Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T12:48:17.624Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clinal Variation of Some Mammals During the Holocene in Missouri

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James R. Purdue
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), and gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) were examined for clinal variation during the Holocene. Modern samples of all three species displayed strong east-west patterns along the western edge of the eastern deciduous forest: S. floridanus and S. niger decrease and S. carolinensis increases in size. Archeological samples of S. carolinensis from Rodgers Shelter (23BE125), Benton County, Missouri, and Graham Cave (23MT2), Montgomery County, Missouri, indicated an increase in size from early to middle Holocene. Sylvilagus floridanus from Rodgers Shelter decreased in size from early to middle Holocene and then increased during the late Holocene to modern proportions. A literature survey reveals that clinal variation is a common phenomenon among modern homeotherms. In introduced species, clinal variation has developed after relatively few generations, indicating rapid adaptations to environmental conditions; often winter climatic variables are implicated. Morphological variation in the study species during the Holocene is interpreted as a response to changing climates. Studies of morphological clines may lead to another valuable data source for reconstructing past ecologies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 1980 , pp. 242 - 258
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahler, S.A., (1976). Sedimentary processes at Rodgers Shelter. Wood, W.R. McMillan, R.B. Prehistoric Man and His Environments. Academic Press New York 123 139 Google Scholar
Aldrich, J.W. Weske, J.S., (1978). Origin and evolution of the eastern house finch population. Auk 95 528 536 Google Scholar
Barnett, R.J., (1977). Bergmann's rule and variation in structures related to feeding in the gray squirrel. Evolution 31 538 545 Google Scholar
Endler, J.A., (1977). Geographic Variation, Speciation, and Clines Princeton Univ. Press Princeton, N.J Monographs in Population Biology 10 Google Scholar
Frison, G.C. Wilson, M. Wilson, D.J., (1976). Fossil bison and artifacts from an early Altithermal period arroyo trap in Wyoming. American Antiquity 41 28 57 Google Scholar
Grayson, D.K., (1977). On the Holocene history of some northern Great Basin lagomorphs. Journal of Mammalogy 58 507 513 Google Scholar
Guilday, J.E. Martin, P.S. McCrady, A.D., (1964). New Paris No. 4: A Pleistocene cave deposit in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Bulletin of the National Speleological Society 26 121 194 Google Scholar
Guilday, J.E. Parmalee, P.W. Hamilton, H.W., (1977). The Clark's cave bone deposit and the late Pleistocene paleoecology of the central Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History No. 2 1 86 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, E.R. Kelson, K.R., (1959). The Mammals of North America Ronald Press New York Google Scholar
Havera, S.P. Nixon, C.M., (1980). Geographic variation of Illinois gray squirrels. American Midland Naturalist in press Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V., (1976). Late Quaternary geology of the lower Pomme de Terre valley. Wood, W.R. McMillan, R.B. Prehistoric Man and His Environments. Academic Press New York 47 61 Google Scholar
Hibbard, C.W., (1963). A late Illinois fauna from Kansas and its climatic significance. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters 48 187 221 Google Scholar
Hughes, S.S., (1978). Bison diminution on the Great Plains. Wyoming Contributions to Anthropology 1 18 47 Google Scholar
James, F.C., (1970). Geographic size variation in birds and its relationship to climate. Ecology 51 365 390 Google Scholar
Johnston, R.F. Selander, R.K., (1971). Evolution in the house sparrow. II. Adaptive differentiation in North American populations. Evolution 25 1 28 Google Scholar
Jones, J.K. Jr. Cortner, G.L., (1960). The subspecific identity of the gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Kansas and Nebraska. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 63 285 288 Google Scholar
Kay, M., (1978). Holocene Adaptations Within the Lower Pomme de Terre River Valley, Missouri Draft report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri Google Scholar
Kim, J.O., (1975). Factor analysis. Nie, N.H. Hull, C.H. Jenkins, J.G. Steinbrenner, K. Bent, D.H. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. McGraw-Hill New York 468 514 Google Scholar
King, J.E., (1980). Post-Pleistocene vegetational changes in the midwestern United States. University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology in press Google Scholar
Klecka, W.R., (1975). Discriminant analysis. Nie, N.H. Hull, C.H. Jenkins, J.G. Steinbrenner, K. Bent, D.H. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. McGraw-Hill New York 434 467 Google Scholar
Klippel, W.E., (1971). Graham Cave revisited. A reevaluation of its cultural position during the Archaic period. Memoirs of the Missouri Archaeological Society No. 9 1 66 Google Scholar
Lowther, P.E., (1977). Selection intensity in North American house sparrows. (Passer domesticus), Evolution 31 649 656 Google Scholar
McMillan, R.B., (1976). The dynamics of cultural and environmental change at Rodgers Shelter, Missouri. Wood, W.R. McMillan, R.B. Prehistoric Man and His Environments Academic Press New York 211 232 Google Scholar
McMillan, R. B., and Klippel, W. E. (in preparation). Environmental change and hunter-gatherer adaptation in the southern prairie peninsula..Google Scholar
McNab, B.K., (1971). On the ecological significance of Bergmann's rule. Ecology 52 845 854 Google Scholar
Mengel, R.M. Jackson, J.A., (1977). Geographic variations of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Condor 79 349 355 Google Scholar
Nie, N.H. Hull, C.H. Jenkins, J.G. Steinbrenner, K. Bent, D.H., (1975). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences McGraw-Hill New York Google Scholar
Parmalee, P.W. McMillan, R.B. King, F.B., (1976). Changing subsistence patterns at Rodgers Shelter. Wood, W.R. McMillan, R.B. Prehistoric Man and His Environments. Academic Press New York 141 161 Google Scholar
Purdue, J.R., (1978). The environmental implications of the fauna recovered from Rodgers Shelter. Kay, M. Holocene Adaptations Within the Lower Pomme de Terre River Valley, Missouri. 9.1 9.178 Draft report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri Google Scholar
Rosenzweig, M.R., (1968). The strategy of body size in mammalian carnivores. American Midland Naturalist 80 299 315 Google Scholar
Smith, P.W., (1957). An analysis of post-Wisconsin biogeography of the prairie peninsula region based on distribution phenomena among terrestrial vertebrate populations. Ecology 38 205 218 Google Scholar
Sokal, R.R. Rohlf, R.J., (1969). Biometry. Freeman San Francisco Google Scholar
Taylor, J. Freedman, L. Olivier, T.J. McCluskey, J., (1977). Morphometric distances between Australian wild rabbit populations. Australian Journal of Zoology 25 721 732 Google Scholar
Wendland, W.M., (1978). Holocene man in North America: The ecological setting and climate background. Plains Anthropologist 23 273 287 Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr. (1976). The dynamic nature of Holocene vegetation. A problem in Paleoclimatology, biogeography, and stratigraphic nomenclature. Quaternary Research 6 581 596 Google Scholar
Wright, T. Lundelius, E. Jr. (1963). Post-Pleistocene raccoons from Central Texas and their zoogeographic significance. Texas Memorial Museum. Pearce-Sellards Series No. 2 1 21 Google Scholar