Locomotor adaptations in Plio-Pleistocene large carnivores from the Italian Peninsula： Palaeoecological implications

作     者：Carlo MELORO 

作者机构：Hull York Medical School The University of Hull Loxley Building Cottingham Road Hull HU6 7RX UK 

出 版 物：《动物学报：英文版》 (Acta Zoologica Sinica)

年 卷 期：2011年第57卷第3期

页      面：269-283页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 070903[理学-古生物学与地层学(含：古人类学)] 0709[理学-地质学] 07[理学] 0905[农学-畜牧学] 0906[农学-兽医学] 071002[理学-动物学] 

基　　金：Acknowledgments I am grateful to P.Raia F.Carotenuto C.Barbera and A.Kotaskis for their encouragments during the preliminary phases of this study.E.Cioppi and L.Rook kindly assisted me during my visit to the Museo di Geologia e Pale-ontologia dell'Universita di Firenze Firenze Italy.A special thank goes to A.Colamarco for her continuos support to my research.Three anonymous reviewers increased the quality of the manuscript with important comments and suggestions.Many thanks also to the editor Zhi-Yun JIA for his encouraging invitation 

主　　题：食肉动物 运动行为 意大利 上新世 更新世 修改 logistic回归模型 食肉类动物 

摘      要：Mammalian carnivores are rarely considered for environmental reconstructions because they are extremely adaptable and their geographic range is usually large. However, the functional morphology of carnivore long bones can be indicative of locomotor behaviour as well as adaptation to specific kind of habitats. Here, different long bone ratios belonging to a subsample of extant large carnivores are used to infer palaeoecology of a comparative sample of Plio-Pleistocene fossils belonging to Italian paleo-communities. A multivariate long bone shape space reveals similarities between extant and fossil carnivores and multiple logistic regression models suggest that specific indices (the brachial and the Mt/F) can be applied to predict adaptations to grassland and tropical biomes. These functional indices exhibit also a phylogenetic signal to different degree. The brachial index is a significant predictor of adaptations to tropical biomes when phylogeny is taken into account, while Mt/F is not correlated anymore to habitat adaptations. However, the proportion of grassland-adapted carnivores in Italian paleo-communities exhibits a negative relationship with mean oxygen isotopic values, which are indicative of past climatic oscillations. As climate became more unstable during the Ice Ages, large carnivore guilds from the Italian peninsula were invaded by tropical/closed-adapted species. These species take advantage of the temperate forest cover that was more spread after 1.0 Ma than in the initial phase of the Quaternary (2.0 Ma) when the climate was more arid.