Biodiversity response to climate change in the Middle Pleistocene—the Porcupine Cave fauna from Colorado

Abstract

Biodiversity response to climate change in the Middle Pleistocene—the Porcupine Cave fauna from Colorado. Anthony D. Barnosky (ed.). 2004. University of California Press, Berkeley, 385 p., cloth. ISBN 0-520-24082-0. Porcupine Cave (a series of 26 interconnected rooms and pits) is located in South Park in the Colorado rockies. It is an important site for at least three reasons: 1) it has the most faunal diversity of any Irvingtonian site; 2) its location, in a region with few Pleistocene sites and between the previously defined eastern and western faunal provinces, provides better insight into the biogeography and faunal provinces of the time; and 3) the analysis and interpretation of its fauna provides data as to how biodiversity may be affected by climatic change. This multidisciplinary work represents the collaboration of a number of institutions, scientists, and volunteers in the acquisition and interpretation of the data. A great deal of additional work remains; therefore, some of the conclusions and inferences may change with further study, but this report provides much for consideration. The book is divided into three parts. Part one, entitled “Discovery and Distribution of Fossils,” consists of nine chapters dealing with the nature, origin, and history of the cave, magnetostratigraphic data, the modern environment, protocol for collecting from the different sites, and taphonomy; part two consists of 12 chapters that provide the “Systematic Accounts of Taxa;” and part three consists of five chapters that deal with the “Effect of Environmental Change on the Cave Fauna.” My brief comments on the chapters are for the most part arranged by topic rather than sequence to avoid redundancy. Part one sets the stage. In the opening chapter the editor, A.D. Barnosky, briefly discusses the potential effect on biodiversity of global warming and human activities and how data from Porcupine Cave relate to the …