Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:00:31.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fossil Beetle Evidence for Climatic Change 18,000–10,000 years B.P. in South-Central Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John W. Hoganson  and
Allan C. Ashworth
John W. Hoganson
Affiliation:
North Dakota Geological Survey, 600 East Boulevard, Bismarck, North Dakota 58505
Allan C. Ashworth
Affiliation:
Geology Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58105
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cold-adapted beetles colonized the lowlands of the Lake Region of south-central Chile following the retreat of glaciers from their maximum extent at about 19,500 yr B.P. The beetle fauna from 18,000 to 14,000 yr B.P. was characterized by species of moorland habitats. This fauna was species-poor compared to later faunas of the postglacial interval. By 14,000 yr B.P. arboreal species were replacing species of open habitats, reflecting a change toward a warmer climate. By about 12,500 yr B.P. fossil beetle assemblages consisted entirely of rain forest species. The fauna of the postglacial interval was about five times as species-rich as that of the glacial interval. The change in species composition and greater diversity of the beetle fauna was produced by an increase in mean annual temperature estimated to be about 4°–5°C. This was the last major climatic change to affect profoundly the biota of the middle latitudes of South America. The fossil beetle assemblages do not imply a reversal to a colder climate at the time of the European Younger Dryas interval between 11,000 and 10,000 yr B.P.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 101 - 116
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

Ashworth, A.C., (1979). Quaternary Coleoptera studies in North America: Past and present Erwin, T.L. Ball, G.E. Whitehead, D.R. Halpern, A.L. Carabid Beetles: Their Evolution, Natural History, and Classification 395–406 The Hague Google Scholar
Ashworth, A.C. Hoganson, J.W., (1984). Testing the late Quaternary climatic record of southern Chile with evidence from fossil Coleoptera Vogel, J.C. Late Cainozoic Palaeoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere Balkema Rotterdam 85–102 Google Scholar
Ashworth, A.C. Hoganson, J.W., (1987). Coleoptera bioassociations along an elevational gradient in the Lake Region of southern Chile, and comments on the postglacial development of the fauna Annals of the Entomological Society of America 80, 865–895 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashworth, A.C. Markgraf, V., (1989). Climate of the Chilean Channels between 11,000 to 10,000 yr B.P. based on fossil beetle and pollen analyses Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 62, 61–74 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1966). Late-Pleistocene pollen diagrams from the province of Llanquihue, southern Chile Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 110, 269–305 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1974). Vegetation and climate of the southern Chilean Lake District during and since the last interglaciation Quaternary Research 4, 290–315 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1981). Palynology of the last interglacial-glacial cycle in mid-latitudes of southern Chile Quaternary Research 16, 293–321 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1984). Late-glacial-Holocene climate of the Lake District of Chile Quaternary Research 22, 77–90 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1987). Late Quaternary climates of Chile Vogel, J.C. Late Cainozoic Palaeoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere Balkema Rotterdam 59–83 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1989). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of southern Tierra del Fuego Quaternary Research 31, 396–406 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Flint, R.F., (1977). Quaternary glaciations and environments of northern Isla Chiloé Geology 5, 305–308 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Rabassa, J., (1987). Cold climate episode of Younger Dryas age in Tierra del Fuego Nature (London) 328, 609–611 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Streeter, S.S., (1980). A temperature and precipitation record of the past 16,000 years in southern Chile Science 210, 1345–1347 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Streeter, S.S. Stuiver, M., (1981). Temperature and precipitation record in southern Chile extended to 43,000 yr ago Nature 294, 65–67 Google Scholar
Hoganson, J.W. Ashworth, A.C., (1982). The late-glacial climate of the Chilean Lake Region implied by fossil beetles Proceedings of the Third North American Paleontological Convention 251–256 Montreal, Canada Google Scholar
Hoganson, J.W. Gunderson, M.J. Ashworth, A.C., (1989). Fossil insect analysis Dillehay, T.D. Monte Verde Smithsonian Institution Press Washington, DC 211–226 Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1983). Late and postglacial vegetational and paleoclimatic changes in subantarctic, temperate, and arid environments in Argentina Palynology 7, 43–70 Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1984). Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation history of temperature Argentina: Lago Morenito, Bariloche Dissertationes Botanicae 72, 235–254 Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1987). Paleoenvironmental changes at the northern limit of the subantarctic Nothofagus forest, Lat. 37°S. Argentina Quanternary Research 28, 119–129 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1989). Reply to C. J. Heusser's “Southern Westerlies during the Last Glacial Maximum” Quaternary Research 31, 426–432 Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H., (1972). Chilean glacial chronology 20,000 to 11,000 Carbon-14 years ago: Some global comparisons Science 176, 1118–1120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, J.H., (1976). Glacial history of southernmost South America Quaternary Research 6, 125–166 Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H., (1984). Late Cainozoic glacial variations in South America south of the equator Vogel, J.C. Late Cainozoic Palaeoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere Balkema Rotterdam 45–58 Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1981). Pleistocene glaciation in the southern Lake District of Chile Quaternary Research 16, 263–292 Google Scholar
SAS (1985). SAS Institute Inc. User's Guide: Statistics Version 5 edition Cary North Carolina 956 Google Scholar
Villagrán, C.M., (1985). Análisis palinológico de los cambios vegetacionales durante el Tradiglacial y Postglacial en Chiloé, Chile Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 58, 57–69 Google Scholar
Villagrán, C.M., (1988). Expansion of Magellanic Moorland during the late Pleistocene: Palynological evidence from northern Isla de Chiloé Quaternary Research 30, 304–314 Google Scholar
Villagrán, C.M., (1988). Late Quaternary vegetation of southern Isla Grande de Chiloé, Chile Quaternary Research 29, 294–306 CrossRefGoogle Scholar