期刊
QUATERNARY RESEARCH
卷 76, 期 3, 页码 373-382出版社
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.yqres.2011.08.004
关键词
Beringia; Caching; Seeds; Spermophilus; Plant cuticles; Stable isotopes
资金
- Institute of Arctic Biology
- UAF
- NSF [ARC 0909527, ARC 0909523, EF 0732755]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP) [0909527] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
- Directorate For Geosciences [909523] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Botanical analyses of fossil and modern arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) caches and nests have been used to reconstruct the past vegetation from some parts of Beringia, but such archives are understudied in Alaska. Five modern and four fossil samples from arctic ground squirrel caches and nests provide information on late Pleistocene vegetation in Eastern Beringia. Modern arctic ground squirrel caches from Alaska's arctic tundra were dominated by willow and grass leaves and grass seeds and bearberries, which were widespread in the local vegetation as confirmed by vegetation surveys. Late Pleistocene caches from Interior Alaska were primarily composed of steppe and dry tundra graminoid and herb seeds. Graminoid cuticle analysis of fossil leaves identified Calamagrostis canadensis, Koeleria sp. and Carex albonigra as being common in the fossil samples. Stable carbon isotopes analysis of these graminoid specimens indicated that plants using the C-3 photosynthetic pathways were present and functioning with medium to high water-use efficiency. Fossil plant taxa and environments from ground squirrel caches in Alaska are similar to other macrofossil assemblages from the Yukon Territory, which supports the existence of a widespread mammoth steppe ecosystem type in Eastern Beringia that persisted throughout much of the late Pleistocene. (C) Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of University of Washington.
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