Ecological Structure of Recent and Last Glacial Mammalian Faunas in Northern Eurasia: The Case of Altai-Sayan Refugium

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 1; p. e85056
• Main Authors: Pavelková Řičánková, Věra, Robovský, Jan, Riegert, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 13.01.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Alpine environments; Analysis; Animals; Asia; Biology; Biomes; Body size; Climate change; Communities; Desert environments; Deserts; Ecological effects; Ecological monitoring; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Endangered & extinct species; Environmental conditions; Europe; Fauna; Forests; Geography; Glacial periods; Glaciation; Glaciers; Herbivores; Ice ages; Ice Cover; Mammals; Mammals - classification; Mountains; Pleistocene; Predators; Principal Component Analysis; Principal components analysis; Science; Species; Species classification; Species Specificity; Steppes; Taiga; Taxonomy; Temperate forests; Time Factors; Tundra; Tundra ecology; Zoology; Asia; Europe; Eurasia; Czech Republic

Pleistocene mammalian communities display unique features which differ from present-day faunas. The paleocommunities were characterized by the extraordinarily large body size of herbivores and predators and by their unique structure consisting of species now inhabiting geographically and ecologicall...