Articles producció científicaHistòria i Història de l'Art

Dietary flexibility and niche partitioning of large herbivores through the Pleistocene of Britain

  • Identification data

    Identifier:  PC:1757
    Authors:  Florent Rivals; Adrian M. Lister
    Abstract:
    Tooth wear analysis techniques (mesowear and microwear) are employed to analyze dietary traits in proboscideans, perissodactyls and artiodactyls from 33 Pleistocene localities in Britain. The objectives of this study are to examine the variability in each taxon, to track dietary shifts through time, and to investigate resource partitioning among species.The integration of mesowear and microwear results first allowed us to examine dietary variability. We identified differences in variability among species, from more stenotopic species such as Capreolus capreolus to more eurytopic species such as Megaloceros giganteus and Cervus elaphus. Broad dietary shifts at the community level are seen between climatic phases, and are the result of species turnover as well as dietary shifts in the more flexible species. The species present at each locality are generally spread over a large part of the dietary spectrum, and resource partitioning was identified at most of these localities. Mixed feeders always coexist with at least one of the two strict dietary groups, grazers or browsers. Finally, for some species, a discrepancy is observed between meso- and microwear signals and may imply that individuals tended to die at a time of year when their normal food was in short supply.
  • Others:

    Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379116302086
    Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.06.007
    Journal publication year: 2016
    Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
    Paper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
    Record's date: 2016-07-04
    First page: 116
    URV's Author/s: RIVALS ., FLORENT JOSEPH LOUIS; Adrian M. Lister
    Department: Història i Història de l'Art
    Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
    Publication Type: Article
    Last page: 133
    ISSN: 0277-3791
    Author, as appears in the article.: Florent Rivals; Adrian M. Lister
    Journal volume: 146
    Research group: Autoecologia Humana del Quaternari
    Thematic Areas: History