Early Holocene turnover, followed by Stability, in a Caribbean lizard assemblage

Kemp, Melissa E.; Hadly, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2015.12.007

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Holocene losses are also documented for other vertebrate groups (e.g., refs. 16 and 17 ). Human impact is the most likely culprit in most latest Holocene (the last millennium) losses of Bahamian birds ( 18 ), although the effect of sea-level rise on island area in the last seven millennia was dramatic ( 19 ), intense hurricane activity was heightened from 2,500 to 1,000 y ago ( 20 ), and habitats fluctuated ( 18 , 21 ) during the Late Holocene prior to human arrival.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird populations and species lost to Late Quaternary environmental change and human impact in the Bahamas

Steadman

Franklin

2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Comparing distributional information derived from fossils with the modern distribution of species, we summarize the changing bird communities of the Bahamian Archipelago across deep ecological time. While our entire dataset consists of 7,600+ identified fossils from 32 sites on 15 islands (recording 137 species of resident and migratory birds), we focus on the landbirds from four islands with the best fossil records, three from the Late Pleistocene (∼25 to 10 ka [1,000 y ago]) and one from the Holocene (∼10 to 0 ka). The Late Pleistocene sites feature 51 resident species that have lost one or more Bahamian populations; 29 of these species do not occur in any of the younger Holocene sites (or in the Bahamas today). Of these 29 species, 17 have their closest affinities to species now or formerly living in Cuba and/or North America. A set of 27 species of landbirds, most of them extant somewhere today, was more widespread in the Bahamas in the prehistoric Holocene (∼10 to 0.5 ka) than they are today; 16 of these 27 species were recorded as Pleistocene fossils as well. No single site adequately captures the entire landbird fauna of the combined focal islands. Information from all sites is required to assess changes in Bahamian biodiversity (including endemism) since the Late Pleistocene. The Bahamian islands are smaller, flatter, lower, and more biotically depauperate than the Greater Antilles, resulting in more vulnerable bird communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird populations and species lost to Late Quaternary environmental change and human impact in the Bahamas

Steadman

Franklin

2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…In some islands, the archaeological record is however complemented by paleontological data from Holocene bone accumulations, primarily in dry caves. Such deposits are very rare and only a handful have produced herpetofaunal remains in Abaco [133], Cuba [83,124,134], Eleuthera [135], Hispaniola [86], Antigua [114,119], Anguilla [102,136], Marie-Galante [97,115] and La Désirade [76,137]. On this small number of islands, the paleontological record usually provides a more representative image of past biodiversity that is nevertheless considerably limited by the small quantity of available material.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological occurrences of terrestrial herpetofauna in the insular Caribbean: cultural and biological significance

Bochaton

2022

R. Soc. open sci.

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Although the importance of the archaeological record for addressing questions of biodiversity is gaining ground, its relevance for describing past faunal communities is still under-exploited, particularly for the most under-documented areas and species. Among the most poorly documented taxa are reptiles and amphibians, which are rarely studied in detail in the archaeological record, even in tropical areas where most of these species occur today. Here I evaluate the archaeological and paleontological significance of reptiles and amphibians from the Indigenous archaeological record of the insular Caribbean. Quantitative (bone counts) and qualitative (taxonomic identification) analyses allow researchers to discuss the role of herpetofauna in the subsistence strategies of Indigenous populations as well as their interest for assessing past insular biodiversity. This overview sheds light on both the poor representation of herpetofaunal taxa in Caribbean archaeological deposits and trends in the potential exploitation of reptiles and amphibians by Indigenous populations. In terms of paleoecology, the presented results reveal strong regional differences in the quality and density of data as well as the inadequacy of available archaeofaunal data for addressing questions of past biodiversity.

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“…In this respect, it is interesting to note that rare archaeological taxa, such as Leiocephalus (Bailon et al 2015;Boudadi-Maligne et al 2016;Kemp & Hadly 2016;Pregill et al 1994;Roughgarden & Pacala 1989;Stouvenot et al 2014;Watters et al 1984), Boa (Bochaton 2020;Bochaton & Bailon 2018), and Diploglossus (Bochaton et al 2016), were mentioned only by trained paleo-herpetologists. This lack of archaeological data concerning Leiocephalus is thus not a good argument for their absence during the Amerindian and historical periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical and fossil evidence of an extinct endemic species of Leiocephalus (Squamata: Leiocephalidae) from the Guadeloupe Islands

Bochaton

Lienhard²,

Lenoble

2021

Zootaxa

444

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Documenting recent extinction events against the backdrop of increasing human-induced environmental pressure is complicated by the lack of historical and subfossil evidence for most parts of the world. This paucity of data renders it particularly difficult to evaluate the human impact on fragile environments, such as small islands, that may have been heavily altered by historical human exploitation. Here we describe a new species of an extinct Leiocephalus lizard from Guadeloupe, Leiocephalus roquetus sp. nov. based on recent discoveries of both a previously undocumented historically taxidermy specimen and of a large assemblage of subfossil bone remains from La Désirade Island. This new species presents a primitive morphology compared to all extant species of its genus and provides evidence for the past existence of a Lesser Antillean clade of Leiocephalus lizards that was completely wiped out in the centuries following the European colonization of these islands. Our study demonstrates how paleontological approaches can help to better understand the history of human environmental impact as well as the degree of degradation of modern ecosystems.

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Early Holocene turnover, followed by Stability, in a Caribbean lizard assemblage

Cited by 9 publications

References 34 publications

Bird populations and species lost to Late Quaternary environmental change and human impact in the Bahamas

Bird populations and species lost to Late Quaternary environmental change and human impact in the Bahamas

Archaeological occurrences of terrestrial herpetofauna in the insular Caribbean: cultural and biological significance

Historical and fossil evidence of an extinct endemic species of Leiocephalus (Squamata: Leiocephalidae) from the Guadeloupe Islands

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