Hominin palaeoecology in Late Pliocene Malawi : first insights from isotopes (13C, 18O) in mammal teeth
- Carbon-13 and oxygen-18 abundances were measured in large mammal skeletal remains (tooth enamel, dentine and bone) from the Chiwondo Beds in Malawi, which were dated by biostratigraphic correlation to ca. 2.5 million years ago. The biologic isotopic patterns, in particular the difference in carbon-13 abundances between grazers and browsers and the difference in oxygen-18 abundances between semi-aquatic and terrestrial herbivores, were preserved in enamel, but not in dentine and bone. The isotopic results obtained from the skeletal remains from the Chiwondo Beds indicate a dominance of savannah habitats with some trees and shrubs. This environment was more arid than the contemporaneous Ndolanya Beds in Tanzania. The present study confirms that robust australopithecines were able to live in relatively arid environments and were not confined to more mesic environments elsewhere in southern Africa.
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| Author: | Herv Bocherens, Oliver SandrockGND, Ottmar KullmerORCiDGND, Friedemann SchrenkORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-85830 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.4102/sajs.v107i3/4.331 |
| ISSN: | 0038-2353 |
| ISSN: | 1996-7489 |
| Parent Title (English): | South African journal of science |
| Publisher: | Academy of Science of South Africa |
| Place of publication: | Pretoria |
| Contributor(s): | W. Joyce, A. Morris |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2011/06/16 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2011/03/07 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2011/06/16 |
| Tag: | Chiwondo Beds; Homo; Malawi; Paranthropus; Pliocene; carbon-13; enamel; mammals; oxygen-18; palaeoecology |
| Volume: | 107 |
| Issue: | 3-4, Art. 331 |
| Page Number: | 6 |
| First Page: | 1 |
| Last Page: | 6 |
| Note: | © 2011. The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License |
| HeBIS-PPN: | 267018835 |
| Institutes: | Angeschlossene und kooperierende Institutionen / Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft |
| Biowissenschaften / Institut für Ökologie, Evolution und Diversität | |
| Wissenschaftliche Zentren und koordinierte Programme / Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Afrikaforschung (ZIAF) | |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 56 Fossilien, Paläontologie / 560 Paläontologie; Paläozoologie |
| Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
| Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte | |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0 |
