Pleistocene Reindeer and Global Warming |
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Authors: | DONALD K GRAYSON FRANÇOISE DELPECH† |
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Institution: | Department of Anthropology, Box 353100, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, U.S.A., email;Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire, UMR 5199 du CNRS, Avenue des Facultés, UniversitéBordeaux I, 33405 Talence, France |
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Abstract: | Abstract: Current concerns for the future of reindeer and caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) in the far north under conditions of global warming focus on the increased energetic and predation costs associated with warmer winters and on vegetation change and increased insect harassment caused by warmer summers. At the Grotte XVI archaeological site (Dordogne, southwestern France), episodes of summer warming between about 36,000 and 12,000 radiocarbon years ago appear to be associated with lowered relative abundances of reindeer. As the Pleistocene ended and summer temperatures climbed higher, reindeer were extirpated from southern France. A similar phenomenon appears to have occurred here during the prior Eemian interglacial. These records suggest that increased summer temperatures under conditions of global warming may have a direct negative effect on reindeer and caribou populations, including a northward displacement of their southern distributional boundary. |
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Keywords: | caribou Grotte XVI Rangifer tarandus |
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