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Stable Isotopes in Yellow-Bellied Marmot (Marmota Flaviventris) Fossils Reveal Environmental Stability in the Late Quaternary of the Colorado Rocky Mountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Linda M. Reynard ,
David J. Meltzer ,
Steven D. Emslie  and
Noreen Tuross
Linda M. Reynard*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
David J. Meltzer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA
Steven D. Emslie
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
Noreen Tuross
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA., E-mail address:lreynard@fas.harvard.edu (L.M. Reynard).
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Abstract

High elevation plant and animal communities are considered extremely sensitive to environmental change. We investigated an exceptional fossil record of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) specimens that was recovered from Cement Creek Cave (elev. 2860 m) and ranged in age from radiocarbon background circa 49.8 cal ka BP to ~ 1 cal ka BP. We coupled isotopic and radiocarbon measurements (δ18O, δD, δ15N, δ13C, and 14C) of bone collagen from individually-AMS dated specimens of marmots to assess ecological responses by this species to environmental change over time in a high elevation basin in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Colorado, USA. We find little change in all four isotope ratios over time, demonstrating considerable environmental stability during periods when the marmots were present. The stable ecology and the apparent persistence of the small mammal community in the cave fauna throughout the late Quaternary are in marked contrast to the changes that occurred in the large mammal community, including local extirpation and extinction, at the end of the Pleistocene.

Keywords

Bone collagenIsotope ratiosOxygenHydrogenNitrogenCarbonRadiocarbonLast glacial maximum
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 345 - 354
Copyright
University of Washington

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