An ecometric analysis of the fossil mammal record of the Turkana basin
Loading...
Access rights
openAccess
publishedVersion
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A2 Katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This publication is imported from Aalto University research portal.
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
Date
2016-07-05
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
13
Series
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Volume 371, issue 1698
Abstract
Although ecometric methods have been used to analyse fossil mammal faunas and environments of Eurasia and North America, such methods have not yet been applied to the rich fossil mammal record of eastern Africa. Here we report results from analysis of a combined dataset spanning east and west Turkana from Kenya between 7 and 1 million years ago (Ma). We provide temporally and spatially resolved estimates of temperature and precipitation and discuss their relationship to patterns of faunal change, and propose a new hypothesis to explain the lack of a temperature trend. We suggest that the regionally arid Turkana Basin may between 4 and 2 Ma have acted as a ‘species factory’, generating ecological adaptations in advance of the global trend. We show a persistent difference between the eastern and western sides of the Turkana Basin and suggest that the wetlands of the shallow eastern side could have provided additional humidity to the terrestrial ecosystems. Pending further research, a transient episode of faunal change centred at the time of the KBS Member (1.87-1.53 Ma), may be equally plausibly attributed to climate change or to a top-down ecological cascade initiated by the entry of technologically sophisticated humans.Description
Keywords
Ecosystem change, Fossil mammal, Human origins, Palaeoclimate, Predictive modelling
Other note
Citation
Fortelius, M, Zliobaite, I, Kaya, F, Bibi, F, Bobe, R, Leakey, L, Leakey, M, Patterson, D, Rannikko, J & Werdelin, L 2016, ' An ecometric analysis of the fossil mammal record of the Turkana basin ', PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, vol. 371, no. 1698, 20150232 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0232