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Late Pleistocene paleoecology of arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) caches and nests from Interior Alaska's mammoth steppe ecosystem, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Benjamin V. Gaglioti ,
Brian M. Barnes ,
Grant D. Zazula ,
Alwynne B. Beaudoin  and
Matthew J. Wooller
Benjamin V. Gaglioti*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 902 N. Koyukuk Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 306 Tanana Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA
Brian M. Barnes
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 902 N. Koyukuk Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 902 N. Koyukuk Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA
Grant D. Zazula
Affiliation:
Yukon Palaeontology Program, Department of Tourism & Culture, Government of Yukon, Box 2703 L2-A, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 2C6 Canada
Alwynne B. Beaudoin
Affiliation:
Royal Alberta Museum, 12845-102nd Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5N 0M6 Canada
Matthew J. Wooller
Affiliation:
Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 306 Tanana Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA Institute of Marine Science, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 905 N. Koyukuk Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA Alaska Quaternary Center, 373 Reichardt Building, 900 Yukon Dr., University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:bengaglioti@gmail.com (B. V. Gaglioti).
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Abstract

Botanical analyses of fossil and modern arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) caches and nests have been used to reconstruct the past vegetation from some parts of Beringia, but such archives are understudied in Alaska. Five modern and four fossil samples from arctic ground squirrel caches and nests provide information on late Pleistocene vegetation in Eastern Beringia. Modern arctic ground squirrel caches from Alaska's arctic tundra were dominated by willow and grass leaves and grass seeds and bearberries, which were widespread in the local vegetation as confirmed by vegetation surveys. Late Pleistocene caches from Interior Alaska were primarily composed of steppe and dry tundra graminoid and herb seeds. Graminoid cuticle analysis of fossil leaves identified Calamagrostis canadensis, Koeleria sp. and Carex albonigra as being common in the fossil samples. Stable carbon isotopes analysis of these graminoid specimens indicated that plants using the C3 photosynthetic pathways were present and functioning with medium to high water-use efficiency. Fossil plant taxa and environments from ground squirrel caches in Alaska are similar to other macrofossil assemblages from the Yukon Territory, which supports the existence of a widespread mammoth steppe ecosystem type in Eastern Beringia that persisted throughout much of the late Pleistocene.

Keywords

BeringiaCachingSeedsSpermophilusPlant cuticlesStable isotopes
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , November 2011 , pp. 373 - 382
Copyright
University of Washington

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