1. Winter temperature and forest cover have shaped red deer distribution in Europe and the Ural Mountains since the Late Pleistocene
- Author
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Pavel A. Kosintsev, Karolina Doan, Pavel Hulva, Dariusz Krasnodębski, Jessie Woodbridge, Vesna Dimitrijević, Bogdan Ridush, Ninna Manaseryan, Ana Stanković, Katerina Trantalidou, Daniel Makowiecki, Theodor F. Obadă, Ralph Fyfe, Magdalena Niedziałkowska, Maciej Sykut, Natalia Piotrowska, Alesia Arabey, Oleksandr Kovalchuk, Ulrich Schmölcke, Grzegorz Lipecki, Maxim Charniauski, Marine Arakelyan, Sławomira Pawełczyk, Paweł Mackiewicz, Marcin Górny, Eve Rannamäe, Krzysztof Stefaniak, Jarosław Wilczyński, Vadim V. Titov, Urmas Saarma, Adrian Bălășescu, and Bogumiła Jędrzejewska
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION ,010506 paleontology ,LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM REFUGIA ,EUROPE ,Pleistocene ,Range (biology) ,FOREST HABITAT ,CLIMATE CHANGE ,DEER ,PLEISTOCENE ,Species distribution ,JANUARY TEMPERATURE ,PALAEOECOLOGY ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Last Glacial Maximum refugia ,Deforestation ,HOLOCENE ,CLIMATE CONDITIONS ,TEMPERATURE EFFECT ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Holocene ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,URALS ,UNGULATES ,Ecology ,CERVUS ELAPHUS ,UNGULATA ,PALEOECOLOGY ,Last Glacial Maximum ,15. Life on land ,PLEISTOCENE-HOLOCENE BOUNDARY ,EXPANSION-CONTRACTION MODEL ,ENVIRONMENTAL NICHE MODELLING ,LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM ,Geography ,FOREST COVER ,TEMPERATE CLIMATIC ZONE ,13. Climate action ,SUBFOSSIL ,WEST ASIA ,Paleoecology ,RADIOCARBON DATING ,WINTER - Abstract
Aim: The Expansion-Contraction model has been used to explain the responses of species to climatic changes. During periods of unfavourable climatic conditions, species retreat to refugia from where they may later expand. This paper focuses on the palaeoecology of red deer over the past 54 ka across Europe and the Urals, to reveal patterns of change in their range and explore the role of environmental conditions in determining their distribution. Location: Europe and western Asia to 63°E. Taxon: Red deer (Cervus elaphus). Methods: We collected 984 records of radiocarbon-dated red deer subfossils from the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, including 93 original dates. For each deer sample we compiled climatic and biome type data for the corresponding time intervals. Results: During the last 54 ka changes in red deer range in Europe and the Urals were asynchronous and differed between western and eastern Europe and western Asia due to different environmental conditions in those regions. The range of suitable areas for deer during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was larger than previously thought and covered vast regions not only in southern but also in western and eastern Europe. Throughout the period investigated the majority of specimens inhabited forests in the temperate climatic zone. The contribution of forests in deer localities significantly decreased during the last 4 ka, due to deforestation of Europe caused by humans. Mean January temperature was the main limiting factor for species distribution. Over 90% of the samples were found in areas where mean January temperature was above −10°C. Main conclusions: Red deer response to climatic oscillations are in agreement with the Expansion-Contraction model but in contradiction to the statement of only the southernmost LGM refugia of the species. During the last 54 ka red deer occurred mostly in forests of the temperate climatic zone. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. European Social Fund, Grant/Award Number: UDA-POKL.04.01.01-00-072/09-00; University of Wroclaw, Grant/Award Number: 0410/2990/18; Institute of Environmental Biology, University of Wrocław, Grant/Award Number: 0410/2990/18; Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences; Narodowe Centrum Nauki , Grant/Award Number: DEC-2013/11/B/NZ8/00888 and UMO-2016/23/B/HS3/00387; Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, UEFISCDI, Grant/Award Number: PN-IIIP4-ID-PCE-2016-0676; National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis, UK; Faunal Database of the Stage Three Project; Leverhulme Trust, Grant/Award Number: F00568W.
- Published
- 2020