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- Ancient DNA reveals interstadials as a driver of common vole population dynamics during the last glacial periodPublication . Baca, Mateusz; Popović, Danijela; Lemanik, Anna; Bañuls‐Cardona, Sandra; Conard, Nicholas J.; Cuenca‐Bescós, Gloria; Desclaux, Emmanuel; Fewlass, Helen; Garcia, Jesus T.; Hadravova, Tereza; Heckel, Gerald; Horáček, Ivan; Knul, Monika Vlasta; Lebreton, Loïc; López‐García, Juan Manuel; Luzi, Elisa; Marković, Zoran; Mauch Lenardić, Jadranka; Murelaga, Xabier; Noiret, Pierre; Petculescu, Alexandru; Popov, Vasil; Rhodes, Sara; Ridush, Bogdan; Royer, Aurélien; Stewart, John R.; Stojak, Joanna; Talamo, Sahra; Wang, Xuejing; Wójcik, Jan M.; Nadachowski, AdamAim Many species experienced population turnover and local extinction during the Late Pleistocene. In the case of megafauna, it remains challenging to disentangle climate change and the activities of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers as the main cause. In contrast, the impact of humans on rodent populations is likely to be negligible. This study investigated which climatic and/or environmental factors affect the population dynamics of the common vole. This temperate rodent is widespread across Europe and was one of the most abundant small mammal species throughout the Late Pleistocene. Location Europe. Taxon Common vole (Microtus arvalis). Methods We generated a dataset comprised of 4.2 kb long fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 148 ancient and 51 modern specimens sampled from multiple localities across Europe and covering the last 60 thousand years (ka). We used Bayesian inference to reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships and to estimate the age of the specimens that were not directly dated. Results We estimated the time to the most recent common ancestor of all last glacial and extant common vole lineages to be 90 ka ago and the divergence of the main mtDNA lineages present in extant populations to between 55 and 40 ka ago, which is earlier than most previous estimates. We detected several lineage turnovers in Europe during the period of high climate variability at the end of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; 57-29 ka ago) in addition to those found previously around the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. In contrast, data from the Western Carpathians suggest continuity throughout the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) even at high latitudes. Main Conclusions The main factor affecting the common vole populations during the last glacial period was the decrease in open habitat during the interstadials, whereas climate deterioration during the LGM had little impact on population dynamics. This suggests that the rapid environmental change rather than other factors was the major force shaping the histories of the Late Pleistocene faunas.
- Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on the small vertebrates from the Middle Paleolithic of Hohle Fels Cave, SW GermanyPublication . Luzi, Elisa; Blanco-Lapaz, Àngel; Rhodes, Sara; Conard, Nicholas J.In this paper, we analyse the fish and small mammal assemblages from the Middle Paleolithic horizons of Hohle Fels Cave to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions faced by the Neanderthal groups who occupied the site. The fish assemblage indicates that the freshwater ecosystem around this site was characterized by a pre-mountain river system with the presence of permanent, oxygen-rich, and cold running waters. The results of the Habitat Weighting Method and the Bioclimatic Model applied to the small mammal assemblage, coupled with the new dates obtained for the Archaeological Horizon (AH) IX, allow us to identify two different climatic phases. One phase (AH X-XII) is more temperate possibly corresponding to the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5; the other (AH VI-IX) is colder and more arid corresponding to the end of MIS 4 through the beginning of MIS 3. Open environments with a relatively stable forest component dominated the landscape during this part of the Middle Paleolithic. These two climatic phases appear to correspond to different levels of occupational intensity by Neanderthals, with higher occupational intensity during mild climatic periods and lower intensity during cold, arid periods. Our climatic reconstruction and recent absolute dating, together with the recovery of a complete leaf point near the top of AH X, have important implications for the cultural stratigraphy and cultural chronology of the region. Archaeologist have traditionally viewed leaf points as key artefacts of the Blattspitzengruppe, a cultural complex attributed to the end of Middle Paleolithic; however, this stratigraphic, climatic, and chronological context indicates the need to revise this interpretation.