المؤلفون: Van Linden, Lisa, Stoops, Kim, Dumbá, Larissa C C S, Cozzuol, Mario A, Maclaren, James

المصدر: Integrative Zoology, 18 (2), 254 - 277 (2023-03)

مصطلحات موضوعية: Pleistocene, biogeography, dry-skull method, herbivory, mastication, niche partitioning, Animals, Phylogeny, Head, Diet, Bite Force, Perissodactyla/anatomy & histology, Perissodactyla/physiology, Skull/anatomy & histology, Perissodactyla, Skull, Animal Science and Zoology, Life sciences, Zoology, Sciences du vivant, Zoologie

الوصف: Bite force is often associated with specific morphological features, such as sagittal crests. The presence of a pronounced sagittal crest in some tapirs (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) was recently shown to be negatively correlated with hard-object feeding, in contrast with similar cranial structures in carnivorans. The aim of this study was to investigate bite forces and sagittal crest heights across a wide range of modern and extinct tapirs and apply a comparative investigation to establish whether these features are correlated across a broad phylogenetic scope. We examined a sample of 71 specimens representing 15 tapir species (5 extant, 10 extinct) using the dry-skull method, linear measurements of cranial features, phylogenetic reconstruction, and comparative analyses. Tapirs were found to exhibit variation in bite force and sagittal crest height across their phylogeny and between different biogeographical realms, with high-crested morphologies occurring mostly in Neotropical species. The highest bite forces within tapirs appear to be driven by estimates for the masseter-pterygoid muscle complex, rather than predicted forces for the temporalis muscle. Our results demonstrate that relative sagittal crest height is poorly correlated with relative cranial bite force, suggesting high force application is not a driver for pronounced sagittal crests in this sample. The divergent biomechanical capabilities of different contemporaneous tapirids may have allowed multiple species to occupy overlapping territories and partition resources to avoid excess competition. Bite forces in tapirs peak in Pleistocene species, independent of body size, suggesting possible dietary shifts as a potential result of climatic changes during this epoch.

Relation: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1749-4877.12627; urn:issn:1749-4877

URL الوصول: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/310492

المؤلفون: Baca, Mateusz, Popović, Danijela, Lemanik, Anna, Bañuls-Cardona, Sandra, Conard, Nicholas J., Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria, Desclaux, Emmanuel, Fewlass, Helen, Garcia, Jesus T., Hadravova, Tereza, Heckel, Gerald, Horáček, Ivan, Knul, Monika Vlasta, Lebreton, Loïc, López-García, Juan Manuel, Luzi, Elisa, Marković, Zoran, Mauch Lenardić, Jadranka, Murelaga, Xabier, Noiret, Pierre, Petculescu, Alexandru, Popov, Vasil, Rhodes, Sara E., Ridush, Bogdan, Royer, Aurélien, Stewart, John R., Stojak, Joanna, Talamo, Sahra, Wang, Xuejing, Wójcik, Jan M., Nadachowski, Adam

المصدر: Journal of Biogeography, 50 (1), 183 - 196 (2023)

مصطلحات موضوعية: habitat, Late Pleistocene, Microtus sp., mitochondrial DNA, paleoclimate, small mammals, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Ecology, Life sciences, Environmental sciences & ecology, Sciences du vivant, Sciences de l’environnement & écologie

الوصف: Aim: Many species experienced population turnover and local extinction during the Late Pleistocene. In the case of megafauna, it remains challenging to disentangle climate change and the activities of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers as the main cause. In contrast, the impact of humans on rodent populations is likely to be negligible. This study investigated which climatic and/or environmental factors affect the population dynamics of the common vole. This temperate rodent is widespread across Europe and was one of the most abundant small mammal species throughout the Late Pleistocene. Location: Europe. Taxon: Common vole (Microtus arvalis). Methods: We generated a dataset comprised of 4.2 kb long fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 148 ancient and 51 modern specimens sampled from multiple localities across Europe and covering the last 60 thousand years (ka). We used Bayesian inference to reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships and to estimate the age of the specimens that were not directly dated. Results: We estimated the time to the most recent common ancestor of all last glacial and extant common vole lineages to be 90 ka ago and the divergence of the main mtDNA lineages present in extant populations to between 55 and 40 ka ago, which is earlier than most previous estimates. We detected several lineage turnovers in Europe during the period of high climate variability at the end of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; 57–29 ka ago) in addition to those found previously around the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. In contrast, data from the Western Carpathians suggest continuity throughout the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) even at high latitudes. Main Conclusions: The main factor affecting the common vole populations during the last glacial period was the decrease in open habitat during the interstadials, whereas climate deterioration during the LGM had little impact on population dynamics. This suggests that the rapid environmental change rather than other factors was the major force shaping the histories of the Late Pleistocene faunas.

Relation: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jbi.14521; urn:issn:0305-0270; urn:issn:1365-2699

URL الوصول: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/304670