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Laurie R Godfrey - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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lemur biorhythms and life history evolution
PLOS ONE, 2015Co-Authors: Russell T Hogg, Laurie R Godfrey, Gary T Schwartz, Wendy Dirks, Timothy G BromageAbstract:Skeletal histology supports the hypothesis that primate life histories are regulated by a neuroendocrine rhythm, the Havers-Halberg Oscillation (HHO). Interestingly, Subfossil lemurs are outliers in HHO scaling relationships that have been discovered for haplorhine primates and other mammals. We present new data to determine whether these species represent the general lemur or strepsirrhine condition and to inform models about neuroendocrine-mediated life history evolution. We gathered the largest sample to date of HHO data from histological sections of primate teeth (including the Subfossil lemurs) to assess the relationship of these chronobiological measures with life history-related variables including body mass, brain size, age at first female reproduction, and activity level. For anthropoids, these variables show strong correlations with HHO conforming to predictions, though body mass and endocranial volume are strongly correlated with HHO periodicity in this group. However, lemurs (possibly excepting Daubentonia) do not follow this pattern and show markedly less variability in HHO periodicity and lower correlation coefficients and slopes. Moreover, body mass is uncorrelated, and brain size and activity levels are more strongly correlated with HHO periodicity in these animals. We argue that lemurs evolved this pattern due to selection for risk-averse life histories driven by the unpredictability of the environment in Madagascar. These results reinforce the idea that HHO influences life history evolution differently in response to specific ecological selection regimes.
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rock matrix surrounding Subfossil lemur skull yields diverse collection of mammalian Subfossils implications for reconstructing madagascar s paleoenvironments
Malagasy Nature, 2010Co-Authors: Karen E Samonds, Sara N Parent, Kathleen M Muldoon, Brooke E Crowley, Laurie R GodfreyAbstract:Due to the near lack of a Cenozoic fossil record, little is known about the origin and evolution of Madagascar’s extant fauna. Madagascar’s Subfossil record (Late Pleistocene and Holocene) has been important for filling in the most recent part of this informational gap, contributing details on diversity and distribution changes in the recent past, but most research has focused on larger animals. Less attention has been given to the Subfossil record of small mammals, despite the fact that these groups represent a substantial portion of the extant mammalian diversity. To evaluate the potential presence of Subfossil microfaunal remains in cave breccias (calcite sediment), we used acetic acid to dissolve the matrix surrounding a nearly complete skull and mandible of Archaeolemur sp. cf. A. edwardsi from Anjohibe Cave, northwestern Madagascar. The resulting residue included fossil remains of all five orders represented by Madagascar’s extant mammals (Afrosoricida, Carnivora, Chiroptera, Rodentia, and Primates), and one order, Artiodactyla, currently extinct in Madagascar, except for introduced forms. Species identified include Microgale sp. (Afrosoricida: Tenrecidae), Eliurus myoxinus (Rodentia: Nesomyidae), Hipposideros sp. cf. H. besaoka and Triaenops sp. (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae), Galidia elegans (Carnivora: Eupleridae), Cheirogaleus medius and Microcebus murinus (Primates: Cheirogaleidae), and Hippopotamus lemerlei (Artiodactyla: Hippopotamidae). Radiocarbon dating shows that non-associated surface finds of small mammals tend to be younger than extinct larger mammals at Anjohibe, underscoring the importance of using other methods to establish temporal associations of small and large mammals. This research demonstrates the potential for recovering Subfossils from matrix that are typically discarded during the preparation of larger fossils, and highlights the potentially significant loss of information if such sediments are ignored.
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ecomorphology and behavior of giant extinct lemurs from madagascar
2002Co-Authors: William L Jungers, Laurie R Godfrey, Elwyn L Simons, Roshna E Wunderlich, Brian G Richmond, Prithijit S ChatrathAbstract:Inferring the behavior of extinct organisms is a formidable task, even under the best of circumstances (Rudwick, 1964; Stern and Susman, 1983; Kay, 1984; Thomason, 1995). Nevertheless, and in spite of inevitable complications and limitations, such inferences remain the ultimate goal of paleobiologists if we are to understand fossils as integrated organisms rather than isolated bones and atomized character states. In this chapter we attempt to breathe life back into the osteological remains of recently extinct (or “Subfossil”) prosimian primates from the Quaternary of Madagascar. Subfossil lemurs provide many special opportunities to the optimistic functional morphologist, but they also present their own unusual set of complications and potential frustrations. Approximately one-third of Madagascar’s known primate species were driven to extinction in the late Holocene by the lethal interaction of aridification and human colonization (Burney, 1997; Dewar, 1997; Simons, 1997), including all taxa of large body size (> 9 kg). Two new extinct species from northern Madagascar (Babakotia radofilai and Mesopropithecus dolichobrachion) have been discovered and described in the last decade (Godfrey et al., 1990; Simons et al., 1995), and a third new species from the northwest will be diagnosed soon (Jungers et al., in prep.). Sixteen currently recognized Subfossil species of Malagasy primates are represented in museum collections, most by numerous individuals, including a growing tally of specimens with associated craniodental and postcranial elements (e.g., MacPhee et al., 1984; Simons et al., 1992,Simons et al., 1995; Wunderlich et al., 1996). Table I summarizes the current taxonomy of the extinct lemurs. Aspects of morphology suggest that cheirogaleids are more closely related to galagos and lorises than to other Malagasy primates (Szalay and Katz, 1973; Cartmill, 1975; Schwartz and Tattersall, 1985; Yoder, 1992). Molecular results, as well as “total evidence” analyses that combine morphological and molecular data, argue instead that the Malagasy primates are probably monophyletic (Yoder, 1994,Yoder, 1996). Regardless of the placement of the cheirogaleids within strepsirrhines, the precise relationships among the various ancient clades of Malagasy primates remain somewhat fuzzy, even from a biomolecular perspective (Yoder, 1997; Yoderet al., 1999).
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Subfossil indri indri from the ankarana massif of northern madagascar
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1995Co-Authors: William L Jungers, Laurie R Godfrey, Elwyn L Simons, Prithijit S ChatrathAbstract:Subfossil specimens of Indri indri have been recovered recently from the Ankarana Massif cave system in the far north of Madagascar. Taken together with material from the central highland site of Ampasamba-zimba, the range of this species appears to have once included much of the northern half of the island and to have extended north and west beyond the eastern rainforest (not unlike Hapalemur simus). It is probable that forest corridors connected the Subfossil localities to the current range at some time in the past. Climatic desiccation (fluctuating or long-term) and/or human degradation of the environment may have created the disjunct distributions of living and Subfossil I. indri. It is also possible that I. indri once included populations or subspecies that were better adapted to dry forest, woodland, or mosaic environments, habitats very different from those occupied by their living conspecifics. Such adaptive diversity would have been similar to that of Propithecus diadema which today has subspecies in the montane forests and one (P.d. perrieri) in the dry forests of the northeast. These discoveries add new information on range extensions to the distributional database for the primates of Madagascar, and illustrate the piecemeal process of their extinctions. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Kathleen M Muldoon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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rock matrix surrounding Subfossil lemur skull yields diverse collection of mammalian Subfossils implications for reconstructing madagascar s paleoenvironments
Malagasy Nature, 2010Co-Authors: Karen E Samonds, Sara N Parent, Kathleen M Muldoon, Brooke E Crowley, Laurie R GodfreyAbstract:Due to the near lack of a Cenozoic fossil record, little is known about the origin and evolution of Madagascar’s extant fauna. Madagascar’s Subfossil record (Late Pleistocene and Holocene) has been important for filling in the most recent part of this informational gap, contributing details on diversity and distribution changes in the recent past, but most research has focused on larger animals. Less attention has been given to the Subfossil record of small mammals, despite the fact that these groups represent a substantial portion of the extant mammalian diversity. To evaluate the potential presence of Subfossil microfaunal remains in cave breccias (calcite sediment), we used acetic acid to dissolve the matrix surrounding a nearly complete skull and mandible of Archaeolemur sp. cf. A. edwardsi from Anjohibe Cave, northwestern Madagascar. The resulting residue included fossil remains of all five orders represented by Madagascar’s extant mammals (Afrosoricida, Carnivora, Chiroptera, Rodentia, and Primates), and one order, Artiodactyla, currently extinct in Madagascar, except for introduced forms. Species identified include Microgale sp. (Afrosoricida: Tenrecidae), Eliurus myoxinus (Rodentia: Nesomyidae), Hipposideros sp. cf. H. besaoka and Triaenops sp. (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae), Galidia elegans (Carnivora: Eupleridae), Cheirogaleus medius and Microcebus murinus (Primates: Cheirogaleidae), and Hippopotamus lemerlei (Artiodactyla: Hippopotamidae). Radiocarbon dating shows that non-associated surface finds of small mammals tend to be younger than extinct larger mammals at Anjohibe, underscoring the importance of using other methods to establish temporal associations of small and large mammals. This research demonstrates the potential for recovering Subfossils from matrix that are typically discarded during the preparation of larger fossils, and highlights the potentially significant loss of information if such sediments are ignored.
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paleoenvironment of ankilitelo cave late holocene southwestern madagascar implications for the extinction of giant lemurs
Journal of Human Evolution, 2010Co-Authors: Kathleen M MuldoonAbstract:Following human arrival, Madagascar suffered well-documented megafaunal extinctions and widespread deforestation. Although humans are widely considered to be the primary cause of the extinctions, the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to this ecological transformation remain uncertain. Reconstructing the habitats of the giant lemurs of Madagascar can provide key information for understanding the evolutionary mechanisms involved in their extinction. In this study, I present a faunal analysis of the Subfossil assemblage from Ankilitelo Cave, southwestern Madagascar. This assemblage documents the latest known occurrence of five species of extinct giant lemur, in association with abundant well-preserved small mammal remains. I compared the small mammal fauna at Ankilitelo with 27 extant Malagasy mammal communities spanning the range of Madagascar's habitat types. Similarities in species composition between modern communities and Ankilitelo were assessed using cluster analysis. Ecological similarities were examined by assigning each species to dietary, locomotor, activity pattern, and body size categories. Multiple discriminant analysis was then used to classify Ankilitelo relative to modern habitat types in Madagascar, based on the ecological structure of the Subfossil fauna. Results indicate that the habitat surrounding Ankilitelo during the late Holocene was similar to the succulent woodlands of modern southwestern Madagascar. This suggests that approximately 500 yr BP, these semi-arid habitats supported a Subfossil lemur community that included the highly-suspensory Palaeopropithecus, and deliberate slow-climber Megaladapis, as well as Archaeolemur, Pachylemur, and Daubentonia robusta. In such environments, these giant lemurs would likely have been highly vulnerable to increasing human pressure in southwestern Madagascar.
Elzbieta Szychowskakrąpiec - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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late holocene palaeoclimate variability the significance of bog pine dendrochronology related to peat stratigraphy the puścizna wielka raised bog case study orawa nowy targ basin polish inner carpathians
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2016Co-Authors: Marek Krąpiec, Katarzyna Korzeń, Dorota Nalepka, Wlodzimierz Margielewski, Elzbieta Szychowskakrąpiec, Adam ŁajczakAbstract:Abstract The results of dendrochronological and palynological analyses of Subfossil pine trees occurring in the peat deposits of the Puścizna Wielka raised bog (Polish Carpathians, Southern Poland) – the only site with numerous Subfossil pine trees in the mountainous regions of Central Europe presently known – indicate that the majority of the tree populations grew in the peat bog during the periods ca 5415–3940 cal BP and 3050–2560 cal BP. Several forestless episodes, dated to 5245–5155 cal BP, 4525–4395 cal BP and 3940–3050 cal BP, were preceded by tree dying-off phases caused by an extreme periodical increase in humidity and general climate cooling trends. These events are documented based on analyses of pollen and non-pollen palynomorph assemblages, dendrochronological analyses of the trees, as well as numerous radiocarbon datings of the sediment horizons occurring within the peat bog profile. The phases of germinations, and, in turn, of tree and shrub invasions of the peat bog areas have been closely connected to drying and occasional warming of the regional climate. The last of the forestless periods began about 2600 years ago and continued up to the very recent times. Currently, as a result of desiccation of the peat bog and the lowering of the groundwater level (due to improved water drainage system), pine trees have returned the peat bog again. These results demonstrate that studies of Subfossil bog-pine trees are quite effective in documenting and reconstructing periods of humidity fluctuation that occurred within the Carpathian region over the last several millennia.
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Subfossil bog pine chronologies from the puścizna wielka raised bog orawa basin southern poland
Quaternary International, 2016Co-Authors: Marek Krąpiec, Elzbieta SzychowskakrąpiecAbstract:Abstract Subfossil wood of the Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) appearing in the peat sediments in southern Poland presents material for the construction of long tree-ring chronologies that are of potential utility in palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Over 600 Subfossil pine samples, in form of discs, were taken for dendrochronological analyses from the Puścizna Wielka peat bog, the only economically exploited bog in the Carpathians. Based on these samples, five floating chronologies covering ca. 1700 years were constructed. They were dated with the wiggle-matching technique to the years: 3485–3295 (±25), 3205–2575 (±25), 2445–2200 (±50), 2210–1990 (±40), 1100–610 (±10) cal BC. These results indicate that the trees grew on the valley bog during the initial phase of its development. The vast majority of the trees analysed grew on the peat bog between ca. 3500 and ca. 2000 cal BC, with breaks in the record dated to ca. 3290–3200 cal BC, ca. 2570–2450 cal BC. Pines invaded the peat bog in drier periods, whereas a high groundwater level, presumably related to increased precipitation, was a factor determining mortality of the trees. This study therefore fills a geographical gap in the coverage by Subfossil pine records as there are no studies on Subfossil pine trees from peat bogs in Central-Eastern Europe.
Norbert Benecke - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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late pleistocene and holocene development of the felid fauna felidae of europe a review
Journal of Zoology, 2006Co-Authors: Robert S Sommer, Norbert BeneckeAbstract:In the fossil deposits of the Late Pleistocene (c. 115 000–11 500 years ago), five felid species are recorded in Europe: the wildcat Felis silvestris, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx, Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus, leopard Panthera pardus and cave lion Panthera leo spelaea. In the Holocene, Europe was colonized by F. silvestris, L. lynx and L. pardinus as well as the lion Panthera leo. The status of P. pardus in post-glacial Europe is unknown. So far, only sparse records indicate that P. pardus survived into the early Holocene. During the Late Glacial, both L. lynx and L. pardinus occurred on the Iberian Peninsula. However, from the Holocene, only the Iberian lynx is recorded in this region. There are Subfossil records that indicate that L. pardinus also occurred in central and western France until c. 3000 years ago. Surprisingly, with reservations on the determination of the bones (by J. Altuna), both lions and cave lions seem to be recorded in the Iberian Peninsula in the Late Glacial. There are published records of the lion P. leo in the northern Iberian Peninsula from the early Holocene. However, its presence in Europe on the basis of Subfossil records was proven initially from the Atlantic period. In Ponto-Mediterranean regions of Europe, the lion is recorded from the Atlantic to the younger sub-Atlantic.
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late pleistocene and holocene development of the felid fauna felidae of europe a review
Journal of Zoology, 2006Co-Authors: Robert S Sommer, Norbert BeneckeAbstract:In the fossil deposits of the Late Pleistocene (c. 115 000–11 500 years ago), five felid species are recorded in Europe: the wildcat Felis silvestris, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx, Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus, leopard Panthera pardus and cave lion Panthera leo spelaea. In the Holocene, Europe was colonized by F. silvestris, L. lynx and L. pardinus as well as the lion Panthera leo. The status of P. pardus in post-glacial Europe is unknown. So far, only sparse records indicate that P. pardus survived into the early Holocene. During the Late Glacial, both L. lynx and L. pardinus occurred on the Iberian Peninsula. However, from the Holocene, only the Iberian lynx is recorded in this region. There are Subfossil records that indicate that L. pardinus also occurred in central and western France until c. 3000 years ago. Surprisingly, with reservations on the determination of the bones (by J. Altuna), both lions and cave lions seem to be recorded in the Iberian Peninsula in the Late Glacial. There are published records of the lion P. leo in the northern Iberian Peninsula from the early Holocene. However, its presence in Europe on the basis of Subfossil records was proven initially from the Atlantic period. In Ponto-Mediterranean regions of Europe, the lion is recorded from the Atlantic to the younger sub-Atlantic.
Marek Krąpiec - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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late holocene palaeoclimate variability the significance of bog pine dendrochronology related to peat stratigraphy the puścizna wielka raised bog case study orawa nowy targ basin polish inner carpathians
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2016Co-Authors: Marek Krąpiec, Katarzyna Korzeń, Dorota Nalepka, Wlodzimierz Margielewski, Elzbieta Szychowskakrąpiec, Adam ŁajczakAbstract:Abstract The results of dendrochronological and palynological analyses of Subfossil pine trees occurring in the peat deposits of the Puścizna Wielka raised bog (Polish Carpathians, Southern Poland) – the only site with numerous Subfossil pine trees in the mountainous regions of Central Europe presently known – indicate that the majority of the tree populations grew in the peat bog during the periods ca 5415–3940 cal BP and 3050–2560 cal BP. Several forestless episodes, dated to 5245–5155 cal BP, 4525–4395 cal BP and 3940–3050 cal BP, were preceded by tree dying-off phases caused by an extreme periodical increase in humidity and general climate cooling trends. These events are documented based on analyses of pollen and non-pollen palynomorph assemblages, dendrochronological analyses of the trees, as well as numerous radiocarbon datings of the sediment horizons occurring within the peat bog profile. The phases of germinations, and, in turn, of tree and shrub invasions of the peat bog areas have been closely connected to drying and occasional warming of the regional climate. The last of the forestless periods began about 2600 years ago and continued up to the very recent times. Currently, as a result of desiccation of the peat bog and the lowering of the groundwater level (due to improved water drainage system), pine trees have returned the peat bog again. These results demonstrate that studies of Subfossil bog-pine trees are quite effective in documenting and reconstructing periods of humidity fluctuation that occurred within the Carpathian region over the last several millennia.
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Subfossil bog pine chronologies from the puścizna wielka raised bog orawa basin southern poland
Quaternary International, 2016Co-Authors: Marek Krąpiec, Elzbieta SzychowskakrąpiecAbstract:Abstract Subfossil wood of the Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) appearing in the peat sediments in southern Poland presents material for the construction of long tree-ring chronologies that are of potential utility in palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Over 600 Subfossil pine samples, in form of discs, were taken for dendrochronological analyses from the Puścizna Wielka peat bog, the only economically exploited bog in the Carpathians. Based on these samples, five floating chronologies covering ca. 1700 years were constructed. They were dated with the wiggle-matching technique to the years: 3485–3295 (±25), 3205–2575 (±25), 2445–2200 (±50), 2210–1990 (±40), 1100–610 (±10) cal BC. These results indicate that the trees grew on the valley bog during the initial phase of its development. The vast majority of the trees analysed grew on the peat bog between ca. 3500 and ca. 2000 cal BC, with breaks in the record dated to ca. 3290–3200 cal BC, ca. 2570–2450 cal BC. Pines invaded the peat bog in drier periods, whereas a high groundwater level, presumably related to increased precipitation, was a factor determining mortality of the trees. This study therefore fills a geographical gap in the coverage by Subfossil pine records as there are no studies on Subfossil pine trees from peat bogs in Central-Eastern Europe.
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problems of dating alluvium using buried Subfossil tree trunks lessons from the black oaks of the vistula valley central europe
The Holocene, 1995Co-Authors: Tomasz Kalicki, Marek KrąpiecAbstract:Dating of alluvia of large rivers based on Subfossil tree trunks is discussed using examples from the Vistula Valley near Krakow and from literature referring to Central Europe. The method, which has been used hitherto for dating alluvia based exclusively on single trunks or single generations, has led usually to erroneous results because the majority of trunks in the alluvia were redeposited. Den drochronology is helpful in solving problems of dating alluvia, which should use only in situ trunks, i.e., trunks with bark, sapwood and branches. Equally suitable materials are stumps in growth position, which were cut down with an axe and which are preserved by an aggradating river. These stumps possess well-preserved root systems with roots of a lower order. Redeposition of trunks in alluvia is associated with lateral migration of a river channel. Channel migration leads to the washing out of Subfossil trunks of different ages from older alluvia. These trunks, heavier than water, are redeposited at the level...
