Body-size structure of Central Iberian mammal fauna reveals semidesertic conditions during the middle Miocene Global Cooling Event
Menéndez, Iris (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Gómez Cano, Ana Rosa (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
García Yelo, Blanca A. (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. Departamento de Paleobiología)
Domingo, Laura (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Domingo, M. Soledad (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Cantalapiedra, Juan L. (Museum für Naturkunde. Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions und Biodiversitätsforschung)
Blanco, Fernando (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Hernández Fernández, Manuel (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)

Date:	2017
Abstract:	We developed new quantitative palaeoclimatic inference models based on the body-size structure of mammal faunas from the Old World tropics and applied them to the Somosaguas fossil site (middle Miocene, central Iberian Peninsula). Twenty-six mammal species have been described at this site, including proboscideans, ungulates, carnivores, insectivores, lagomorphs and rodents. Our analyses were based on multivariate and bivariate regression models correlating climatic data and body-size structure of 63 modern mammal assemblages from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent. The results showed an average temperature of the coldest month higher than 26°C for the Somosaguas fossil site, a mean annual thermal amplitude around 10°C, a drought length of 10 months, and an annual total precipitation greater than 200 mm per year, which are climate conditions typical of an ecotonal zone between the savanna and desert biomes. These results are congruent with the aridity peaks described over the middle Aragonian of Spain and particularly in the local biozone E, which includes Somosaguas. The aridity increase detected in this biozone is associated with the Middle Miocene Global Cooling Event. The environment of Somosaguas around 14 Ma was similar to the current environment in the Sahel region of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the boundary area between the Kalahari and the Namib in Southern Africa, south-central Arabia, or eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The distribution of modern vegetation in these regions follows a complex mosaic of plant communities, dominated by scattered xerophilous shrublands, semidesert grasslands, and vegetation linked to seasonal watercourses and ponds.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2015-68333-P
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	PloS one, Vol. 12, Issue 10 (October 2017) , art. a0186762, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186762
PMID: 29073193

32 p, 6.2 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles