Dietary resource partitioning among three coeval proboscidean taxa (Anancus capensis, Mammuthus subplanifrons, Loxodonta cookei) from the South African Early Pliocene locality of Langebaanweg E Quarry

Groenewald, Patricia; Sealy, Judith; Stynder, Deano D.; Smith, Kathlyn M.

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109606

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Spatially, however, faunal  13 CEC and  18 OEC values record information from across the range of animal movements, which vary by species and span 10 1 -10 2 km 2 (Estes, 1991). In a similar approach to measuring intranodular variability, faunal isotopic variation measured in several specimens from individual taxonomic groups serves as a proxy of dietary selectivity or flexibility (methods of Groenewald et al, 2020). Combining the two distinct yet complementary proxy records from paleosols and faunal specimens makes visible different aspects of the local and regional environments.…”

Section: Faunal  13 Cec and  18 Oec Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, throughtime faunal  13 CEC data show that the dietary niches of many individual taxa were relatively constant during the Pliocene and did not undergo significant transitions into the C4 biome until after 3 Ma (Negash et al, 2020). Although none achieve statistical significance, Aepycerotini and Notochoerus may have become more dietarily selective during the middle Pliocene, whereas Tragelaphini, like hominins, may have become more opportunistic (e.g., Groenewald et al, 2020) (Figure 9). Based on the combined ungulate herbivore  13 CEC values, it appears that the C3-C4 mixed feeding niche contracted over this study interval (Figure 11), which may have been due to reductions in C3 resource availability and/or increased competition.…”

Section: Environmental Change During the Origins Of Stone Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influences of dietary niche expansion and Pliocene environmental changes on the origins of stone tool making

Quinn

Lewis

Brugal

et al. 2021

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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The world's oldest known stone tools discovered at the Pliocene site of Lomekwi 3 (LOM3) in the Nachukui Formation, northern Kenya, signals a prodigious behavioral change in the hominin lineage. LOM3, dated to 3.3 Ma, is significantly earlier than the first appearance of genus Homo and coincides with the onset of the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period, warranting new phylogenetic and environmental explanations for the origins of hominin stone tool making behaviors. Here we examined Pliocene paleoenvironments (4.3-3.0 Ma) within the Omo-Turkana Depression (OTD) with paleosol pedogenic carbonate (PC) and faunal enamel carbonate (EC)  13 C and  18 O values. Amidst the gradual shift toward more grassy environments, intranodular  13 CPC and  18 OPC variation slightly increased through time. Three of fourteen ungulate herbivore taxa yielded statistically significant increases in  13 CEC values. When all ungulate herbivore  13 CEC values are grouped by feeding categories (C3-browsers, C3-C4-mixed feeders, C4-grazers) there is evidence that the C3-C4-mixed feeding niche contracted and shifted toward the C4-grazing niche as hominins expanded their dietary breadth during the middle Pliocene. Only one of nine taxa showed a significant decrease in  18 OEC values across the study interval. Abrupt, significant environmental perturbations are not evident during LOM3 times in the OTD, casting doubt on variability selection or pulsed humidity as selective forces for middle Pliocene technological innovations. We propose that a long-term feedback system involving gradual environmental changes and biotic dietary competition influenced a suite of hominin adaptations to a broad dietary niche, culminating in the origins of stone tool making behaviors.

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Section: Faunal  13 Cec and  18 Oec Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environmental Change During the Origins Of Stone Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of dietary niche expansion and Pliocene environmental changes on the origins of stone tool making

Quinn

Lewis

Brugal

et al. 2021

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Carnivore stable isotopes as environmental integrators in southern African winter rainfall ecosystems

Luyt

Sealy

2023

Quaternary International

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Disruption of trait-environment relationships in African megafauna occurred in the middle Pleistocene

et al. 2023

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Mammalian megafauna have been critical to the functioning of Earth’s biosphere for millions of years. However, since the Plio-Pleistocene, their biodiversity has declined concurrently with dramatic environmental change and hominin evolution. While these biodiversity declines are well-documented, their implications for the ecological function of megafaunal communities remain uncertain. Here, we adapt ecometric methods to evaluate whether the functional link between communities of herbivorous, eastern African megafauna and their environments (i.e., functional trait-environment relationships) was disrupted as biodiversity losses occurred over the past 7.4 Ma. Herbivore taxonomic and functional diversity began to decline during the Pliocene as open grassland habitats emerged, persisted, and expanded. In the mid-Pleistocene, grassland expansion intensified, and climates became more variable and arid. It was then that phylogenetic diversity declined, and the trait-environment relationships of herbivore communities shifted significantly. Our results divulge the varying implications of different losses in megafaunal biodiversity. Only the losses that occurred since the mid-Pleistocene were coincident with a disturbance to community ecological function. Prior diversity losses, conversely, occurred as the megafaunal species and trait pool narrowed towards those adapted to grassland environments.

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Dietary resource partitioning among three coeval proboscidean taxa (Anancus capensis, Mammuthus subplanifrons, Loxodonta cookei) from the South African Early Pliocene locality of Langebaanweg E Quarry

Cited by 4 publications

References 68 publications

Influences of dietary niche expansion and Pliocene environmental changes on the origins of stone tool making

Influences of dietary niche expansion and Pliocene environmental changes on the origins of stone tool making

Carnivore stable isotopes as environmental integrators in southern African winter rainfall ecosystems

Disruption of trait-environment relationships in African megafauna occurred in the middle Pleistocene

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