The Rancholabrean Record of Carnivora: Taphonomic Effect of Body Size, Habitat Breadth, and the Preservation Potential of Caves

Muñoz-Durán, Joao; Valkenburgh, Blaire Van

doi:10.2110/palo.2002.p05-078r

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Commonly, accumulations of mammal remains occur in stratified formations, although mammal sites hosted in laterally discontinuous, non‐stratified to roughly bedded deposits characteristic of traps are not unusual. Moreover, trap mammal sites often contain faunal assemblages that are remarkable because of their quality of preservation and singularity, which is the case for many mammal sites found in former ponds, karstic cavities or other kind of clefts, shafts and fissures (Laury, ; Simms, ; Muñoz‐Durán & Van Valkenburgh, ; Reed, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern of sedimentary infilling of fossil mammal traps formed in pseudokarst at Cerro de los Batallones, Madrid Basin, central Spain

et al. 2013

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Fossil mammal sites of late Miocene age (ca 9 Ma) occur in hourglassshaped, non-interconnected cavities up to 15 m deep, hosted in mudstone (mostly sepiolite), chert and carbonate bedrock in Cerro de los Batallones. This paper provides a model for the sedimentary infilling of the cavities, which functioned as traps for vertebrate faunas and contain one of the richest and best preserved Neogene mammal assemblages of the Iberian Peninsula. Generation of the mammal-bearing cavities started with the solution of underlying evaporites, which resulted in fissures that were subsequently enlarged by subsurface piping, a process rarely preserved in the ancient sedimentary record. The system of subterranean cavities evolved into a pseudokarst landscape, resulting in doline-like shafts reaching the ancient land surface. The sedimentary infilling of the cavities comprises both clastic and carbonate lithofacies that were investigated by outcrop observation, standard and scanning electron microscope petrography, mineralogical analysis, and stable isotope geochemistry. Gravel and breccia talus deposits, clast and mud-supported gravel, pebbly sandstone and mudstone are common detrital infill deposits mostly derived by overflow erosion of bedrock. The deposits containing the mammal bones are marls, and occur both in subsurface cavities and doline-like depressions. In the underground cavities, marlstone was mainly of clastic origin and accumulated in ponds scattered over the floor of the cavity. In contrast, marlstone deposits in the surface dolines formed mostly as a result of biochemical carbonate deposition in small shallow lakes subjected to fluctuation of the water level. The d 18 O and d 13 C carbonate values indicate different origins for the two kinds of marls. During the final phases of pipe infill the doline marlstone sealed the mammal sites, usually off-lapping the adjacent bedrock.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern of sedimentary infilling of fossil mammal traps formed in pseudokarst at Cerro de los Batallones, Madrid Basin, central Spain

et al. 2013

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“…Attempting to understand the factors that determine species abundance in the fossil record has represented a long-standing chal lenge to paleontology. The biological and ecological characteristics of species that might be expected to be either underrepresented or overrepresented in fossil deposits have in many cases been adequately characterized (Andrews 1990;Behrensmeyer 1991;Simms 1994;Behrensmeyer et al 2005); analysis of differential patterns of faunal preservation in different deposits derived from the same source community has led to more meaning ful reconstruction of specific ecosystems (e.g., Munoz-Duran and Van Valkenburgh 2006); and modeling the formation of fossil assem blages in order to diagnose their fidelity to source communities has also been attempted (Damuth 1982). However, efforts to quantify preservational biases in species abundance between fossil faunas and source communi ties have been almost completely prevented by a lack of any independent data on the ecological composition of prehistoric faunas other than that provided by the fossil record itself.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of species abundance in the Quaternary vertebrate fossil record

Turvey

Blackburn

2011

Paleobiology

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Species abundance data are of vital importance in paleontology, but fossil accumulations invariably represent a biased subset of original source communities. Efforts to quantify taphonomic biases are typically prevented by a lack of independent data on the ecological composition of prehistoric faunas. However, analysis of the continental Holocene record can provide a rare opportunity for independent calibration of fossil abundance patterns. We analyzed a comprehensive data set available for the Holocene avifauna of Sweden to investigate the relationship between species abundance in the recent fossil and zooarchaeological records and in prehistoric source communities, and to characterize the importance of different ecological factors in determining terrestrial vertebrate fossil abundances. The number of assemblages in which species occurred was compared with modern-day species abundance, annual residence, body mass, and ecological realm. Modern-day abundance is only one of several significant predictors of fossil abundance; the strongest predictor is body mass, and Holocene species abundance can be interpreted as a measure of species abundance in source communities for a given size class only. Our study represents one of the only direct attempts to quantify species abundance biases between fossil faunas and source communities, and has general applicability for a wide range of terrestrial vertebrate faunas.

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“…Common problems encountered in studying fossil lineages are the heterogeneous quality of localities and the uncertain endpoints of taxon durations. In addition, although taphonomic differences among mammals of different body sizes have long been recognized (39,40), the bias introduced into preservation rates has not been incorporated in analyses in a comprehensive fashion. We embrace these issues and clearly demonstrate, using various analytical approaches, that large mammals have both higher extinction and origination rates and therefore a duration distribution that has a more truncated right tail.…”

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confidence: 99%

Higher origination and extinction rates in larger mammals

Liow

Fortelius

Bingham

et al. 2008

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

144

149

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Do large mammals evolve faster than small mammals or vice versa?Because the answer to this question contributes to our understanding of how life-history affects long-term and large-scale evolutionary patterns, and how microevolutionary rates scale-up to macroevolutionary rates, it has received much attention. A satisfactory or consistent answer to this question is lacking, however. Here, we take a fresh look at this problem using a large fossil dataset of mammals from the Neogene of the Old World (NOW). Controlling for sampling biases, calculating per capita origination and extinction rates of boundary-crossers and estimating survival probabilities using capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods, we found the recurring pattern that large mammal genera and species have higher origination and extinction rates, and therefore shorter durations. This pattern is surprising in the light of molecular studies, which show that smaller animals, with their shorter generation times and higher metabolic rates, have greater absolute rates of evolution. However, higher molecular rates do not necessarily translate to higher taxon rates because both the biotic and physical environments interact with phenotypic variation, in part fueled by mutations, to affect origination and extinction rates. To explain the observed pattern, we propose that the ability to evolve and maintain behavior such as hibernation, torpor and burrowing, collectively termed ''sleep-orhide'' (SLOH) behavior, serves as a means of environmental buffering during expected and unexpected environmental change. SLOH behavior is more common in some small mammals, and, as a result, SLOH small mammals contribute to higher average survivorship and lower origination probabilities among small mammals.body size ͉ environmental buffering ͉ metabolism ͉ Neogene mammals ͉ turnover E volution operates at different scales of time and levels of the biological hierarchy (1). Body size covaries with many individual and species level traits (2), each of which could influence the tempo of evolution at population, species and clade levels. Multiple studies have shown that smaller sized mammals have higher molecular rates of evolution in absolute time, possibly because of a generation time effect and/or metabolic rate effect (3-8). Higher molecular rates may translate to higher rates of phenotypic changes (9 but see 10, 11) and a greater chance of reproductive isolation, which could ultimately lead to higher speciation rates (12) and higher rates of pseudoextinction, which could be observed as higher extinction rates among fossil taxa. As such, small mammals could be expected to have higher origination and extinction rates as observed in the fossil record. However, empirical studies on historical extinctions show that large mammals are at higher risk of extinction and have been selectively removed (13-17), as is also indicated by the Pleistocene megafauna extinction literature (18,19), even though body size per se may not always be a good predictor of extinction risk (20)(21)(22). Neither ...

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The Rancholabrean Record of Carnivora: Taphonomic Effect of Body Size, Habitat Breadth, and the Preservation Potential of Caves

Cited by 13 publications

References 43 publications

Pattern of sedimentary infilling of fossil mammal traps formed in pseudokarst at Cerro de los Batallones, Madrid Basin, central Spain

Pattern of sedimentary infilling of fossil mammal traps formed in pseudokarst at Cerro de los Batallones, Madrid Basin, central Spain

Determinants of species abundance in the Quaternary vertebrate fossil record

Higher origination and extinction rates in larger mammals

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