Stable isotope ecology of Miocene large mammals from Sandelzhausen, southern Germany

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_6C36BE1D9616
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
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Publications
Institution
Title
Stable isotope ecology of Miocene large mammals from Sandelzhausen, southern Germany
Journal
Palaeontologische Zeitschrift
Author(s)
Tuetken T., Vennemann T.W.
ISSN-L
0031-0220
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2009
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
83
Pages
207-226
Language
english
Abstract
The carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotope composition of enamel from
teeth of large Miocene herbivorous mammals from Sandelzhausen (MN5, late
Early/early Middle Miocene) in the North Alpine foreland basin, were
analyzed to infer diet and habitat. The mean enamel delta(13)C value of
-11.4 +/- 1.0% (n = 53) for the nine taxa analyzed (including
proboscideans, cervids, suids, chalicotheres, equids, rhinocerotids)
indicates a pure C(3) plant diet for all mammals. (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratios
of similar to 0.710 higher than those from teeth of the western Molasse
Basin (0.708-0.709) seem to indicate preferential feeding of the mammals
in the northeastern Molasse Basin. The sympatric herbivores have
different mean delta(13)C and delta(18)O values which support diet
partitioning and/or use of different habitats within a C(3) plant
ecosystem. Especially the three sympatric rhinoceroses Plesiaceratherium
fahlbuschi, Lartetotherium sansaniense, and Prosantorhinus germanicus
show clear partitioning of plants and/or habitats. The palaeomerycid
Germanomeryx fahlbuschi was a canopy folivore in moderately closed
environments whereas Metaschizotherium bavaricum (Chalicotheriidae) and
P. germanicus (Rhinocerotidae) were browsers in more closed forest
environments. The horse Anchitherium aurelianense was probably a more
generalized feeder than assumed from its dental morphology. The forest
hog Hyotherium soemmeringi has the highest delta(13)C and lowest
delta(18)O value of all analyzed taxa, possibly related to a frugivorous
diet. Most taxa were water-dependent browsers that record meteoric water
delta(18)O values of about -5.6 +/- 0.7% Vienna Standard Mean Ocean
Water (VSMOW). Using a modern-day mean annual air temperature
(MAT)-delta(18)OH(2)O relation a MAT of 19.3 +/- 1.5 degrees C can be
reconstructed for Sandelzhausen. A Gomphotherium subtapiroideum tusk
serially sampled for delta(18)O values does not record a clear pattern
of seasonality. Thus most taxa were C(3) browsers in a forested and
humid floodplain environment in the Molasse Basin, which experienced a
warm-temperate to subtropical climate and possibly low seasonality.
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29/09/2012 16:22
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14/02/2022 7:55
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