A tale of two species: Extirpation and range expansion during the late Quaternary in an extreme environment

Abstract

Death Valley, California is today the hottest hyperarid area in the western Hemisphere with temperatures of 57 °C (134 °F) recorded. During the late Quaternary, pluvial Lake Manly covered much of the Valley and contributed to a much more moderate climate. The abrupt draining of Lake Manly in the mid-Holocene and coincident dramatic shifts in temperature and aridity exerted substantial selection pressure on organisms living in this area. Our research investigates the adaptive response of Neotoma (woodrats) to temperature change over the late Quaternary along a steep elevational and environmental gradient. By combining fieldwork, examination of museum specimens, and collection of paleomiddens, our project reconstructs the divergent evolutionary histories of animals from the valley floor and nearby mountain gradients (− 84 to > 3400 m). We report on recent paleomidden work investigating a transition zone in the Grapevine Mountains (Amargosa Range) for two species of woodrats differing significantly in size and habitat preferences: N. lepida, the desert woodrat, and N. cinerea, the bushy-tailed woodrat. Here, at the limits of these species' thermal and ecological thresholds, we demonstrate dramatic fluctuations in the range boundaries over the Holocene as climate shifted. Moreover, we find fundamental differences in the adaptive response of these two species related to the elevation of the site and local microclimate. Results indicate that although N. cinerea are currently extirpated in this area, they were ubiquitous throughout the late Pleistocene and into the middle Holocene. They adapted to climate shifts over this period by phenotypic changes in body mass, as has been demonstrated for other areas within their range; during colder episodes they were larger, and during warmer intervals, animals were smaller. Their presence may have been tied into a much more widespread historical distribution of juniper ( Juniperus sp.); we document a downward displacement of approximately 1000 m relative to juniper's modern extent in the Amargosa Range. These results suggest a cooler and more mesic habitat association persisting for longer and at lower elevations than previously reported.