Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T17:03:24.949Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Ice Age Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Timothy H. Heaton ,
Sandra L. Talbot  and
Gerald F. Shields
Timothy H. Heaton
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, 57069
Sandra L. Talbot
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775
Gerald F. Shields
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Genetic and paleontological evidence are combining to provide a new and surprising picture of mammalian biogeography in southeastern Alaska. Prior to our study, the brown and black bears of the Alexander Archipelago were considered postglacial immigrants that never had overlapping ranges. Vertebrate fossils from caves on Prince of Wales Island now demonstrate that brown and black bears coexisted there (and even inhabited the same caves) both before and after the last glaciation. Differences in mtDNA sequences suggest that living brown bears of the Alexander Archipelago comprise a distinct clade and are more closely related to polar bears than to their mainland conspecifics. We conclude that brown bears, and perhaps other large mammals, have continuously inhabited the archipelago for at least 40,000 yr and that habitable refugia were therefore available throughout the last glaciation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , September 1996 , pp. 186 - 192
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

Avise, J. C. (1986). Mitochondrial DNA and the evolutionary genetics of higher animals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 312, 325–342.Google Scholar
Banfield, A. W. F. (1961). A revision of the reindeer and caribou, genus Rangifer. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 177, 1–137.Google Scholar
Bocherens, H., Fizet, M., and Mariotti, A. (1994). Diet, physiology and ecology of fossil mammals as inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry: implications for Pleistocene bears. Palaeogeog-raphy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 107, 213–225.Google Scholar
Cowan, I. M. (1989). Birds and mammals on the Queen Charlotte Islands. In “ The Outer Shores“ (Scudder, G. G. E. and Gessler, N., Eds.), pp. 175–186. Queen Charlotte Islands Museum Press.Google Scholar
Cowan, I. M., and Guiguet, C. J. (1965). “The Mammals of British Columbia.“ British Columbia Provincial Museum Handbook 11, 3rd ed. Google Scholar
Cronin, M., Amstrup, S., C., Garner, G., W., and Vyse, E. R. (1991). Interspecific and intraspecific mitochondrial DNA variation in North American bears (Ursus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 69, 2985–2992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cwynar, L. C. (1990). A late Quaternary vegetation history from Lily Lake, Chilkat Peninsula, southeast Alaska. Canadian Journal of Botany 68, 1106–1112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, E. J. (1993). “Quest for the Origin of the First Americans.“ University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K. R. (1979). Routes: alternative migration corridors for early Man in North America. American Antiquities 44, 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fladmark, K. R. (1983). Times and places: environmental correlates of mid-to-late Wisconsin human population expansion in North America. In “ Early Man in the New World“ (Shutler, R. Jr.,, Ed.), pp. 13–41. Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Fry, B., and Sherr, E. B. (1984). d13C measurements as indicators of carbon flow in marine and freshwater ecosystems. Contributions in Science 27, 13–47.Google Scholar
Graham, R. W. (1991). Variability in the size of North American Quaternary black bears (Ursus americanus) with the description of a fossil black bear from Bill Neff Cave, Virginia. Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers 23, 237–250.Google Scholar
Gruhn, R., (1988). Linguistic evidence in support of the coastal route of earliest entry into the New World. Man 23, 77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruhn, R. (1994). The Pacific Coast route of initial entry: an overview. In “ Method and Theory for Investigating the Peopling of the Americas“ (Bonnichsen, R. and Steele, D. G., Eds.), pp. 249–256. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University.Google Scholar
Hall, E. R. (1981). “The Mammals of North America.“ 2nd ed. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H. (1994). Variation in fossil and modern Ursus arctos from alaska (abstract). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14, 28A.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H. (1995a). Middle Wisconsin bear and rodent remains discovered on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene 12, 92–95.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H. (1995b). Interpretation of d13C values from vertebrate remains of the Alexander Archipelago, southeast Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene 12, 95–97.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H. (1995c). Colonization of southeast Alaska by Ursus arctos prior to the peak of Wisconsin glaciation (abstract). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15, 34A.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H. (1996a). The fossil gold mine in the caves of southeast Alaska. National Speleological Society News 54, 172–175.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H. (1996b). The Late Wisconsin vertebrate fauna of On Your Knees Cave, northern Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska (abstract). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16, 40A.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H., and Grady, F. (1992a). Preliminary report on the fossil bears of El Capitan Cave, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene 9, 97–99.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H., and Grady, F. (1992b). Two species of bear found in late Pleistocene/early Holocene den in El Capitan Cave, Prince of Wales Island, southern Alaska coast (abstract). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 12, 32A.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H., and Grady, F. (1993). Fossil grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) from Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, offer new insights into animal dispersal, interspecific competition, and age of deglaciation. Current Research in the Pleistocene 10, 98–100.Google Scholar
Heaton, T. H., and Love, D. C. (1995). The 1994 excavation of a Quaternary vertebrate fossil deposit from Bumper Cave, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 27(3), 57.Google Scholar
Heusser, C. J. (1960). “Late Pleistocene environments of north Pacific North America.“ Special Publication of the American Geographical Society 35.Google Scholar
Kimura, M. (1980). A simple method for estimating evolutionary rate of base substitution through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution 16, 111–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, D. R. (1965). Postglacial distribution patterns of mammals in the southern coastal regions of Alaska. Arctic 18, 7–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurtén, B. (1964). The evolution of the polar bear, Ursus maritimus Phipps. Acta Zoologica Fennica 108, 1–30.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B. (1968). “Pleistocene Mammals of Europe.“ Weidenfeld and Nicolsom, London.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B., and Anderson, E. (1980). “Pleistocene Mammals of North America.“ Columbia Univ. Press, New York. Google Scholar
Mann, D. H., and Hamilton, T. D. (1995). Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironments of the North Pacific Coast. Quaternary Science Reviews 14, 449–471.Google Scholar
Mustoe, G. E., and Carlstad, C. A. (1995). A late Pleistocene brown bear (Ursus arctos) from northwest Washington. Northwest Science 69, 106–113.Google Scholar
Nasmith, H. W. (1970). Pleistocene geology of the Queen Charlotte Islands and southern British Columbia. In “ Early Man and Environments in Northwestern North America“ (Smith, J. W. and Smith, R. H., Eds.), pp. /1–/2. University of Calgary Archaeological Association.Google Scholar
Prest, V. K. (1969). Retreat of Wisconsin and Recent ice in North America. Geological Survey of Canada Map 1257A. Google Scholar
Rausch, R. L. (1969). Origin of the Terrestrial Mammalian Fauna of the Kodiak Archipelago. In “The Kodiak Island Refugium: its Geology, Flora, Fauna and History“ (Karlstrom, T. N. V. and Ball, G. E., Eds.), pp. 216–234. Boreal Institute, University of Alberta, Ryerson Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, R. A. (1985). Glacial geography and native North American languages. Quaternary Research 23, 130–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, R. A., Martin, L. D., and Nicklas, T. D. (1990). Ice-Age geography and the distribution of native North American languages. Journal of Biogeography 17, 131–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, R. A., Rogers, L. A., Hoffmann, R. S., and Martin, L. D. (1991). Native American biological diversity and the biographic influence of ice age refugia. Journal of Biogeography 18, 623–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shields, G. F., and Kocher, T. D. (1991). Phylogenetic relationships of North American ursids based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA. Evolution 45, 218–221.Google Scholar
Taberlet, P., and Bouvet, J. (1992). Genetique de l'ours brun des Pyrenees (Ursus arctos): premiers resultats. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 314, 15–21.Google Scholar
Talbot, S. L., and Shields, G. F. (1996). Phylogeography of brown bears (Ursus arctos) of Alaska and paraphyly within the Ursidae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 5, 477–494.Google Scholar
Waits, L., Kohn, M., Talbot, S. L., Shields, G. F., Taberlet, P., Pa¨a¨bo, S., and Ward, R. (1996). Mitochondrial phylogeography in brown bears (Ursus arctos) and Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (submitted for publication).Google Scholar
Wilson, A. C., Cann, R. L., Carr, S. M., George, M., Gyllensten, U. B., Helm-Bychowski, K M., Higuchi, R. G., Palumbi, S. R., Prager, E. M., Sage, R. D., and Stoneking, M. (1985). Mitochondrial DNA and two perspectives on evolutionary genetics. Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 26, 375–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar