Mammoth steppe

Not to be confused with Steppe mammoth.
Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve

During the Last Glacial Maximum, mammoth steppe was the Earth’s most extensive biome. It spanned from Spain to Canada and from the arctic islands to China.[1][2][3][4][5] The vegetation was dominated by palatable high-productivity grasses, herbs and willow shrubs.[2][6][5]

Steppe-tundra

Steppe-tundra was widespread during the last glacial period in the mid-latitudes of North America and Eurasia.[7] Steppe-tundra can be divided into two types.[7] East of the Urals vegetation was more tundra-like, analogies have been drawn with a treeless vegetation that presently occurs in scattered patches on well drained south-facing hillslopes in north-eastern Siberia, although the modern-day equivalent is thought to have too dense a ground cover of vegetation.[8]

Ground cover amounted to no more than about 50%, with mainly herbaceous plants but a few scattered low shrubs and occasional stunted trees in sheltered spots. Peat accumulation would have been negligible, and the soil would have had a much lower organic content than most present-day tundra such as Ubsunur Hollow.[7] These characteristics are inferred indirectly from knowledge of the habitat preferences of the individual plant species that were present in this vegetation, and from related zoological and sedimentological evidence.[7]

Nevertheless, the modern Altai–Sayan region, especially its eastern part (which includes the aforementioned Uvs Nuur region), provides the closest recent analogue to Pleistocene tundra-steppe landscapes, especially in faunal composition.[9]

The western end of the steppe-tundra zone covered from southwestern France through northern Germany and the central European plain. At these temperate latitudes intense sunlight and loess soils permitted a high level of bioproductivity; mosses, lichens, grasses, and low shrubs that fed saiga antelope, mammoths, horses, bison, giant deer, aurochs and reindeer.

Human colonisation

Humans colonised the environment west of the Urals, hunting reindeer especially,[10] but were faced with adaptive challenges; winter temperatures averaged from −20 to −30 °C (−4 to −22 °F) while fuel and shelter were scarce. They travelled on foot and relied on hunting highly mobile herds for food. These challenges were overcome through technological innovations: production of tailored clothing from the pelts of fur-bearing animals; construction of shelters with hearths using bones as fuel; and digging of “ice cellars” into the permafrost for storing meat and bones.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Adams, J. M.; Faure, H.; Faure-Denard, L.; McGlade, J. M.; Woodward, F. I. (1990). "Increases in terrestrial carbon storage from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Present". Nature 348 (6303): 711. doi:10.1038/348711a0.
  2. 1 2 Guthrie, R.D. (1990). Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 9780226159713.
  3. ↑ Sher, A.V., 1997. Nature restructuring in the East-Siberian Arctic at the Pleistocene Holocene boundary and its role in mammal extinction and emerging of modern ecosystems. Earth Cryosphere 1 (3e11), 21e29.
  4. ↑ Álvarez-Lao, Diego J.; García, Nuria (2011). "Geographical distribution of Pleistocene cold-adapted large mammal faunas in the Iberian Peninsula". Quaternary International 233 (2): 159. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.04.017.
  5. 1 2 Zimov, S.A.; Zimov, N.S.; Tikhonov, A.N.; Chapin, F.S. (2012). "Mammoth steppe: A high-productivity phenomenon". Quaternary Science Reviews 57: 26. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.10.005.
  6. ↑ Sher, A.V.; Kuzmina, S.A.; Kuznetsova, T.V.; Sulerzhitsky, L.D. (2005). "New insights into the Weichselian environment and climate of the East Siberian Arctic, derived from fossil insects, plants, and mammals". Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (5–6): 533. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.09.007.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Steppe-tundra". Estimates of preanthropogenic carbon storage in global ecosystem types. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  8. ↑ Khotinsky, N.A. (1984). "Holocene vegetation history". In A.A. Velichko. Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union. London: Longman. pp. 179–200.
  9. ↑ Pavelková Řičánková, Věra; Robovský, Jan; Riegert, Jan; Hofreiter, Michael (13 January 2014). "Ecological Structure of Recent and Last Glacial Mammalian Faunas in Northern Eurasia: The Case of Altai-Sayan Refugium". PLoS ONE 9 (1): e85056. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085056.
  10. 1 2 Hoffecker, J. (2006). A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlements of the Higher Latitudes. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 101.
  11. ↑ Hoffecker, John F. (2002). Desolate landscapes: Ice-Age settlement in Eastern Europe. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. pp. 158–162, 217–233.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.