Tracking origin, home range, and mobility of Late Pleistocene fossil horses from west-central Mexico

Autor: Gabriela Solís-Pichardo, María Luisa García-Zepeda, Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales, María Teresa Alberdi, Javier Ponce-Saavedra, Peter Schaaf, Teodoro Hernández-Treviño, Alejandro Hiram Marín-Leyva
Přispěvatelé: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname
Digital.CSIC: Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Popis: The use of radiogenic strontium (Sr/Sr) and stable oxygen isotopes (δO) in macrofossil remains has impacted paleomobility studies. We performed Sr/Sr and δO analyses in dental enamel of three Rancholabrean horse species (E. cedralensis, E. conversidens and E. mexicanus) and in sediments and rocks from two fossil sites in west-central Mexico (La Cinta-Portalitos, and La Piedad-Santa Ana). The aim was to obtain information on geographical origin (on a regional and a local scale) and the mobility behavior of the horses, as well as to investigate the implications for paleoecological studies of large mammals. Enamel Sr/Sr values show that the possible geographical origin of fossil horse populations from both sites is the west-central Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). This was additionally corroborated by similar δO signatures for species and sites indicating that horses drank water with the same isotopic composition and lived in the same geographical region. To the north, Sr/Sr from TMVB back-arc volcanic and carbonate rocks are more enriched in radiogenic strontium. To the south, Sierra Madre del Sur igneous rocks are generally more depleted in radiogenic Sr. Therefore, there is no evidence for horse migration or dispersion from these areas. However, in the case of the La Piedad-Santa Ana site, differences in Sr/Sr between sediments and enamel could result from non-local residence within the TMVB. On the other hand, in La Cinta-Portalitos, similar strontium signatures of sediments and enamel indicate strictly local residence. We also detected that small differences in Sr/Sr between the three species could have resulted from different residential mobility behavior. Finally, we suggest that populations of sympatric fossil horse species might have a similar geographic origin on a regional scale, but locally different, which might possibly be related to a mobility behavior, as exhibited by extant species of equids.
The Consejo Técnico de la Investigación Científica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, provided a DGAPA-PAPIIT postdoctoral grant to AHM-L. Sr isotope analyses were fully funded by LUGIS, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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