TY - JOUR

T1 - Herpetofaunal diversity changes with climate

T2 - evidence from the Quaternary of McEachern’s Deathtrap Cave, southeastern Australia

AU - Ramm, Till

AU - Thorn, Kailah M.

AU - Hipsley, Christy Anna

AU - Müller, Johannes

AU - Hocknull, Scott

AU - Melville, Jane

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Till Ramm, Kailah M. Thorn, Christy A. Hipsley, Johannes Müller, Scott Hocknull, and Jane Melville.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The Quaternary Period is characterized by dramatic global climatic changes. Quaternary fossil deposits, which can offer excellent stratigraphic resolution, provide a unique opportunity to understand how fauna respond to past environmental change. Here, we test if the herpetofauna of McEachern’s Deathtrap Cave, a late Pleistocene to Holocene pitfall trap deposit from Victoria, Australia, shows climate-related shifts in taxonomic relative abundance through time. During the last 14,000 years, southeastern Australia experienced pronounced periods of aridity, while temperatures remained relatively stable. We show that the stratigraphic layers of this deposit are characterized by different relative abundances of reptile subfamilies, and that changes in subfamily abundance between layers correlate with known shifts to aridity, based on the percentage of C4 grasses present in the region. We further identify 13 lizard morphotypes from the fossil deposit and compare this diversity with the present-day lizard fauna. Our analyses indicate that gradual changes in community structure, which are typically observed in southeastern Australian vertebrate communities during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, can partly be explained by changing aridity. These findings represent an important contribution to understanding Quaternary community change in Australia, particularly because evidence of faunal succession of reptile and amphibian communities in Victoria is lacking. Our results further demonstrate the utility of the Australian herpetofaunal fossil record for detecting community responses to past climate change on relatively shallow timescales and at higher levels of taxonomic identification.

AB - The Quaternary Period is characterized by dramatic global climatic changes. Quaternary fossil deposits, which can offer excellent stratigraphic resolution, provide a unique opportunity to understand how fauna respond to past environmental change. Here, we test if the herpetofauna of McEachern’s Deathtrap Cave, a late Pleistocene to Holocene pitfall trap deposit from Victoria, Australia, shows climate-related shifts in taxonomic relative abundance through time. During the last 14,000 years, southeastern Australia experienced pronounced periods of aridity, while temperatures remained relatively stable. We show that the stratigraphic layers of this deposit are characterized by different relative abundances of reptile subfamilies, and that changes in subfamily abundance between layers correlate with known shifts to aridity, based on the percentage of C4 grasses present in the region. We further identify 13 lizard morphotypes from the fossil deposit and compare this diversity with the present-day lizard fauna. Our analyses indicate that gradual changes in community structure, which are typically observed in southeastern Australian vertebrate communities during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, can partly be explained by changing aridity. These findings represent an important contribution to understanding Quaternary community change in Australia, particularly because evidence of faunal succession of reptile and amphibian communities in Victoria is lacking. Our results further demonstrate the utility of the Australian herpetofaunal fossil record for detecting community responses to past climate change on relatively shallow timescales and at higher levels of taxonomic identification.

U2 - 10.1080/02724634.2021.2009844

DO - 10.1080/02724634.2021.2009844

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85126061462

VL - 41

JO - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

JF - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

SN - 0272-4634

IS - 5

M1 - e2009844

ER -