Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T15:57:24.662Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Implications for Late Pleistocene Mastodon Diet from Opal Phytoliths in Tooth Calculus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Katrina E. Gobetz  and
Steven R. Bozarth
Katrina E. Gobetz
Affiliation:
Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, E-mail:kgobetz@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
Steven R. Bozarth
Affiliation:
University of Kansas Palynology Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, E-mail:sbozarth@ukans.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Calculus removed from the molar teeth of four American mastodons (Mammut americanum) contained opal phytoliths which reflect major dietary components. Three samples contained abundant grass phytoliths (ca. 86% of total), with long cells and trapezoidal pooid short cells dominant (ca. 25 and 31%, respectively). Dicot phytoliths from hackberry (Celtis sp.) seeds and indeterminate deciduous trees were rare (1–3%), though well preserved, whereas phytoliths from conifer trees were not recognizable in any of the samples. Comparative analysis of calculus from modern and fossil browsers and mixed feeders implies that dicots and conifers are nearly invisible in the phytolith record. This scarcity may result from poor preservation, low silica production in woody taxa, and/or animals' selection of young, silica-poor leaves and shoots. However, abundant grass phytoliths in the mixed feeders suggest that presence versus absence of grass phytoliths may distinguish mixed feeders and grazers from browsers. Mastodons are traditionally considered browsers, but grass phytolith assemblages in three individual mastodons contained similarly high concentrations of pooids, suggesting that these grasses were a significant part of the diet. Abundant pooid phytoliths, in addition to diatoms, indicate that these mastodons grazed in a cool, moist late Pleistocene environment, possibly near water.

Keywords

phytolithsmastodoncalculusdietPleistocene
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , March 2001 , pp. 115 - 122
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akersten, W.A., Foppe, T.M., Jefferson, G.T., (1988). New source of dietary data for extinct herbivores. Quaternary Research 30, 92–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armitage, P.L., (1975). The extraction and identification of opal phytoliths from the teeth of ungulates. Journal of Archaeological Science 2, 187–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnola, L. F., Hasegawa, M., and Cedeno, A. (1994). Mono- and sesquiterpene variation in Pinus caribaea needles and its relationship to Atta laevigata herbivory . Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 22, 437–445.Google Scholar
Blackman, E. (1968). The pattern and sequence of opaline silica deposition in ryeSecale cereale L. Annals of Botany. 32, 207–218.Google Scholar
Blackman, E. (1969). Observations on the development of the silica cells of the leaf sheath of wheatTriticum aestivum . Canadian Journal of Botany 47, 827–838.Google Scholar
Bowland, J. M., and Yeaton, R.I, (1997). Impact of domesticated African elephantsLoxodonta africana on natal bushveld . South African Journal of Wildlife Research 27, 31–35.Google Scholar
Bozarth, S., (1987). Opal phytolith analysis of edible fruits and nuts native to the central plains. Phytolitharien Newsletter 4, 9–10.Google Scholar
Bozarth, S.R., (1992). Classification of opal phytoliths formed in selected dicotyledons native to the Great Plains. Rapp, G. Jr., Mulholland, S.C. Phytolith Systematics Plenum, New York.193–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozarth, S., (1993). Biosilicate assemblages of boreal forests and aspen parklands. Pearsall, D.M., Piperno, D.R. Current Research in Phytolith Analysis University of PennsylvaniaUniversity Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.95–105.Google Scholar
Bozarth, S.R., (1998). Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Sargent Site, southwest Nebraska—A fossil biosilicate analysis. Institute for Tertiary–Quaternary Studies—TER-QUA Symposium Series Abstract Program 1.Google Scholar
Bozarth, S.R., (1998). Opal phytolith analysis at 14LV1071. Logan, B. Prehistoric Settlement of the Lower Missouri Uplands: The View from DB Ridge Fort Leavenworth, Kansas United States Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District, Kansas City.74–85.Google Scholar
Bozarth, S., (2000). Reconstruction of vegetative histories and paleoenvironments in northeastern Kansas based on opal phytolith analysis. Current Research in the Pleistocene .Google Scholar
Bozarth, S., Hofman, J., (1998). Phytolith analysis of bison teeth calculus and impacta from sites in Kansas and Oklahoma. Current Research in the Pleistocene 15, 95–96.Google Scholar
Brown, D.A., (1984). Prospects and limits of a phytolith key for grasses in the central United States. Journal of Archaeological Science 11, 345–368.Google Scholar
Cobb, C.M., Killoy, W.J., (1990). Microbial colonization in human periodontal disease: An illustrated tutorial on selected ultrastructural and ecologic considerations. Scanning Microscopy 4, 675–691.Google Scholar
Crawford, H. S, Lautenschlager, R. A, Stokes, M. R, and Stone, T. C. (1993)., Effects of forest disturbance on digestable energy for moose and white-tailed deer . Research Paper NE-682, United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Radnor, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Dreimanis, A., (1968). Extinction of mastodons in eastern North America, testing a new climatic–environmental hypothesis. Ohio Journal of Science 68, 337–352.Google Scholar
Dompierre, H., Churcher, C.S., (1996). Premaxillary shape as an indicator of the diet of seven extinct late Cenozoic New World camels. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16, 141–148.Google Scholar
Gagnon, M., Chew, A.E., (2000). Dietary preferences in extant African Bovidae. Journal of Mammalogy 81, 490–511.Google Scholar
Geis, J.W., (1973). Biogenic silica in selected species of deciduous angiosperms. Soil Science 116, 113–130.Google Scholar
Gobetz, K. E, and Bozarth, S. R. (2000)., Diet and paleoecology of Columbian mammoth, Mammuthus columbi, ) determined from phytoliths and diatoms in dentine. Current Research in the Pleistocene, in press.Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D., (1982). Mammals of the mammoth steppe as paleoenvironmental indicators. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V. Jr., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.307–326.Google Scholar
Hanke, M.T., (1933). Diet and Dental Health. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Harington, C.R., Grant, D.R., Mott, R.J., (1993). The Hillsborough, New Brunswick, mastodon and comments on other Pleistocene mastodon fossils from Nova Scotia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30, 1242–1253.Google Scholar
Hartnagel, C.A., Bishop, S.C., (1921). The mastodons, mammoths, and other Pleistocene mammals of New York State. New York State Museum Bulletin 241–242.Google Scholar
Haynes, G., (1991). Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior, and the Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hershkovitz, I., (1998). The evolution of oral microbiota and the spread of dental diseases. Greenblatt, C.L. Digging for Pathogens Jerusalem Balaban PublishersCenter for the Study of Emerging Diseases, Philadelphia.363–383.Google Scholar
King, J.E., Saunders, J.J., (1984). Environmental insularity and the extinction of the American mastodont. Martin, P.S., Klein, R.G. Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution University of Arizona Press, Tucson.315–339.Google Scholar
Klein, R.L., Geis, J.W., (1978). Biogenic silica in the Pinaceae. Soil Science 126, 145–155.Google Scholar
Koch, P.L., (1988). The diet of Pleistocene proboscideans and its role in their extinction. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 20, 378A.Google Scholar
Koch, P.L., (1991). The isotopic ecology of Pleistocene proboscideans. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 11, 40A.Google Scholar
Lanning, F.C., Eleuterius, L.N., (1985). Silica and ash in tissues of some plants growing in the coastal area of Mississippi, U.S.A. Annals of Botany 56, 157–172.Google Scholar
Laub, R.S., (1996). The masticatory apparatus of the American mastodon. Stewart, K.M., Seymour, K.L. Palaeoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals University of Toronto Press, Toronto.376–405.Google Scholar
Laub, R.S., Dufort, C.A., Christensen, D.J., (1994). Possible mastodon gastrointestinal and fecal contents from the late Pleistocene of the Hiscock Site, western New York State. Landing, E. Studies in Stratigraphy and Paleontology in Honor of Donald W. Fisher 135–148.Google Scholar
Lepper, B.T., Frolking, T.A., Fisher, D.C., Goldstein, G., Sanger, J.E., Wymer, D.A., Ogden, J.G. III, Hooge, P.E., (1991). Intestinal contents of a late Pleistocene mastodont from midcontinental North America. Quaternary Research 36, 120–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, P.D., (1992). Microbial aspects of the chemical control of plaque and gingivitis. Journal of Dental Research 71, 1431–1438.Google Scholar
Martin, L.D., (1994). Cenozoic climatic history from a biological perspective. Institute for Tertiary–Quaternary Studies—TER-QUA Symposium Series 2, 39–56.Google Scholar
Mead, J. I., Haynes, C. V., and Huckell, B. B. (1979). A late Pleistocene mastodonMammut americanum from the Lehner Site, southeastern Arizona . The Southwestern Naturalist 24, 231–238.Google Scholar
Middleton, W., (1990). An improved method for extraction of opal phytoliths from tartar residue on herbivore teeth. The Phytolitharien 6, 2–5.Google Scholar
Mihlbachler, M.C., (1998). Late-Pleistocene mastodon and digesta from Little River, North Florida. Current Research in the Pleistocene 15, 116–118.Google Scholar
Moeller, R.W., (1984). The Ivory Pond mastodon site in western Massachusetts. Current Research in the Pleistocene 1, 81–82.Google Scholar
Mumford, R.E., Whitaker, J.O. Jr., (1982). Mammals of Indiana. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Olivier, R.C.D., (1982). Ecology and behavior of living elephants: Bases for assumptions concerning the extinct wooly mammoths. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V. Jr., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.291–305.Google Scholar
Payne, N.F., Kohn, B.F., Norton, N.C., Bertagnoli, G.G., (1998). Black bear food items in northern Wisconsin. Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters 86, 263–280.Google Scholar
Petersen, K.L., Mehringer, P.J. Jr., Gustafson, C.E., (1983). Late-glacial vegetation and climate at the Manis Mastodon Site, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Quaternary Research 20, 215–231.Google Scholar
Piperno, D.R., (1988). Phytolith Analysis: An Archaeological and Geological Perspective. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Rovner, I., (1971). Potential of opal phytoliths for use in paleoecological reconstruction. Quaternary Research 1, 343–359.Google Scholar
Saunders, J.J., (1996). North American Mammutidae. Shoshani, J., Tassy, P. The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives Oxford University Press, Oxford.271–279.Google Scholar
Spinage, C.A., (1994). Elephants. Poyser, London.Google Scholar
Stafford, T.W. Jr., Martin, L.D., Dort, W., Hofman, J.L., (1996). Radiocarbon dating of extinct Pleistocene megafauna from the Kansas River, Bonner Springs locality, Kansas. Current Research in the Pleistocene 13, 114–116.Google Scholar
Tobien, H., (1996). Evolution of zygodons with emphasis on dentition. Shoshani, J., Tassy, P. The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and their Relatives Oxford University Press, Oxford.76–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomes, C.S., Tims, H.W.Marret, Smith, A.Hopewell, (1914). A Manual of Dental Anatomy: Human and Comparative. Churchill, London.Google Scholar
Twiss, P.C., (1987). Grass-opal phytoliths as climatic indicators of the Great Plains Pleistocene. Johnson, W.C. Quaternary Environments of Kansas University of Kansas Publications, Lawrence.179–188.Google Scholar
Twiss, P.C., Suess, E., Smith, R.M., (1969). Morphological characteristics of grass opal. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 33, 109–115.Google Scholar
Webb, S. D., and Newsom, L. (1991). Diet of Mammut americanum in late Pleistocene of Florida . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 11, 60A–61A.Google Scholar
Wing, L.D., Buss, I.O., (1970). Elephants and forests. Wildlife Monographs 19, 1–71.Google Scholar
Zhang, X., States, J.S., (1991). Selective herbivory of ponderosa pine by Abert squirrels: A re-examination of the role of terpenes. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 19, 111–116.Google Scholar