excavations and is supplemented by historical sources (Hadas, 2005; Davidovich, 2013; Ussishkin, 2014). This archaeological settlement record is matched by well‐preserved biogenic assemblages of faunal remains found in the hundreds of karstic caves dotting the high‐relief topography of the region (Horwitz et al, 2002; Frumkin, 2015; Lazagabaster et al, 2021a,b). Together, the archaeological and paleozoological data provide an opportunity to study Holocene wild mammal communities from a binocular perspective, against the background of environmental studies that have been conducted in the Dead Sea (e.g.…”

Rare crested rat subfossils unveil Afro–Eurasian ecological corridors synchronous with early human dispersals

“…Therefore, the bioturbated sediments retain almost no stratigraphic context (29). Remains of L. i. maremortum subsp.…”

“…nov. likely survived in refugial areas, taking advantage of water springs, developed Acacia woodland, and patches of Mediterranean and tropical vegetation relics in the Dead Sea area (SI Appendix, Text S14). A few humid and vegetated refugia persist nowadays in association with water springs and Sudanian floral elements, like the Ein Gedi oasis (29,45). Suitable habitats for Lophiomys must have been present at least until ∼42 ka as the climate deteriorated with the advent of the LGM and the spread of Irano-Turanian steppe biome (46).…”

“…Here, we report evidence that the southeastern Levant, today blocked by a rain shadow desert, had more densely vegetated habitats in the Late Pleistocene that supported African faunal immigrants synchronously with early human dispersals. Recent excavations (28) and surveys (29) in the Cave of the Skulls (CoS), in the southern Judean Desert, have yielded exceptionally wellpreserved fossils of a subspecies of the eastern African crested rat, Lophiomys imhausi maremortum subspecies nova (subsp. nov.) (Figs.…”

Taphonomy of an excavated striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) den in Arabia: implications for paleoecology and prehistory

“…Indeed, other recent studies have demonstrated the potential of carnivore dens for the study of prehistory and paleoecology, particularly in arid regions where suitable archives are often scarce. By studying carnivore dens in the Judean Desert, Lazagabaster et al (2021) showed that a shift in large carnivore community structure-namely the replacement of Arabian leopards with striped hyena as the dominate large carnivore in the landscape-coincided with an increase in human presence in the region, which they attribute to the active hunting of leopards and an increase in livestock scavenging opportunities for striped hyena. While authors of another recent study of striped hyena coprolites from central Iran argued that the "pollen encapsulated in these coprolites can be a major source of information on their environments, their foraging behavior and diet, as well as their interactions with human societies in the far and recent past" (Djamali et al 2020 p. 17).…”