Ecosystems of Eastern Europe at the time of maximum cooling of the Valdai glaciation (24–18kyr BP) inferred from data on plant communities and mammal assemblages

Abstract: Data on Eastern European fossil mammal fauna and palaeoflora dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (24–18kyr BP) have been summarized using PARADOX and ARC/VIEW software. Palaeobotanical material from 54 sections (197 samples altogether) was studied, along with mammal fossils recovered from 55 localities. This made it possible to compile a series of electronic maps for indicator mammal and plant species for the considered time interval. An analysis of the spatial distribution of species belonging to different ecological groups enabled the identification of principal mammal assemblages and plant communities of the LGM. The whole volume of data was then processed using a range of mathematical techniques. The classes of the palynologically studied sections were analysed integrally with those of mammal localities both in the multidimensional axes space and in physical space (described by their geographical coordinates). Mathematical processing of a considerable amount of palaeobiological data permitted the identification of individual groups of mammals and plants and to make a further comparison between them. In this way, palaeoenvironments of the coldest phase of the Valdai glaciation for the territory of Eastern Europe were reconstructed for the first time by means of simultaneous analysis of theriological and palaeobotanical data using mathematical techniques. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]