NCEAS Project 2041

Climatic and Habitat Inference from Features of Mammalian Paleocommunities

  • John Damuth

ActivityDatesFurther Information
Working Group21st—27th August 1998Participant List  
Working Group9th—13th December 1999Participant List  
Working Group28th March—2nd April 2001Participant List  

Abstract
Paleomammalogists have explored in recent years a variety of techniques for inferring past climate and vegetation from structural characteristics of fossil mammal communities and faunas. These techniques hold enormous promise for expanding temporal and geographic ranges over which we can make accurate, objective reconstructions of terrestrial habitat characteristics and local or regional climate. However, we badly need a comparison, evaluation, and synthesis of the various methods. This working group will evaluate the various methods by checking them against the same extensive dataset on extant mammal communities, and subsequently will apply the techniques to Quaternary and Tertiary data, both to test out the techniques in practice and to shed light on selected paleoecological questions.

TypeProducts of NCEAS Research
Presentations Andrews, Peter. 1998. Climate change in Europe. Nikiti, Greece.
Presentations Andrews, Peter. 1998. Climate, vegetation and predictable patterns in mammal species richness in southern Africa. Workshop of the Centre for Evolution and Ecology (CEE). London.
Journal Article Andrews, Peter; Armour-Chelu, M. 1998. Taphonomic observations on a surface bone assemblage in a temperate environment. Bulletin of the Geological Society of France. Vol: 169. Pages 433-442.
Book Andrews, Peter; Cook, J.; Currant, A.; Stringer, C. 1999. Westbury Cave: The Natural History Museum excavations 1976-1984. Western Academic and Specialist Press. Bristol.
Report or White Paper Badgley, Catherine; Damuth, John; Theodor, Jessica; Werdelin, Lars. 2001. Global variation in ecological structure of mammalian faunas and paleoenvironmental inference. (Sixty-First Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Bozeman, MT, 3-6 October 2001). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol: 21(3Supplement). Pages 30A.
Presentations Badgley, Catherine; Damuth, John; Theodor, Jessica; Werdelin, Lars. 2001. Global variation in ecological structure of mammalian faunas and paleoenvironmental inference. Sixty-First Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 3-6 October 2001. Bozeman, MT.
Report or White Paper Damuth, John. 1998. Summary of activities for the workshop on Habitat and Climate Inference from the Structure of Mammal Communities. (Online version)
Presentations Damuth, John; Fortelius, Mikael. 2001. Reconstructing mean annual precipitation, based on mammalian dental morphology and local species richness. Environments and Ecosystem Dynamics of the European Neogene, Plenary Workshop, 16 November 2001. Barcelona.
Presentations van Dam, Jan A.; Andrews, Peter; Badgley, Catherine; Damuth, John; Fortelius, Mikael; Hadly, Elizabeth A.; Hixson, Sylvia; Janis, Christine; Madden, Richard H.; Reed, Kaye. 2001. Within-habitat mammal diversity and productivity and their recent patterns across latitude. Sixty-First Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 3-6 October 2001. Bozeman, MT.
Report or White Paper van Dam, Jan A.; Andrews, Peter; Badgley, Catherine; Damuth, John; Fortelius, Mikael; Hadly, Elizabeth A.; Hixson, Sylvia; Janis, Christine; Madden, Richard H.; Reed, Kaye. 2001. Within-habitat mammal diversity and productivity and their recent patterns across latitude. (Sixty-First Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Bozeman, MT, 3-6 October 2001). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol: 21(3 Supplement). Pages 43A.