Vertebrates As Bioindicators of Climate Change
Abstract
The use of living organisms for stratigraphy or as bioindicators of the state of the environment has been known since the 19th century, but mainly for these studies the remains of invertebrate animals (in particular, molluscs) are used, and from vertebrates – mouse-like rodents. In the course of the work, certain species of vertebrates and invertebrates were selected, based on the presence of which in the material it is possible to reconstruct the climatic conditions in the historical past. Such information is very important for historians and archaeologists, since it allows them to better understand the living conditions of people in the historical past.
The aim of our work is to identify species of vertebrates that are stenotopic in at least one factor and, on the basis of the findings of these species at archaeological sites, to make climatic reconstructions.
Conclusions. To date, work on the identification of other indicator species continues, we have carried out reconstructions of the paleoclimate on the basis of osteological materials found in the excavations, and for a number of monuments we have compared the results with the data of paleobotanists and soil scientists from the same areas. The similarity of the obtained results is significant, which allows us to propose a method of reconstruction of paleoclimatic and paleoecological conditions based on the findings of the indicator species selected by us as effective. The most effective is a comprehensive study of osteological materials, taking into account the presence of the above-mentioned species in the material. In terms of time spent, the identification of zooarchaeological materials is a simpler and faster method than paleobotanical research, and the results are largely comparable. In addition, the same species can be used to model predictions of habitat changes due to climate change in the future.
References
Antipina, Ye.Ye. (1993). Oblik i istoriya fauny nazemnykh mlekopitayushchikh i ptits ravninnogo Kryma v pozdnem golotsene [The appearance and history of the fauna of terrestrial mammals and birds of the plain Crimea in the Late Holocene]. (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Moskva [in Russian].
Antipina, Ye.Ye. (2003). Arkheozoologicheskie issledovaniya: zadachi, potentsialnye vozmozhnosti i realnye rezultaty [Archaeological research: tasks, potentialities and real results]. In: Noveyshie arkheozoologicheskie issledovaniya v Rossii. Moskva, 7-34 [in Russian].
Antipina, Ye.Ye. (2010). Landshafty severo-zapadnogo Kryma v antichnuyu epokhu (arkheobiologicheskaya reknstruktsiya) [Landscapes of the northwestern Crimea in ancient times (archaeobiological reconstruction)]. Dinamika ekosistem v golotsene. Yekaterinburg, 10-15 [in Russian].
Boltryk, Yu.V., Horbanenko, S.A., Kublii, M.V., Serheieva, M.S. & Yanish, Ye.Yu. (2015). Severynivske horodyshche skifskoho chasu: biohospodarskyi aspekt doslidzhen [Severyniv settlement of the Scythian period: bioeconomic aspect of research]. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriia Ukrainy, 4 (17), 155-192 [in Ukrainian].
Driesch, Angela von den (1976). A guide to the measurement of animal bone from archaeological sites. Peabody Museum Bulletin, 1. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Harvard.
Formozov, A.N. (1990). Snezhnyy pokrov kak faktor sredy, yego znachenie v zhizni mlekopitayushchikh i ptits SSSR [Snow cover as an environmental factor, its significance in the life of mammals and birds of the USSR]. Moskva [in Russian].
Gerasimenko, N.P. (1997). Prirodnaya sreda obitaniya cheloveka na yugo-vostoke Ukrainy v pozdnelednikovye i golotsene (po materialam paleogeograficheskogo izucheniya arkheologicheskikh pamyatnikov) [Natural human habitat in the south-east of Ukraine in the Late Glacial and Holocene (based on paleogeographic study of archaeological sites)]. Arkheologicheskiy almanakh, 6, 3-64 [in Russian].
Gromov, V.I. (1948). Paleontologicheskoe i arkheologicheskoe obosnovanie stratigrafii kontinentalnykh otlozheniy chetvertichnogo perioda na territorii SSSR (mlekopitayushchie, paleolit) [Paleontological and archaeological substantiation of the stratigraphy of continental deposits of the Quaternary period on the territory of the USSR (mammals, Paleolithic)]. Moskva: AN SSSR [in Russian].
Horobets, L.V. (2018). Ptakhy yak indykatory paleoekolohichnykh zmin ekosystem Pivdnia Skhidnoi Yevropy (na prykladi eotsen-holotsenovykh avifaun) [Birds as indicators of paleoecological changes in the ecosystems of South Eastern Europe (using the example of Eocene-Holocene avifauna)]. (Extended abstract of Doctor’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Klevezal, G.A. (2007). Printsipy i metody opredeleniya vozrasta mlekopitayushchikh [Principles and methods for determining the age of mammals]. Moskva, 49-54 [in Russian].
Movchan, Yu.V. (2011). Ryby Ukrainy [Fish of Ukraine]. Kyiv: “Zoloti vorota” [in Ukrainian].
Nekrasova, O., Tytar, V. & Pupins, M. (2020). Local functional responses of the European pond turtle, Emys orbicularis, to bioclimatic habitat features: a comparison of populations from Latvia and Ukraine. Proceedings of the Conference: Ottonello, D., Oneto, F., Piccardo, P., Salvidio, S. (Eds). Atti II Congresso Nazionale Testuggini e Tartarughe (Albenga, 11-13 aprile 2019). P. 150-156.
Nikolskiy, G.V. (1951). O metodike zoogeograficheskikh issledovaniy [On the methodology of zoogeographic research]. Voprosy geografii, 24, 263-274 [in Russian].
Nikolskiy, G.V. (1953). O biologicheskoy spetsifike faunisticheskikh kompleksov i znachenii ikh dlya zoogeografii. Ocherki po obshchim voprosam ikhtiologii [On the biological specificity of faunistic complexes and their significance for zoogeography]. Moskva: AN SSSR, 65-67 [in Russian].
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
