Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Diet and habitat of the saiga antelope during the late Quaternary using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios
Author(s)
Jürgensen, Jonathan;Drucker, Dorothée G.;Stuart, Anthony J.;Schneider, Matthias;Buuveibaatar, Bayarbaatar;Bocherens, Hervé
Published
2017
Publisher
Quaternary Science Reviews
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.01.022
Abstract
Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) is one of the typical late Pleistocene species of the cold and arid mammoth steppe that covered a large area of northern hemisphere. The species is currently endangered and persists only in small areas of Central Asian steppe and desert ecosystems. The investigation of the ecology of the Pleistocene saiga using stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N) aimed to decipher how different their diet and habitat were from those observed nowadays in relict populations. Up to 76 samples of bone collagen of ancient saiga from Western Europe, Siberia and Eastern Beringia were analysed and compared with 52 samples of hair and bone collagen of modern specimens from Kazahkstan, Russia and Mongolia. The δ13C values of the ancient saiga do not exhibit a clear trend over time. They cover the same range of values as the modern ones, from a C3-dominated to a C3-C4-dominated mixed diet (including probably Chenopodiaceae). In contrast, the δ15N values of fossil saigas are more variable and lower on average than the extant ones. The lowest δ15N values of ancient saiga are found around the Last Glacial Maximum, reflecting the influence of the cold conditions at that time. On the other hand, fossil saiga occupying the same regions as the historical and modern populations exhibit high δ15N values similar to the modern ones, confirming ecological continuity over time. Modern saiga is thus occupying just one of its potential diverse habitats they used in the past. Therefore, the extant saiga is not a refugee species confined to a suboptimal habitat. During the late Pleistocene, the saiga occupied a separate niche compared with the other ungulates of the mammoth steppe. However, this species could also adapt to a lichen-dominated diet normally seen in reindeer, leading to an isotopic overlap between the two species in south-western France and Alaska around the Last Glacial Maximum. This adaptation allowed a geographical expansion that does not correspond to a habitat-tracking episode. Hence, the realized niche currently observed for the saiga is reduced compared with their potential capacity for adaptation, a crucially important factor for the conservation of this endangered species.
Keywords
Paleoecology;Evolution;Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica);Carbon-13;Nitrogen-15;Mammoth steppe;Conservation paleobiology
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB22359