Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:02:11.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene C4Plant Dominance and Summer Rainfall in the Southwestern United States from Isotopic Study of Herbivore Teeth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sean L. Connin ,
Julio Betancourt  and
Jay Quade
Sean L. Connin
Affiliation:
Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 72701
Julio Betancourt
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Desert Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1675 West Anklam Road, Tucson, Arizona, 85745
Jay Quade
Affiliation:
Desert Laboratory, University of Arizona, Department of Geosciences, Tucson, Arizona, 85745
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Patterns of climate and C4plant abundance in the southwestern United States during the last glaciation were evaluated from isotopic study of herbivore tooth enamel. Enamel δ13C values revealed a substantial eastward increase in C4plant consumption for Mammuthusspp., Bisonspp., Equusspp., and Camelopsspp. The δ13C values were greatest in Bisonspp. (−6.9 to +1.7‰) and Mammuthusspp. (−9.0 to +0.3‰), and in some locales indicated C4-dominated grazing. The δ13C values of Antilocaprids were lowest among taxa (−12.5 to −7.9‰) and indicated C3feeding at all sites. On the basis of modern correlations between climate and C4grass abundance, the enamel data imply significant summer rain in parts of southern Arizona and New Mexico throughout the last glaciation. Enamel δ18O values range from +19.0 to +31.0‰ and generally increase to the east. This pattern could point to a tropical or subtropical source of summer rainfall. At a synoptic scale, the isotope data indicate that interactions of seasonal moisture, temperature, and lowered atmospheric pCO2determined glacial-age C4abundance patterns.

Keywords

quantum yieldatmospheric CO2plant macrofossilsclimate modelC and O isotopesherbivore teethglobal changeAmerican Southwestpaleoclimatemonsoon
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , September 1998 , pp. 179 - 193
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

Akerston, W.A., Foppe, T.M., and Jefferson, G.T. (1988). New source of dietary data for extinct herbivores. Quaternary Research 30, 92–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, K.H., Anderson, P.M., Edwards, M.E., Mock, C.J., Thompson, R.S., Webb, R.S., Webb, T., and Whitlock, C. (1998). Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: Features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 549–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Betancourt, J.L., Van Devender, T.R., and Martin, P.S. (1990). Packrat Middens: The Last 40,000 Years of Biotic Change. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Bocherens, H., Koch, P.L., Mariotti, A., Geraads, D., and Jaeger, J.J. (1996). Isotopic biogeochemistry (13 18 . Palaios 11, 306–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boutton, T.W., Archer, S.R., and Nordt, L.C. (1994). Climate, CO2 . Nature 372, 625 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, J.D., Koch, P.L., Froelich, P.N., Showers, W.J., and Genna, B.J. (1996). Oxygen isotope partitioning between phosphate and carbonate in mammalian apatite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, 5145–5148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, J.D., and Froelich, P.N. (1995). A model of oxygen isotope fractionation in body water of large mammals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59, 4523–4537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, M.M., Osmond, C.B., and Nott, D.L. (1977). C4 Atriplex . Plant Physiology 60, 57–164.Google ScholarPubMed
Carleton, A.M. (1985). Synoptic and satellite aspects of the southwestern U.S. summer monsoon. Journal of Climatology 5, 389–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chazdon, R.L. (1978). Ecological aspects of the distribution of C4 . Biotropica 10, 265–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chrisman, D., MacNeish, R.S., Mavalwala, J., and Savage, H. (1996). Late Pleistocene human friction skin prints from Pendejo Cave, NM. American Antiquity 61, 357–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, D.R., and Monger, C.H. (1994). Influence of atmospheric CO2 4 . Nature 368, 533–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coplen, T.B. (1994). Reporting of stable hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopic abundances. Pure Applied Chemistry 66, 272–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, O.K., Agenbroad, L., Martin, P.S., and Mead, J.I. (1984). The Pleistocene dung blanket of Bechan Cave, Utah. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publications 8, 267–282.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansie, A.J., Davis, J.O., and Stafford, T.W. (1988). The Wizards Beach recession: Farmdalian (25,500 yr B.P.) vertebrate fossils co-occur with early Holocene artifacts. Early Human Occupation in Far Western North America: The Clovis-Archaic Interface. Anthropological Papers No. 21 Nevada State Museum, Carson City.p. 153–200Google Scholar
DeNiro, M.J., and Epstein, S. (1978). Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 42, 495–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehleringer, J.R. (1978). Implications of quantum yield differences on the distributions of C3 4 . Oecologia 31, 255–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehleringer, J.R., Cerling, T.E., and Helliker, B.R. (1997). C4 2 . Oecologia 112, 285–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emslie, S.D. (1987). Age and diet of fossil California Condors in Grand Canyon, AZ. Science 237, 768–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, H.E., Lauenroth, W.K., Burke, I.C., and Coffin, D.P. (1997). Regional productivity patterns of C3 4 . Ecology 78, 722–731.Google Scholar
Farquhar, G.D., O'Leary, M., and Berry, J.A. (1982). On the relationship between carbon isotope discrimination and the intercellular carbon dioxide concentration in leaves. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 9, 121–137.Google Scholar
Firby, J.R., Mawby, J.E., and Davis, J.O. (1987). Vertebrate paleontology and geology of the Rye Patch paleontological locality.Tuohy, D.R. Studies in Archaeology, Geology, and Paleontology at Rye Patch Reservoir, Pershing County, Nevada. Anthropological Papers No. 20 Nevada State Museum, Carson City.23–40.Google Scholar
Fricke, H., and O'Neil, J.R. (1996). Inter- and intra-tooth variation in the oxygen isotope composition of mammalian tooth enamel phosphate: Implications for palaeoclimatological and palaeobiological research. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 126, 91–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilderson, T.P., Fairbanks, R.G., and Rubenstone, J.L. (1994). Tropical temperature variations 0–20,000 years: Modulating interhemispheric climatic change. Science 263, 663–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutzler, D.S., and Preston, J.W. (1997). Evidence for a relationship between spring snow cover in North America and summer rainfall in New Mexico. Geophysical Research Letters 24, 2207–2210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, R.M. (1980). Foods of free-roaming horses in southern New Mexico. Journal of Range Management 29, 347 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, A.H. (1980). The paleoecology of Dry Cave. National Geographic Society Research Reports 12, 331–338.Google Scholar
Harris, A.H. (1985). Preliminary report on the vertebrate fauna of U-Bar Cave, Hildalgo County, New Mexico. New Mexico Geology 7, 74–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, A.H. (1987). Reconstruction of mid-Wisconsin environments in southern New Mexico. National Geographic Research 3, 142–151.Google Scholar
Hattersley, P.W. (1983). The distribution of C3 4 . Oecologia 57, 113–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C.V. (1967). Quaternary geology of the Tule Springs area, Clark County, NV.Wormington, H.M., Ellis, D. Pleistocene Studies of Southern Nevada. Anthropological Papers 13 Nevada State Museum, Carson City.15–104.Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V. Arizona Geological Society(1968). 79–96.Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V. (1987). Curry Draw, Cochise County, Arizona: A late-Quaternary stratigraphic record of Pleistocene extinction and paleo-indian activities. Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide—Cordilleran Section p. 23–29Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V. (1995). Geochronology of paleoenvironmental change, Clovis type site, Blackwater Draw, New Mexico. Geoarchaeology 10, 317–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. V., Agogino, G(1986). Geochronology of Sandia Cave. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology No. 12, REPID, 1, 32, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, R.W., Yao, Y., and Wang, X.L. (1997). Influence of the North American monsoon system on the United States summer precipitation regime. Journal of Climate 10, 2600–2622.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, G.T. (1991). Rancholabrean age vertebrates from the southeastern Mojave Desert.Reynolds, J. Crossing the Borders: Quaternary Studies in Eastern California and Southwestern Nevada. MDQRC 1991 Special Publication San Bernardino County Museum Association, Redlands.163–175.Google Scholar
Jefferson, G.T., and Goldin, J.F. (1989). Seasonal migration of Bison antiquus . Quaternary Research 31, 107–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G.T., Beck, C., Nials, F., Neudorfer, J.J., Brownholtz, B.J., and Gilbert, H.B. (1996). Recent archaeological and geological investigations and the Sunshine Locality Long Valley, Nevada. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 18, 48–63.Google Scholar
Johnson, D.L. (1977). The late Quaternary climate of coastal California: Evidence for an ice age refugium. Quaternary Research 8, 154–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, P. L., Hoppe, K. A., Webb, S. D. The isotopic ecology of late Pleistocene mammals in North America. Part 1: Florida, Chemical Geology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J.R., and Gedzelman, S.D. (1996). Low stable isotope ratios of tropical cyclone rains. Geophysical Research Letters 23, 527–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leavitt, S.W., and Newberry, T. (1992). Systematics of stable-carbon isotopic differences between gymnosperm and angiosperm trees. Plant Physiology 11, 257–262.Google Scholar
Liu, B., Phillips, F.M., and Cambell, A.R. (1996). Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of pedogenic carbonates, Ajo Mountains, southern Arizona: Implications for paleoclimatic change. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 124, 233–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, J., and Farquhar, G.D. (1994). 13 2 . Oecologia 99, 201–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longinelli, A. (1984). Oxygen isotopes in mammal bone phosphate: A new tool for paleohydrological and paleoclimatological research?. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48, 385–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrea, J.M. (1950). On the isotopic chemistry of carbonates and paleotemperature scale. Journal of Physical Chemistry 18, 849–857.Google Scholar
Mead, J.I., Agenbroad, L.D., Davis, O.K., and Martin, P.S. (1986). Dung of Mammuthus in the arid southwest, North America. Quaternary Research 25, 121–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meigs, P. (1957). Weather and climate.Jaeger, E. The North American Deserts Stanford University Press, Stanford.13–32.Google Scholar
Meyer, H.W. (1986). Lapse rates and other variables applied to estimate paleoaltitudes from fossil floras. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology 99, 71–99.Google Scholar
Monger, H.C., Cole, D.R., Gish, J.W., and Giordano, T.H. (1998). Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in Quaternary soil carbonates as indicators of ecogeomorphic changes in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA. Geoderma 82, 137–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, M.E., Kingston, J.D., and Marino, B.D. (1994). Carbon isotope evidence for the emergence of C4 . Nature 367, 162–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordt, L.C., Boutton, T.W., Hallmark, C.T., and Waters, M.R. (1993). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate changes in Central Texas based on the isotopic composition of organic carbon. Quaternary Research 41, 109–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Gara, B.W. (1978). Antilocapra americana. Mammalian Species 90, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Leary, M.H. (1988). Carbon isotopes in photosynthesis. Bioscience 38, 328–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orr, P. C (1952). Preliminary Excavations of Pershing County Caves. The Nevada State Museum Dept. of Archaeology, Bulletin No. 1 REPID.Google Scholar
Orr, P. C (1956). Pleistocene Man in Fishbone Cave, Pershing County, Nevada. The Nevada State Museum Dept. of Archaeology, Bulletin No. 2Google Scholar
Paruelo, J.M., and Lauenroth, W.K. (1996). Relative abundance of plant functional types in grasslands and shrublands of North America. Ecological Applications 6, 1212–1224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J. (1986). Late Quaternary environmental changes in the upper Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Quaternary Research 26, 340–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J., Cerling, T.E., Barry, J.C., Morgan, M.E., Pilbeam, D.R., Chivas, A.R., Lee-Thorp, J.A., and Van Der Merwe, N.J. (1992). A 16-Ma record of paleodiet using carbon and oxygen isotopes in fossil teeth from Pakistan. Chemical Geology 94, 183–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reyes, S., and Mejia-Trejo, A. (1991). Tropical perturbations in the eastern Pacific and the precipitation field over north-western Mexico in relation to the ENSO phenomenon. International Journal of Climatology 11, 515–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, E., and Reynolds, R. L (1985). Late Pleistocene Faunas from Daggett and Yermo San Bernardino County, California. In Cajon Pass to Manix Lake: Geological Investigations Along Interstate 10. San Bernardino County Museum Association, Special Publications 851, REPID. 175, 191.Google Scholar
SAS (1987). SAS/STAT Guide for Personal Computers. SAS Institute, Cary.Google Scholar
Sheppard, S.M.F., Nielson, R.L., and Taylor, H.P. (1969). Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios of clay minerals from porphyry copper deposits. Economic Geology 64, 755–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spaulding, W.G., and Graumlich, L.J. (1986). The last pluvial climatic episodes in the deserts of southwestern North America. Nature 320, 441–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stafford, T.J., Fogel, M.L., Brendel, K., and Hare, P.E. (1994). Late Quaternary paleoecology of the southern High Plains based on stable nitrogen and carbon isotope analysis of fossil Bison collagen.Schafer, H., Carlson, D., Sobolik, K. The Archaic of The Southern North American Deserts Texas A&M Press, College Station.Google Scholar
Sternberg, L.O., DeNiro, M.J., and Johnson, H.B. (1984). Isotope ratios of cellulose from plants having different photosynthetic pathways. Plant Physiology 74, 557–561.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stowe, L.G., and Teeri, J.A. (1978). The geographic distribution of C4 . The American Naturalist 112, 609–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Street-Perrott, A. (1994). Palaeo-perspectives: Changes in terrestrial ecosystems. Ambio 23, 37–43.Google Scholar
Stute, M., Clark, J.F., Schlosser, P., and Broecker, W.S. (1992). Paleotemperatures in the southwestern United States derived from noble gas measurements in groundwater. Science 256, 1000–1003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teeri, J.A., Stowe, L.G., and Livingstone, D.A. (1980). The distribution of C4 . Oecologia 47, 307–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teeri, J.A., and Stowe, L.G. (1976). Climatic patterns and the distribution of C4 . Oecologia 23, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Harrison, S.P., Spaulding, W.G., and Bartlein, P.J. (1993). Vegetation, lake levels and climate in the western United States.Wright, H.E. Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.468–513.Google Scholar
Tieszen, L.L., Hein, D., Qvortrup, S.A., Troughton, J.H., and Imbamba, S.K. (1979). Use of δ13 . Oecologia 37, 351–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United States Department of Commerce, 1973, Monthly Normals of Temperature, Precipitation, and Heating and Cooling Degree Days 1941–70, Climatography of the United States, No. 81, REPID, National Climate Center, Asheville, NCGoogle Scholar
Van Devender, T.R. (1990). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of the Chihuahuan Desert, United States and Mexico.Betancourt, J., Van Devender, T., Martin, P. Packrat Middens: The Last 40,000 Years of Biotic Change University of Arizona Press, Tucson.104–133.Google Scholar
Van Devender, T.R. (1995). Desert grassland history: Biogeography, and community dynamics.McClaran, M., Van Devender, T. The Desert Grassland The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.68–99.Google Scholar
Van Devender, T.R., and Spaulding, W.G. (1979). Development of vegetation and climate in the Southwestern United States. Science 204, 701–710.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Y., and Cerling, T.E. (1994). A model of fossil tooth and bone diagenesis: Implications for paleodiet reconstruction from stable isotopes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 107, 281–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar