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Herbivore teeth predict climatic limits in Kenyan ecosystems.

Indrė Žliobaitė1,2, Janne Rinne3,4, Anikó B Tóth5,6

  • 1Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland; indre.zliobaite@helsinki.fi.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|October 30, 2016
PubMed
Summary

Dental traits of large herbivores accurately estimate local climate and environmental conditions. This suggests evolution is shaped more by recurring harsh conditions than average ones.

Keywords:
Kenyadental traitsecometricsherbivorous mammalspaleoecology

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Paleoecology
  • Environmental science

Background:

  • Understanding organism evolution requires linking it to environmental changes.
  • The interplay between climate, vegetation, and herbivores is key in terrestrial evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce and test a scoring scheme for functional dental traits.
  • To assess the relationship between herbivore dental traits and environmental conditions.

Main Methods:

  • Modeled local precipitation, temperature, primary productivity, and vegetation index.
  • Used dental traits of large mammal species from 13 Kenyan national parks over 60 years.

Main Results:

  • Dental traits accurately estimate local climate and environment at small spatial scales.
  • Dental traits better predict limiting environmental conditions than average conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Functional traits in herbivore teeth reflect environmental demands, particularly during recurring adverse conditions.
  • Evolutionary adaptations may be more influenced by extreme environmental episodes than by average conditions.