Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T04:10:25.432Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Latest Pleistocene paleoecology of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose (Cervalces scotti) in northern Illinois

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Blaine W. Schubert ,
Russell Wm. Graham ,
H. Gregory McDonald ,
Eric C. Grimm  and
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Blaine W. Schubert*
Affiliation:
Environmental Dynamics, 113 Ozark Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA Illinois State Museum, Research and Collections Center, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703, USA
Russell Wm. Graham
Affiliation:
Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO 80205, USA
H. Gregory McDonald
Affiliation:
Geologic Resources Division, National Park Service, Denver, CO 80225, USA
Eric C. Grimm
Affiliation:
Illinois State Museum, Research and Collections Center, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703, USA
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Affiliation:
Stafford Research Laboratories, Inc., 5401 Western Avenue, Suite C, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Environmental Dynamics, 113 Ozark Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.E-mail address:bschube@uark.edu (B.W. Schubert).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

New records of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose (Cervalces scotti) from Lang Farm provide the first precise temporal correlation of these taxa with the specific environments inhabited by them near the time of their extinction. Six AMS 14C measurements establish an age of 11,405 ± 50 14C yr B.P. for Lang Farm Cervalces and an age of 11,430 ± 60 or 11,485 ± 40 14C yr B.P. for the Megalonyx. These measurements represent the youngest 14C dates for these two genera based on direct dating. Comparison of the dates with pollen data from northern Illinois indicates that these species inhabited a nonanalog environment that was transitional from mid-latitude tundra to mixed conifer and deciduous woodland. Although spruce (Picea sp.) was dominant, it was less abundant than prior to 12,500 14C yr B.P. The presence of black ash (Fraxinus nigra) and fir (Abies sp.) indicates a wet climate and heavy winter precipitation. This may have been the preferred habitat for Cervalces because of its narrow geographic range. However, this habitat type was only one of many occupied by Megalonyx as indicated by its broad geographic distribution.

Keywords

Jefferson's ground slothMegalonyx jeffersoniiElk-mooseCervalces scottiLate PleistocenePaleoecologyExtinction
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , March 2004 , pp. 231 - 240
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Björck, S., Walker, M.J.C., Cwynar, L.C., Johnsen, S., Knudsen, K.-L., Lowe, J.J., Wohlfarth, B., Members, I., (1998). An event stratigraphy for the last termination in the North Atlantic region based on the Greenland ice-core record: a proposal by the INTIMATE group. Journal of Quaternary Science. 13, 283–292.Google Scholar
Churcher, C.S., Pinsof, J.D., (1987). Variation in the antlers of North American Cervalces (Mammalia; Cervidae): review of new and previously recorded specimens. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 7, 373–397.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Langway, C.C., (1971). Climatic record revealed by the Camp Century ice core. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale University Press, New Haven., 37–56.Google Scholar
Driesch, A.von den, (1976). A guide to the measurements of animal bones from archaeological sites. Peabody Museum Bulletin. vol. 1, .Google Scholar
Farlow, J.O., McClain, J., (1996). A spectacular specimen of the elk-moose Cervalces scotti from Noble County, Indiana, U.S.A. Stewart, K.M., Seymour, K.L., Paleoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals: Tributes to the Career of C.S. (Rufus) Churcher. University of Toronto Press, Toronto., 322–330.Google Scholar
Farlow, J.O., McNitt, T.J., Beynon, D.E., (1986). Two occurrences of the extinct moose Cervalces scotti from the Quaternary of northeastern Indiana. American Midland Naturalist. 11, 407–412.Google Scholar
Faunmap Working Group, (1994). FAUNMAP—a database documenting late Quaternary distributions of mammal species in the United States. Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers 22, Nos. 1 and 2.Google Scholar
Graham, R.W., Holman, J.A., Parmalee, P.W., (1983). Taphonomy and paleoecology of the Christensen Bog mastodon bone bed, Hancock County, Indiana. Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigations. vol. 38, .Google Scholar
Hansel, A.K., Johnson, W.H., (1992). Fluctuations of the Lake Michigan lobe during the late Wisconsin subepisode. Robertsson, A.-M., Ringberg, B., Miller, U., Brunnberg, L., Quaternary Stratigraphy, Glacial Morphology and Environmental Changes. Uppsala, Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning Serie Ca. vol. 81, 133–144.Google Scholar
Hansel, A.K., Johnson, W.H., Socha, B.J., (1987). Sedimentological characteristics and genesis of basal tills at Wedron, Illinois. Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper. 3, 11–21.Google Scholar
Hill, A., (1980). Early postmortem damage to the remains of some contemporary East African mammals. Behrensmeyer, A.K., Hill, A.P., Fossils in the Making—Vertebrate Taphonomy and Paleoecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago., 131–152.Google Scholar
Hill, A., (1989). Bone modification by modern spotted hyenas. Bonnichsen, R., Sorg, M.H., Bone Modification. Center for the Study of the First Americans, University of Maine, Orono., 169–178.Google Scholar
Jackson, S.R., Whitehead, D.R., Ellis, G.D., (1986). Late-glacial and early Holocene vegetational history at the Kolarik Mastodon site, northwestern Indiana. American Midland Naturalist. 115, 361–373.Google Scholar
Jacobson, G.L., Webb, T., Grimm, E.C., (1987). Patterns and rates of vegetation change during the deglaciation of eastern North America. Ruddiman, W.F., Wright, H.W., North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation. The Geology of North America. vol. K-3, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado., 277–288.Google Scholar
King, J.E., (1981). Late Quaternary vegetational history of Illinois. Ecological Monographs. 51, 43–62.Google Scholar
Kitchener, A., (1987). Fighting behavior of the extinct Irish elk. Modern Geology. 11, 1–28.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B., Anderson, E., (1980). Pleistocene Mammals of North America. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lydekker, R., (1898). The Deer of All Lands. A History of the Family Cervidae Living and Extinct. London.Google Scholar
Mangerud, J., Andersen, S.T., Berglund, B.E., Donner, J.J., (1974). Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden, a proposal for terminology and classification. Boreas. 4, 109–128.Google Scholar
McDonald, H.G., (1977). Description of the osteology of the extinct gravigrade edentate, Megalonyx, with observations on its ontogeny, phylogeny and functional anatomy. Master's thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
McDonald, H.G., (1989). New records of the elk-moose Cervalces scotti from Ohio. American Midland Naturalist. 122, 349–356.Google Scholar
McDonald, H.G., Anderson, D.C., (1983). A well-preserved ground sloth (Megalonyx) cranium from Turin, Monona County, Iowa. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science. 90, 134–140.Google Scholar
McDonald, H.G., Harington, C.R., De Iuliis, G., (2000). The ground sloth Megalonyx from Pleistocene deposits of the Old Crow Basin, Yukon, Canada. Arctic. 53, 213–220.Google Scholar
Mills, R.S., (1975). A ground sloth, Megalonyx, from a Pleistocene site in Darke Co. Ohio. Ohio Journal of Science. 75, 147–155.Google Scholar
Mills, R.S., Guilday, J.E., (1972). First record of Cervalces scotti Ledekker (sic) from the Pleistocene of Ohio. American Midland Naturalist. 88, 255.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J.T., Webb, R.S., Webb, T., (1992). Mapping eastern North American vegetation change of the past 18 ka: no-analogs and the future. Geology. 20, 1071–1074.Google Scholar
Prentice, I.C., Bartlein, P.J., Webb, T., (1991). Vegetation and climate change in eastern North America since the last glacial maximum. Ecology. 72, 2038–2056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, W.B., (1885). Cervalces americanus, a fossil moose or elk. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 1885, 181–202.Google Scholar
Shane, L.C.K., (1976). Late-glacial and postglacial palynology and chronology of Darke County, west-central Ohio. Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University, Kent, OH.Google Scholar
Shane, L.C.K., (1980). Detection of a late glacial climatic shift in central Mid-western pollen diagrams. Abstracts Sixth Biennial Meeting, American Quaternary Association. 171–172.Google Scholar
Smuts, M.M.S., Bezuidenhout, A.J., (1987). Anatomy of the Dromedary. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Stafford, T.W., (1998). Radiocarbon Chronostratigraphy. In: Collins, M.B., (Ed.), “Wilson-Leonard an 11,000-year Archeological Record of Hunter-Gatherers in Central Texas”. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin & Archeology Studies Program, Report 10, Texas Department of Transportation, Austin, pp. 1039–1066.Google Scholar
Stafford, T.W., Hare, P.E., Currie, L., Jull, A.J.T., Donahue, D.J., (1991). Accelerator radiocarbon dating at the molecular level. Journal of Archaeological Science. 18, 35–72.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., (1993). Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon. 35, 215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., Braziunas, T.F., (1995). The GISP δ18O climate record of the past 16,500 years and the role of the sun, ocean, and volcanoes. Quaternary Research. 44, 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., van der Plicht, J., Spurk, M., (1998). INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon. 40, 1041–1083.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Anderson, K.H., Bartlein, P.J., (2000). Atlas of relations between climatic parameters and distributions of important trees and shrubs in North America. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1650 A–B.Google Scholar
Van Ballenberghe, V., (1983). Growth and development of moose antlers in Alaska. Brown, R.D., Antler Development in Cervidae. Ceasar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Kingsville, TX., 37–48.Google Scholar
Webb, T., Cushing, E.J., Wright, H.E., (1983). Holocene changes in the vegetation of the Midwest. Wright, H.E., The Holocene. Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States. vol. 2, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis., 142–165.Google Scholar
Williams, J.W., Shuman, B.N., Webb, T., (2001). Dissimilarity analyses of late-Quaternary vegetation and climate in eastern North America. Ecology. 82, 3346–3362.Google Scholar
Wilman, H.B., Frye, J.C., (1970). Pleistocene stratigraphy of Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin. vol. 94, .Google Scholar