In:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 112, No. 37 ( 2015-09-15), p. 11467-11472
Abstract:
A large stable isotope dataset from East and Central Africa from ca . 30 regional collection sites that range from forest to grassland shows that most extant East and Central African large herbivore taxa have diets dominated by C 4 grazing or C 3 browsing. Comparison with the fossil record shows that faunal assemblages from ca . 4.1–2.35 Ma in the Turkana Basin had a greater diversity of C 3 –C 4 mixed feeding taxa than is presently found in modern East and Central African environments. In contrast, the period from 2.35 to 1.0 Ma had more C 4 -grazing taxa, especially nonruminant C 4 -grazing taxa, than are found in modern environments in East and Central Africa. Many nonbovid C 4 grazers became extinct in Africa, notably the suid Notochoerus , the hipparion equid Eurygnathohippus , the giraffid Sivatherium , and the elephantid Elephas . Other important nonruminant C 4 -grazing taxa switched to browsing, including suids in the lineage Kolpochoerus - Hylochoerus and the elephant Loxodonta . Many modern herbivore taxa in Africa have diets that differ significantly from their fossil relatives. Elephants and tragelaphin bovids are two groups often used for paleoecological insight, yet their fossil diets were very different from their modern closest relatives; therefore, their taxonomic presence in a fossil assemblage does not indicate they had a similar ecological function in the past as they do at present. Overall, we find ecological assemblages of C 3 -browsing, C 3 –C 4 -mixed feeding, and C 4 -grazing taxa in the Turkana Basin fossil record that are different from any modern ecosystem in East or Central Africa.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0027-8424
,
1091-6490
DOI:
10.1073/pnas.1513075112
Language:
English
Publisher:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publication Date:
2015
detail.hit.zdb_id:
209104-5
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1461794-8
SSG:
11
SSG:
12
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