Mean body size estimation in large mammals and the computation of biomass in past ecosystems: An application to the Pleistocene sites of Orce and Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain)

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2022-03-09 DOI:10.5852/cr-palevol2022v21a10

G. Rodríguez-Gómez, undefined Paul PALMQVIST, undefined Bienvenido MARTÍNEZ-NAVARRO, J. A. Martín-González, José María Bermúndez de Castro

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引用次数: 9

Abstract

Estimates of adult body mass are usually considered as equivalent of mean population body size in most studies of ancient mammals. However, given that any population is composed in part of subadult individuals, this approach overestimates the mean population body mass and biomass. For this reason, more realistic estimates of mean population body mass should be used. In this paper, we: 1) test five different proxies of population mean mass; and 2) estimate the total prey biomass in the paleoecosystems from the Orce and Atapuerca sites as an approach for estimating their carrying capacity. Our results for past ecosystems support the use of survival profiles derived from the Weibull model (SPW), as they show values in better agreement with those of extant populations. They also estimate higher carrying capacities for the faunal assemblages of Orce than for those of Atapuerca. We suggest that the environmental conditions of Orce could have played an important role in the first peopling of Europe.

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大型哺乳动物平均体型的估算和过去生态系统生物量的计算:在Orce和Sierra de Atapuerca(西班牙)更新世遗址的应用

在大多数古代哺乳动物的研究中，成人体重的估计值通常被认为相当于平均种群体型。然而，考虑到任何种群都是由部分亚成年个体组成，这种方法高估了种群的平均体重和生物量。出于这个原因，应该使用更现实的平均人口体重估计。在本文中，我们:1)检验五种不同的总体平均质量代理;2)估算Orce和Atapuerca遗址古生态系统的总猎物生物量，作为估算其承载能力的方法。我们对过去生态系统的研究结果支持使用来自威布尔模型(SPW)的生存概况，因为它们显示的值与现存种群的值更一致。他们还估计，与阿塔普尔卡相比，奥勒斯的动物群落的承载能力更高。我们认为，奥尔斯的环境条件可能在第一批欧洲人的生活中发挥了重要作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.