Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T02:16:10.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary dietary shifts of the Cape grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis) in southern Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. Tyler Faith
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Cape grysbok is endemic to southern Africa's Cape Floral Region where it selectively browses various species of dicotyledonous vegetation. Fossil evidence indicates that the grysbok persisted under glacial and interglacial conditions throughout the late Quaternary and inhabited a range of environments. This study employs mesowear analysis to reconstruct grysbok diets over time and in response to changing environments at Nelson Bay Cave, Die Kelders Cave 1, Klasies River Mouth, and Swartklip 1. Results indicate that the amount of grasses (monocots) versus leafy vegetation (dicots) included in the diet fluctuated over time and largely in agreement with changes in faunal community structure. The case for dietary flexibility is particularly clear at Nelson Bay Cave, where there is a significant trend from mixed feeding towards increased browsing from the late Pleistocene (~ 18,500 14C yr BP) through the Holocene. Dietary shifts at Nelson Bay Cave are consistent with the hypothesis that declining grassland productivity is responsible for the terminal Pleistocene extinction of several large ungulates in southern Africa. Furthermore, the short-term dietary shifts demonstrated here (100s to 1000s of years) provide an important caution against relying on taxonomic uniformitarianism when reconstructing the dietary preferences of fossil ungulates, both extant and extinct.

Keywords

MesowearPaleodietQuaternary extinctionsEnvironmental changeNelson Bay Cave
Type
QR Forum
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 159 - 165
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

Bar-Matthews, M., Marean, C.W., Jacobs, Z., Karkanas, P., Fisher, E.C., Herries, A.I.R., Brown, K., Williams, H.M., Bernatchez, J., Ayalon, A., and Nilssen, P.J. A high resolution and continuous isotopic speleothem record of paleoclimate and paleoenvironment from 90 to 53 ka from Pinnacle Point on the south coast of South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, (2010). 2131–2145.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S. Preliminary report on a caprine from the Cape mountains, South Africa. Archaeozoologia 10, (1999). 11–26.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S., and Lee-Thorpe, J.A. The feeding niche of an extinct springbok, Antidorcas bondi (Antelopini, Bovidae), and its paleoenvironmental meaning. South African Journal of Science 88, (1992). 227–229.Google Scholar
Butzer, K.W. Coastal eolian sands, paleosols and Pleistocene geoarchaeology of the southwestern Cape, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 31, (2004). 1743–1782.Google Scholar
Cannon, M.D. Archaeofaunal relative abundance, sample size, and statistical methods. Journal of Archaeological Science 28, (2001). 185–195.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E., Harris, J.M., and Passey, B.H. Diets of east African bovidae based on stable isotope analysis. J. Mammal. 84, (2003). 456–470.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, M.J. Herbivory: The Dynamics of Animal–Plant Interactions. (1983). Blackwell, London.Google Scholar
Demment, M.W., and Van Soest, P.J. A nutritional explanation for body-size patterns of ruminant and nonruminant herbivores. American Naturalist 125, (1985). 641–672.Google Scholar
Feathers, J.K. Luminescence dating in less than ideal conditions: case studies from Klasies River Main Site and Duinefontein, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 29, (2002). 177–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feathers, J.K., and Bush, D.A. Luminescence dating of Middle Stone Age deposits at Die Kelders. J. Hum. Evol. 29, (2000). 91–118.Google Scholar
Fisher, E.C., Bar-Matthews, M., Jerardino, A., and Marean, C.W. Middle and Late Pleistocene paleoscape modeling along the southern coast of South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, (2010). 1382–1398.Google Scholar
Fortelius, M., and Solounias, N. Functional characterization of ungulate molars using the abrasion–attrition wear gradient: a new method for reconstructing paleodiets. American Museum Novitates 3301, (2000). 1–36.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franz-Odendaal, T.A., and Solounias, N. Comparative dietary evaluations of an extinct giraffid (Sivatherium hendeyi) (Mammalia, Giraffidae, Sivatheriinae) from Langebaanweg, South Africa (early Pliocene). Geodiversitas 26, (2004). 675–685.Google Scholar
Goldblatt, P., and Manning, J.C. Plant diversity of the Cape Region of South Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89, (2002). 281–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, Ø., Harper, D.A.T., and Ryan, P.D. Paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontol. Electronica 4, 1 (2001). 1–9.Google Scholar
Hofmann, R.R., and Stewart, D.R.M. Grazer or browser: a classification based on the stomach structure and feeding habits of East African ruminants. Mammalia 36, (1972). 226–240.Google Scholar
Inskeep, R.R. Nelson Bay Cave, Cape Province, South Africa: the Holocene levels. BAR International Series 357, Oxford. (1987). Google Scholar
IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group Raphicerus melanotis . IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Version 2010.3. (2008). <www.iucnredlist.org>>Google Scholar
Jacobs, Z., Roberts, R.G., Galbraith, R.F., Deacon, H.J., Grün, R., Mackay, A., Mitchell, P., Vogelsang, R., and Wadley, L. Ages for the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa: implications for human behavior and dispersal. Science 332, (2008). 733–735.Google Scholar
Jarman, P.J. The social organization of antelope in relation to their ecology. Behavior 58, (1974). 215–267.Google Scholar
Kaiser, T.M., and Franz-Odendaal, T.A. A mixed-feeding Equus species from the Middle Pleistocene of South Africa. Quaternary Research 62, (2004). 316–323.Google Scholar
Kigozi, F., Kerley, G.I.H., and Lessing, J.S. The diet of Cape grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis) in Algoa Dune Strandveld, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 38, (2008). 79–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, J. East African Mammals Vols. IIIC & IIID, (1982). University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. The late Quaternary mammalian fauna of Nelson Bay Cave (Cape Province, South Africa): its implications for megafaunal extinctions and environmental and cultural change. Quaternary Research 2, (1972). 135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R.G. Preliminary report on the July through September 1970 excavations at Nelson Bay Cave, Plettenberg Bay (Cape Province, South Africa). Palaeoecology of Africa 6, (1972). 177–208.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. Paleoanthropological implications of the nonarchaeological bone assemblage from Swartklip I, south-western Cape Province, South Africa. Quaternary Research 5, (1975). 275–288.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. The fossil history of Raphicerus H. Smith, 1827 (Bovidae, Mammalia) in the Cape Biotic Zone. Annals of the South African Museum 71, (1976). 169–191.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. The mammalian fauna of the Klasies River Mouth sites, Southern Cape Province, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 31, (1976). 75–98.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. A preliminary report on the larger mammals from the Boomplaas stone age cave site, Cango Valley, Oudtshoorn District, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 33, (1978). 66–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R.G. Environmental and ecological implications of large mammals from Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sites in southern Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 81, (1980). 223–283.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. Palaeoenvironmental implications of Quaternary large mammals in the fynbos region. Deacon, H.J., Hendey, Q.B., and Labrechts, J.J.N. Fynbos Palaeoecology: A Preliminary Synthesis. South African National Scientific Programmes Report No 75, Mills Litho, Cape Town (1983). 116–138.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. Mammalian extinctions and Stone Age people in Africa. Martin, P.S., and Klein, R.G. Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution. (1984). University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 553–573.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G., and Cruz-Uribe, K. Middle and Later Stone Age large mammal and tortoise remains from Die Kelders Cave 1, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 38, (2000). 169–195.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G., Avery, G., Cruz-Uribe, K., and Steele, T.E. The mammalian fauna associated with an archaic hominin skullcap and later Acheulean artifacts at Elandsfontein, Western Cape Providence, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 62, (2007). 164–186.Google Scholar
Lee-Thorp, J.A., and Beaumont, P.B. Vegetation and seasonality shifts during the late Quaternary deduced from 13C/12C ratios of grazers at Equus Cave, South Africa. Quatern. Res. 43, (1995). 426–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, J. Field Guide to Fynbos. (2008). Struik Publishers Ltd, Cape Town.Google Scholar
Manson, J., (1974). Aspekte van die biologie en gedrag van die Kaapse grysbok, Raphicerus melanotis Thunberg. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Stellenbosch, .Google Scholar
Marean, C.W. Implications of late Quaternary mammalian fauna from Lukenya Hill (south-central Kenya) for paleoenvironmental change and faunal extinctions. Quaternary Research 37, (1992). 239–255.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., Abe, Y., Frey, C.J., and Randall, R.C. Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Die Kelders Cave 1 Layers 10 and 11 Middle Stone Age larger mammal fauna. Journal of Human Evolution 38, (2000). 197–233.Google Scholar
McNaughton, S.J. Grazing lawns: animals in herds, plant form, and coevolution. American Naturalist 124, (1984). 863–886.Google Scholar
McNaughton, S.J. Ecology of a grazing ecosystem: the Serengeti. Ecol. Monogr. 55, (1985). 259–294.Google Scholar
McNaughton, S.J., Tarrants, J.L., McNaughton, M.M., and Davis, R.H. Silica as a defense against herbivory and a growth promoter in African grasses. Ecology 66, (1985). 528–535.Google Scholar
Merceron, G., Schulz, E., Kordos, L., and Kaiser, T.M. Paleoenvironment of Dryopithceus bancoi at Rudabanya, Hungary: evidence from dental meso- and micro-wear analyses of large vegetarian mammals. Journal of Human Evolution 53, (2007). 331–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C., and Powrie, L.W. Vegetation atlas of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Mucina, L., and Rutherford, M.C. The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. (2006). South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. 748–790.Google Scholar
Nagy, K.A., and Knight, M.H. Energy, water and food use by springbok antelope (Antidorcas marsupialis) in the Kalahari Desert. Journal of Mammalogy 75, (1994). 860–872.Google Scholar
Rivals, F., Solounias, N., and Mihlbachler, M.C. Evidence for geographic variation in the diets of late Pleistocene and early Holocene Bison in North America, and differences from the diets of recent Bison . Quaternary Research 68, (2007). 338–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, D.L., Bateman, M.D., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Carr, A.S., and Holmes, P.J. West coast dune plumes: climate driven contrasts in dunefield morphogenesis along the western and southern South African coasts. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 271, (2009). 24–38.Google Scholar
Schubert, B.W. Dental mesowear and the paleodiet of bovids from Makapansgat Limeworks Cave, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 42, (2007). 43–50.Google Scholar
Schubert, B.W., Ungar, P.S., Sponheimer, M., and Reed, K.E. Microwear evidence for Plio-Pleistocene bovid diets from Makapansgat Limeworks Cave, South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 241, (2006). 301–319.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P., and Rink, W.J. ESR dating of the Die Kelders 1 site, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 38, (2000). 121–128.Google Scholar
Schweitzer, F.R., and Wilson, M.L. Byneskranskop 1, a late Quaternary living site in the southern Cape Province, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 88, (1982). 1–203.Google Scholar
Sealy, J.C. Seasonality of rainfall around the last glacial maximum as reconstructed from carbon isotope analyses of animal bones from Nelson Bay Cave. South African Journal of Science 92, (1996). 441–444.Google Scholar
Semprebon, G.M., and Rivals, F. Was grass more prevalent in the pronghorn past? An assessment of the dietary adaptations of Miocene to recent Antilocapridae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 253, (2007). 332–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, R., and Wymer, J. The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa. (1982). Chicago University Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Skead, C.J. Historical Mammal Incidence in the Cape Province Volume 1, (1980). Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation of the Provincial Administration of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town.Google Scholar
Skinner, J.D., and Chimimba, C.T. The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. (2005). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Smithers, R.H.N. The Mammals of Botswana. Museum Memoir No. 4 4, (1971). The Trustees of the National Museum of Rhodesia, Salisbury. 1–340.Google Scholar
Spencer, L.M. Dietary adaptations of Plio-Pleistocene Bovidae: implications for hominid habitat use. Journal of Human Evolution 32, (1997). 201–228.Google Scholar
Sponheimer, M., Reed, K., and Lee-Thorp, J.A. Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality. Journal of Human Evolution 36, (1999). 705–718.Google Scholar
Sponheimer, M., Lee-Thorp, J.A., DeRuiter, D.J., Smith, J.M., van der Merwe, N.J., Reed, K., Grant, C.C., Ayliffe, L.K., Robinson, T.F., Heidelbergery, C., and Marcus, W. Diets of southern African bovidae: stable isotope evidence. Journal of Mammalogy 84, (2003). 471–479.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stynder, D.D. The diets of ungulates from the hominid fossil-bearing site of Elandsfontein, Western Cape, South Africa. Quaternary Research 71, (2009). 62–70.Google Scholar
Tryon, C.A., Faith, J.T., Peppe, D.J., Fox, D.L., McNulty, K.P., Jenkins, K., Dunsworth, H., and Harcourt-Smith, W. The Pleistocene archaeology and environments of the Wasiriya Beds, Rusinga Island, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 59, (2010). 657–671.Google Scholar
Watson, L.H., and Owen-Smith, N. Diet composition and habitat selection of eland in semi-arid shrubland. African Journal of Ecology 38, (2000). 130–137.Google Scholar