Testing the hypothesis of an impoverished predator guild in the Early Miocene ecosystems of Patagonia: An analysis of meat availability and competition intensity among carnivores
| dc.contributor.author | Rodríguez-Gómez, G | |
| dc.contributor.author | Cassini, GH | |
| dc.contributor.author | Palmqvist, P | |
| dc.contributor.author | Bargo, MS | |
| dc.contributor.author | Toledo, N | |
| dc.contributor.author | Martín-González, JA | |
| dc.contributor.author | Muñoz, NA | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kay, RF | |
| dc.contributor.author | Vizcaíno, SF | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-08-31T14:52:00Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-08-31T14:52:00Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-09-15 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2020-08-31T14:51:58Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | © 2020 Elsevier B.V. The lower Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (dated to ~18–16 Ma) of Southern Patagonia, Argentina, preserves rich vertebrate faunas, which are representative of communities that existed prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). Some previous researchers have hypothesized that these pre-GABI faunas had a low richness of mammalian carnivores (an impoverished predator guild), while others argue for a predator/prey ratio similar to those of recent communities. In this paper, we analyze faunas from the lower part of the Santa Cruz Formation (FL 1–7) using a methodology that allows us to quantify (i) the meat resources that were available to the secondary consumers of the palaeocommunity; and (ii) the competition intensity for these resources. In our modeling, we considered different scenarios related to meat consumption, including the possibility that several taxa had a scavenging behavior, and also differences in mortality rates between young and adult prey. Our results provide estimates of the nutritional requirements from the predator/scavenger guild under maximum and minimum quantities of meat offered by the prey community, which indicate the presence of a well-balanced palaeocommunity. Moreover, the competition indices point to a relatively high level of competition for prey of small-to-medium size, although competition for resources from large mammal prey was rather low. This suggests that the predator/scavenger guild was not impoverished, although there were insufficient carnivore species to fully consume the megaherbivore biomass. | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0031-0182 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1872-616X | |
| dc.identifier.uri | ||
| dc.language | en | |
| dc.publisher | Elsevier BV | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | |
| dc.relation.isversionof | 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109805 | |
| dc.subject | Santa Cruz Formation | |
| dc.subject | Burdigalian | |
| dc.subject | Predator/scavenger guild | |
| dc.subject | Competition intensity | |
| dc.subject | Food web | |
| dc.title | Testing the hypothesis of an impoverished predator guild in the Early Miocene ecosystems of Patagonia: An analysis of meat availability and competition intensity among carnivores | |
| dc.type | Journal article | |
| duke.contributor.orcid | Kay, RF|0000-0002-4219-7580 | |
| pubs.begin-page | 109805 | |
| pubs.end-page | 109805 | |
| pubs.organisational-group | Trinity College of Arts & Sciences | |
| pubs.organisational-group | Evolutionary Anthropology | |
| pubs.organisational-group | Duke | |
| pubs.publication-status | Accepted | |
| pubs.volume | 554 |
Files
Original bundle
- Name:
- Rodríguez-Gómez et al 2020.pdf
- Size:
- 1.48 MB
- Format:
- Adobe Portable Document Format