Quaternary Ecology Research Articles

Laudation: Dr. Lucía Cobo-Sánchez, Twenty-fourth Recipient of the Tübingen Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology

Laudation: Dr. Lucía Cobo-Sánchez, Twenty-fourth Recipient of the Tübingen Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology

Laudation: Dr. Stephanie Anna Florin, Twenty-Third Recipient of the Tübingen Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology

Laudation: Dr. Stephanie Anna Florin, Twenty-Third Recipient of the Tübingen Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

Mass-kill hunting and Late Quaternary ecology: New insights into the ‘desert kite’ phenomenon in Arabia

Over 6,000 ‘desert kites’—mass-kill stone hunting traps constructed at various times over the last 10,000 years—have been identified from northern Arabia to western central Asia. It has been proposed that kites had a significant impact on animal demography, leading to changes in ecology and human societies. While there has been considerable discussion regarding the function and chronology of kites, their spatial distribution is poorly understood. Here we report over 300 desert kites from several areas of the Arabian Peninsula, including ~ 500 km further south than previously suggested. Using satellite imagery, we studied their super-imposition revealing an extended chronology of kite-construction, including multiple phases of rebuilding in some cases and kites built relatively recently. This shows that desert kites were significantly more spatially and temporally widespread than previously believed, suggesting that they played a role in transforming Late Quaternary ecosystems and offering insights into the behaviour of human societies in challenging environments.

Laudation: Dr. Flavia Venditti, Twenty-Second Recipient of the Tübingen Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology

Laudation: Dr. Flavia Venditti, Twenty-Second Recipient of the Tübingen Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology

Unexpected diversity within the extinct elephant birds (Aves: Aepyornithidae) and a new identity for the world's largest bird.

Madagascar's now-extinct radiation of large-bodied ratites, the elephant birds (Aepyornithidae), has been subject to little modern research compared to the island's mammalian megafauna and other Late Quaternary giant birds. The family's convoluted and conflicting taxonomic history has hindered accurate interpretation of morphological diversity and has restricted modern research into their evolutionary history, biogeography and ecology. We present a new quantitative analysis of patterns of morphological diversity of aepyornithid skeletal elements, including material from all major global collections of aepyornithid skeletal remains, and constituting the first taxonomic reassessment of the family for over 50 years. Linear morphometric data collected from appendicular limb elements, and including nearly all type specimens, were examined using multivariate cluster analysis and the Bayesian information criterion, and with estimation of missing data using multiple imputation and expectation maximization algorithms. These analyses recover three distinct skeletal morphotypes within the Aepyornithidae. Two of these morphotypes are associated with the type specimens of the existing genera Mullerornis and Aepyornis, and represent small-bodied and medium-bodied aepyornithids, respectively. Aepyornis contains two distinct morphometric subgroups, which are identified as the largely allopatric species A. hildebrandti and A. maximus. The third morphotype, which has not previously been recognized as a distinct genus, is described as the novel taxon Vorombe titan. Vorombe represents the largest-bodied aepyornithid and is the world's largest bird, with a mean body mass of almost 650 kg. This new taxonomic framework for the Aepyornithidae provides an important new baseline for future studies of avian evolution and the Quaternary ecology of Madagascar.

Profils écologiques des Faunes Plio-Pléistocènes d'Algérie et passage Tertiaire/Quaternaire

Following on from the important paleontological synthesis of the last century, ensued by the discovery of numerous species, current studies carried out on Quaternary mammals bring us many new taxonomic insights that shed new light on the Quaternary ecology and chronostratigraphy. The categorization undertaken in Mansourah (ancient Pleistocene) throughout ecological histograms and extended to other Algerian Plio-Pleistocene sites emphasizes on a similarity of species of Aïn Boucherit, Aïn Hanech and Mansourah. They also show a lower variation of their alimentation and locomotion and their low-rate of generic renewal. The Algerian fauna is different from other contemporaneous African ones by the dominance of artiodactyls, runners, hypsodonts and by taxa of middle-to-large masses. This evolution is synchronous with a decrease of the diversity which began before the Plio-Pleistocene break that was before 1.8 million years.

Contribution of quantitative ecological methods to the interpretation of stratigraphically homogeneous pre‐quaternary sediments: A palynological example from the oligocene of Venezuela

This paper deals with an Oligocene section that is stratigraphically homogeneous from both a lithological and palynological point of view. It has been impossible to subdivide it into discrete units, using either taxon‐range analysis or assemblage‐zone approach based on the relative abundance of palynomorphs. Furthermore, the common multivariate numerical methods used so far with success in the region (Cluster Analysis, Principal Components Analysis, etc.) gave no useful results in this case. The search for cyclicity using palynocycles and ecologs has been also unsuccessful. Instead of considering the section of low interest, an alternative, high‐resolution ecological approach was attempted to extract the information contained in these sediments. Paleoecologi‐cal trends were deduced from statistical methods commonly used in modern and Quaternary ecology, mainly TWINSPAN and gradient analysis, combined with diversity analysis. As a result, the fine‐scale stratigraphic variability of the data could be successfully explained in terms of paleoecological succession taking place in upper delta environments, characterised by a complex mosaic vegetation including morichales, herbaceous fern swamps, and gallery forests. The succession could be reconstructed in detail, and would be of indirect stratigraphic value for high‐resolution correlation. This is an example of how the search for narrow or biased objectives can hidden significant information. It is more fruitful to have a wider perspective, and to be open to any information that sediments can provide us, without a priori limitations.

CONTRIBUTION OF QUANTITATIVE ECOLOGICAL METHODS TO THE INTERPRETATION OF STRATIGRAPHICALLY HOMOGENEOUS PRE-QUATERNARY SEDIMENTS: A PALYNOLOGICAL EXAMPLE FROM THE OLIGOCENE OF VENEZUELA

This paper deals with an Oligocene section that is stratigraphically homogeneous from both a lithological and palynological point of view. It has been impossible to subdivide it into discrete units, using either taxon-range analysis or assemblage-zone approach based on the relative abundance of palynomorphs. Furthermore, the common multivariate numerical methods used so far with success in the region (Cluster Analysis, Principal Components Analysis, etc.) gave no useful results in this case. The search for cyclicity using palynocycles and ecologs has been also unsuccessful. Instead of considering the section of low interest, an alternative, high-resolution ecological approach was attempted to extract the information contained in these sediments. Paleoecological trends were deduced from statistical methods commonly used in modern and Quaternary ecology, mainly TWINSPAN and gradient analysis, combined with diversity analysis. As a result, the fine-scale stratigraphic variability of the data could be successfully explained in terms of paleoecological succession taking place in upper delta environments, characterised by a complex mosaic vegetation including morichales , herbaceous fern swamps, and gallery forests. The succession could be reconstructed in detail, and would be of indirect stratigraphic value for high-resolution correlation. This is an example of how the search for narrow or biased objectives can hidden significant information. It is more fruitful to have a wider perspective, and to be open to any information that sediments can provide us, without a priori limitations.

Quaternary Ecology: A Paleoecological Perspective, by Hazel R. Delcourt and Paul A. Delcourt [Review

Quaternary Ecology: A Paleoecological Perspective, by Hazel R. Delcourt and Paul A. Delcourt [Review

Quaternary ecology: A paleoecological perspective. Hazel R. Delcourt and Paul A. Delcourt, 1991, Chapman & Hall, x + 242 pp., $93.00 (clothbound), $43.95 (paperbound)

Quaternary ecology: A paleoecological perspective. Hazel R. Delcourt and Paul A. Delcourt, 1991, Chapman & Hall, x + 242 pp., $93.00 (clothbound), $43.95 (paperbound)

Quaternary ecology: A paleoecological perspective

This book considers issues and problems in ecology which may be illuminated, if not solved, by considering paleoecology. The five central chapters include a discussion of application of Quaternary ecology to future global climate change, including global warming. Other areas presented include: population dispersal, invasions, expansions, and migrations; plant successions; ecotones; factors in community structure; ecosystem patterns and processes. Published case studies are numerous. The role played by continuing climatic change in vegetation change is acknowledged but not stressed.

Reviews

Molecular Activities of Plant Cells. An Introduction to Plant Biochemistry. By J. W. Anderson and J. Beardell Clonal Growth in Plants. Ed. by Jan van Groenendael and Hans de Kroon Agricultural Plants, 2nd Edn. By G. D. Hill and R. H. M. Langer Photon–Vegetation Interactions. Applications in Optical Remote Sensing and Plant Ecology. Ed. by R. B. Myneni and J. Ross The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, Volume I: Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Ed. by K. U. Kramer and P. S. Green The Illustrated Field Guide to Ferns and Allied Plants of the British Isles. By C. Jermy and J. CamusSerpula lacrymans: Fundamental Biology and Control Strategies. Ed. by D. H. Jennings and A. F. Bravery Seaweeds of the British Isles, Volume 2 – Chorophyta. By E. M. Burrows Quaternary Ecology : a Paleoecological Perspective. By Hazel R. Delcourt and Paul A. Delcourt

Quaternary Ecology of the Soviet Union

Quaternary Ecology of the Soviet Union

Analysis of river sediments and quaternary ecology

The Bergstraßen-Tiefscholle, a block of the Upper Rhine Graben, is believed to sink with constant speed, and the Neckar River deposits its sediments in the Graben with constant thikcness per year. The sediments vary in grain size, composition with gravels from local or distant sources (from Rhine or Neckar), whilst they may or may not contain some silts kaolinite. The composition reflects the river regime and the state of disturbance of the ecosystems in the different regions of the drainage basin. Each coarse sediment group is 45 m thick and represents a cold period. Sediments of the warm periods vary in thickness. The curve of the Buntsandstein content of the last cold period is calibrated by curves from Greenland Ice and deap-sea cores. This hoped that the curves of former Ice Ages presented here will become a standard profile. Eine rasch sinkende Scholle des Rheingrabens fängt die Sedimente des Neckars ab und registriert Kalt- und Warmzeiten. Die Kurve der Buntsandstein-Anteile läßt sich mit Temperaturkurven aus dem Grönlandeis und aus der Tiefsee parallelisieren und eichen, demnach würde 1 Bohrmeter 1000 Jahren entsprechen. Die letzten 3 Kaltzeiten bestanden aus verschieden vielen Perioden, dauerten aber eigenartigerweise jeweils 45 000 Jahre, dieälteren Kaltzeiten und alle Warmzeiten waren kürzer und von verschiedener Dauer. Aus der Art des Sediments läßt sich das Flußregime und die Störungen derÖkosysteme im Einzugsgebiet vermuten.

Non-Marine Mollusca and Quaternary Ecology

Non-Marine Mollusca and Quaternary Ecology