Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:24:19.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Using large mammal communities to examine ecological and taxonomic structure and predict vegetation in extant and extinct assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Kaye E. Reed
Kaye E. Reed*
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Box 874101, Tempe, Arizona 85287-4101 and BPI Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Evolutionary paleoecology is the study of paleoecological patterns of organization over time. However, identification of such patterns within modern communities must be made before any study over time can be attempted. This research analyzes mammalian ecological diversity of 31 African localities classified into eight vegetation types: forests, closed woodlands, closed woodland/bushland transition, bushlands, open woodlands, shrublands, grasslands, and deserts. Ecological diversity is measured as the relative proportions of large mammal trophic and locomotor behaviors within communities. Trophic and locomotor adaptations are assigned on the basis of published observations and stomach contents of 184 African mammal species. Communities are accordingly described on the basis of total percentages of mammalian trophic and locomotor adaptations. Since many paleoecology studies have been made using taxonomic uniformitarianism, this study also examines taxonomic community structure to compare with ecologically derived patterns.

Results indicate that particular types of vegetation have predictable percentages of arboreal, aquatic, frugivorous, grazing, etc. large mammals. Therefore, these adaptations, because they are predictable in extant assemblages, can be used to predict paleovegetation as well as to portray the community structure of fossil assemblages. Taxonomic groupings also can be used to predict vegetation in extant assemblages, and taxonomic patterns in communities are compared with ecological ones.

The mammalian communities of the Pliocene fossil locality Makapansgat, South Africa, are interpreted using these ecological and taxonomic methodologies. Trophic and locomotor adaptations are assigned for Makapansgat fossil mammals through morphological examination of each taxon. Vegetation type is predicted for these fossil localities, but ecological and taxonomic differences in the assemblages differ from extant communities.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , Summer 1998 , pp. 384 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Andrews, P. 1989. Paleoecology of Laetoli. Journal of Human Evolution 18: 173–181.Google Scholar
Andrews, P. 1996. Palaeoecology and hominoid palaeoenvironments. Biological Review 71: 257–300.Google Scholar
Andrews, P., Lord, J. M., and Nesbitt-Evans, E. M. 1979. Patterns of ecological diversity in fossil and modern mammalian faunas. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 11: 177–205.Google Scholar
Ansell, W. F. H. 1978. The mammals of Zambia. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Chilanga, Zambia.Google Scholar
Archibold, O. W. 1995. Ecology of world vegetation. Chapman and Hall, New York.Google Scholar
Artemiou, C. 1983. Mammalian community paleoecology: a review of recent methods with special reference to Miocene mammal faunas of Europe. Paleobiologie continentale Montpellier XIV 2: 91–109.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K. 1991. Terrestrial vertebrate accumulations. Pp. 291–335. in Allison, P. A., Briggs, D. E. G. eds. Taphonomy: releasing the data locked in the fossil record Plenum, New York.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K., Western, D., and Boaz, D. E. Dechant 1979. New perspectives in vertebrate paleoecology from a recent bone assemblage. Paleobiology 5: 12–21.Google Scholar
Benefit, B. R. and McCrossin, M. L. 1990. Diet, species diversity, and distribution of African fossil baboons. Kroeber Anthropology Society Papers 71-72. 79–93.Google Scholar
Bourlière, F. and Hadley, M. 1983. Present day savannas: an overview. Pp. 1–17. in Bourlière, F. ed. Ecosystems of the world: tropical savannas. UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M., Kraus, M. J., Wing, S. L., Fleagle, J. G., Tiffany, B., Simons, E. L., and Vondra, C. F. 1982. The Fayum forest revisited. Journal of Human Evolution 11: 603–632.Google Scholar
Bremen, H. and de Wit, C. T. 1983. Rangeland productivity and exploitation in the Sahel. Science 221: 1341–1347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadman, A. and Rayner, R. J. R. 1989. Climatic change and the appearance of Australopithecus africanus in the Makapansgat sediments. Journal of Human Evolution 18: 107–113.Google Scholar
Cain, S. A. 1944. Foundations of plant geography. Harper, New York.Google Scholar
Child, G. S. 1964. Some notes on the mammals of Kilimanjaro. Tanganyika Notes and Records 64: 77–89.Google Scholar
Ciochon, R. L. 1993. Evolution of the cercopithcoid forelimb. Geological Sciences 138 University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Coe, M. J., Cumming, N. H., and Phillipson, J. 1976. Biomass and production of large African herbivores in relation to rainfall and primary production. Oecologia (Berl.) 22: 341–354.Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. 1978. Faunal evidence for the biotic setting of early African hominids. Pp. 267–284. in Jolly, C. J. ed. Early hominids of Africa. St. Martin's, New York.Google Scholar
Damuth, J. D. 1992. Taxon-free characterization of animal communities. Pp. 183–204. in Behrensmeyer, A. K., Damuth, J. D., DiMichele, W. A., Potts, R., Sues, H.-D., Wing, S. L. eds. Terrestrial ecosystems through time. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Delany, M. and Happold, D. C. D. 1979. Ecology of African mammals. Longman, London.Google Scholar
Dodd, J. R. and Stanton, R. J. 1990. Paleoecology: concepts and applications. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Dorst, J. and Dandelot, P. 1969. A field guide to the larger mammals of Africa. Collins, London.Google Scholar
Emmons, L., Gautier-Hion, A., and Dubost, G. 1983. Community structure of the frugivorous-folivorous mammals of Gabon. Journal of the Zoological Society of London 199: 209–222.Google Scholar
Estes, R. D. 1991. The behavior guide to African mammals. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Fleming, T. H. 1973. Numbers of mammal species in North and Central American forest communities. Ecology 54: 555–563.Google Scholar
Happold, D. C. D. 1987. The mammals of Nigeria. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Janis, C. M. 1988. An estimation of tooth volume and hypsodonty indices in ungulate mammals, and the correlation of these factors with dietary preference. In Russell, D. E., Santoro, J.-p., Sigogneau-Russell, D. eds. Teeth revisited Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Dental Morphology, Paris, 1986. Memoires du Museum Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Serie C (Sciences de la Terre) 53: 367–387.Google Scholar
Kappelman, J., Plummer, T., Bishop, L., Duncan, A., and Appleton, S. 1997. Bovids as indicators of Plio-Pleistocene paleoenvironments in East Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 32: 229–256.Google Scholar
Kay, R. F. 1984. On the use of anatomical features to infer foraging behavior in extinct primates. Pp. 21–53. in Rodman, P. S., Cant, J. G. eds. Adaptations for foraging in nonhuman primates Columbia University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1974a. East African mammals, Vol. I. An atlas of evolution in Africa. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1974b. East African mammals, Vol. IIB. Hares and rodents. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1977. East African mammals, Vol. IIIA. Carnivores. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1979. East African mammals, Vol. IIIB. Large mammals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1982a. East African mammals, Vol. IIIC. Bovids. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1982b. East African mammals, Vol. IIID. Bovids. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kitchener, A. 1991. The natural history of the wild cats. Comstock, Ithaca, N.Y.Google Scholar
Kruuk, H. 1972. The spotted hyena: a study of predation and social behavior. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lamprey, H. F. 1962. The Tarangire Game Reserve. Tanganyika Notes and Records 60: 10–22.Google Scholar
Lanjouw, A. 1987. Data review on the central Congo swamp and floodplain forest ecosystem. Unpublished report Royal Tropical Institute Rural Development Program, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Lind, E. M. and Morrison, M. E. S. 1974. East African vegetation. Longman, Bristol, England.Google Scholar
Maguire, J. M., Pemberton, D., and Collett, M. H. 1980. The Makapansgat Limeworks grey breccia: hominids, hyenas or hillwash? Palaeontologia Africana 23: 75–98.Google Scholar
Magurran, A. E. 1988. Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Nesbit-Evans, E. M., Van Couvering, J. A. H., and Andrews, P. 1980. Paleoecology of Miocene sites in western Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 10: 99–116.Google Scholar
Perera, N. P. 1982. Ecological considerations in the management of the wetlands of Zambia. Pp. 21–30. in Gopal, B., Turner, R. E., Wetzel, R. G., Whighan, F. F. eds. Wetlands ecology and management. UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Pratt, D. J. and Gwynne, M. D. 1977. Rangeland management and ecology in East Africa. Hooder and Stoughton, London.Google Scholar
Rautenbach, I. L. 1978a. A numerical re-appraisal of southern African biotic zones. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History 6: 175–187.Google Scholar
Rautenbach, I. L. 1978b. Ecological distribution of the mammals of the Transvaal (Vertebrata: Mammalia). Annals of the Transvaal Museum 31: 131–153.Google Scholar
Rayner, R. J., Moon, B., and Masters, J. C. 1993. The Makapansgat australopithecine environment. Journal of Human Evolution 24: 219–231.Google Scholar
Reed, K. E. 1996. The paleoecology of Makapansgat and other African Pliocene hominid localities. Ph.D. dissertation State University of New York, Stony Brook.Google Scholar
Reed, K. E. and Fleagle, J. 1995. Geographic and climate control of primate diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 92: 7874–7876.Google Scholar
Sept, J. 1994. Archeological evidence and ecological perspectives for reconstructing early hominid subsistence behavior. In Schiffer, M. B. ed. Advances in archeological method and theory 17: 1–56. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sheppe, W. and Osborne, T. 1971. Patterns of use of a flood plain by Zambian mammals. Ecological Monographs 41: 179–205.Google Scholar
Skinner, J. D. and Smithers, R. H. N. 1990. The mammals of the southern African subregion. University of Pretoria Press, Pretoria.Google Scholar
Smithers, R. H. N. 1971. The mammals of Botswana. Trustees of the National Museum of Rhodesia, Salisbury.Google Scholar
Sokol, R. and Rohlf, J. 1981. Biometry, 2d ed.W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Spencer, L. M. 1995. Morphological correlates of dietary resource partitioning in the African Bovidae. Journal of Mammalogy 76: 448–471.Google Scholar
Swynnerton, G. H. 1958. Fauna of the Serengeti National Park. Mammalia 22: 435–450.Google Scholar
Van Couvering, J. A. H. 1980. Community evolution in Africa during the Cenozoic. Pp. 272–298. in Berensmeyer, A. K., Hill, A. ds. Fossils in the making University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Van Valkenburgh, B. 1988. Trophic diversity in past and present guilds of large predatory mammals. Paleobiology 14: 155–173.Google Scholar
Vesey-Fitzgerald, D. F. 1964. Mammals of the Rukwa Valley. Tanganyika Notes and Records 62: 61–72.Google Scholar
White, F. 1983. The vegetation of Africa: a descriptive memoir to accompany UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation maps of Africa. UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Wing, S. L., Sues, H-D., Potts, R., DiMichele, W. A., and Behrensmeyer, A. K. 1992. Evolutionary paleoecology. Pp. 1–13. in Behrensmeyer, A. K., Damuth, J. D., DiMichele, W. A., Potts, R., Sues, H.-D., Wing, S. L. eds. Terrestrial ecosystems through time University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar