Regional patterns of postglacial changes in the Palearctic mammalian diversity indicate retreat to Siberian steppes rather than extinction.

Věra Pavelková Řičánková,Jan Robovský,Jan Riegert,Jan Zrzavý

doi:10.1038/srep12682

Věra Pavelková Řičánková, Jan Robovský + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/srep12682

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Abstract

We examined the presence of possible Recent refugia of Pleistocene mammalian faunas in Eurasia by analysing regional differences in the mammalian species composition, occurrence and extinction rates between Recent and Last Glacial faunas. Our analyses revealed that most of the widespread Last Glacial species have survived in the central Palearctic continental regions, most prominently in Altai–Sayan (followed by Kazakhstan and East European Plain). The Recent Altai–Sayan and Kazakhstan regions show species compositions very similar to their Pleistocene counterparts. The Palearctic regions have lost 12% of their mammalian species during the last 109,000 years. The major patterns of the postglacial changes in Palearctic mammalian diversity were not extinctions but rather radical shifts of species distribution ranges. Most of the Pleistocene mammalian fauna retreated eastwards, to the central Eurasian steppes, instead of northwards to the Arctic regions, considered Holocene refugia of Pleistocene megafauna. The central Eurasian Altai and Sayan mountains could thus be considered a present-day refugium of the Last Glacial biota, including mammals.

Highlights

Of mammalian communities remains preserved in the present-day ecosystems of the Altai–Sayan region in central Eurasia[16]
The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis revealed that Last Glacial and Recent faunas form two groups separated along the first axis (Fig. 1a)
According to results of Analysis of Similarity (ANOSIM), Recent Altai–Sayan and Kazakhstan faunas were most similar to the group of Pleistocene Altai–Sayan, Kazakhstan, North Ural, South Ural, North Yakutia and Transbaikalia faunas (Supplementary Table S2)

Summary

Introduction

Of mammalian communities remains preserved in the present-day ecosystems of the Altai–Sayan region in central Eurasia[16]. The Recent distribution of steppe species seems to correspond to the continental/ oceanic longitudinal gradient of decreasing precipitation and pronounced seasonal variation toward the center of a continent. The longitudinal and latitudinal gradients interplay in determining the precise distribution of a Last Glacial species, depending on the species’ ecological requirements[17,18]. The excellent mammalian fossil record offers the opportunity to examine regional-specific extinction patterns of both large and small mammals[19] as the large mammals alone may not be the best marker of past environmental changes[20,21]. By comparing extinction rates and Recent ranges of widespread Last Glacial species in various regions of the Palearctic we aim to detect the presence of possible Recent refugia of the Last Glacial mammalian faunas

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