Abstract
Nowadays, opportunistic small predators, such as foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Vulpes lagopus), are well known to be very adaptable to human modified ecosystems. However, the timing of the start of this phenomenon in terms of human impact on ecosystems and of the implications for foxes has hardly been studied. We hypothesize that foxes can be used as an indicator of past human impact on ecosystems, as a reflection of population densities and consequently to track back the influence of humans on the Pleistocene environment. To test this hypothesis, we used stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N) of bone collagen extracted from faunal remains from several archaeological sites located in the Swabian Jura (southwest Germany) and covering a time range over three important cultural periods, namely the Middle Palaeolithic (older than 42,000 years ago) attributed to Neanderthals, and the early Upper Palaeolithic periods Aurignacian and Gravettian (42,000 to 30,000 years ago) attributed to modern humans. We then ran Bayesian statistic systems (SIBER, mixSIAR) to reconstruct the trophic niches and diets of Pleistocene foxes. We observed that during the Middle Palaeolithic period, when Neanderthals sparsely populated the Swabian Jura, the niches occupied by foxes suggest a natural trophic behavior. In contrast, during the early Upper Palaeolithic periods, a new trophic fox niche appeared, characterized by a restricted diet on reindeer. This trophic niche could be due to the consumption of human subsidies related to a higher human population density and the resulting higher impact on the Pleistocene environment by modern humans compared to Neanderthals. Furthermore, our study suggests that, a synanthropic commensal behavior of foxes started already in the Aurignacian, around 42,000 years ago.
Highlights
As soon as hominins started to kill large herbivores, around 2.5 Ma, they started a cascade of ecological reactions that led to vegetation and climate change [1, 2]
Late Pleistocene herbivorous megafauna extinction have been suggested to be at least partially caused by human impact
The %Nbone values measured on 71 carnivore samples and two hare samples confirmed the favorable conditions of preservation (0.6–3.8%), establishing quantitatively that collagen is preserved in the samples
Summary
As soon as hominins started to kill large herbivores, around 2.5 Ma, they started a cascade of ecological reactions that led to vegetation and climate change [1, 2]. Late Pleistocene herbivorous megafauna extinction have been suggested to be at least partially caused by human impact. Heritage doctoral fellowship (CB) funded by AlbDonau County and the Heritage Authority of BadenWurttemberg (https://www.denkmalpflege-bw.de/), the Senckenberg Nature Research Society (https:// www.senckenberg.de/de/) and the University of Tubingen (https://uni-tuebingen.de/). The funders did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have