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| Titel |
Can texture analysis of tooth microwear detect within guild niche
partitioning in extinct species? |
| VerfasserIn |
Mark Purnell, Christopher Nedza, Leszek Rychlik |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250145770
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-9740.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Recent work shows that tooth microwear analysis can be applied further back in time and
deeper into the phylogenetic history of vertebrate clades than previously thought
(e.g. niche partitioning in early Jurassic insectivorous mammals; Gill et al., 2014,
Nature). Furthermore, quantitative approaches to analysis based on parameterization of
surface roughness are increasing the robustness and repeatability of this widely used
dietary proxy. Discriminating between taxa within dietary guilds has the potential to
significantly increase our ability to determine resource use and partitioning in fossil
vertebrates, but how sensitive is the technique? To address this question we analysed tooth
microwear texture in sympatric populations of shrew species (Neomys fodiens, Neomys
anomalus, Sorex araneus, Sorex minutus) from BiaŁ owieza Forest, Poland. These
populations are known to exhibit varying degrees of niche partitioning (Churchfield &
Rychlik, 2006, J. Zool.) with greatest overlap between the Neomys species. Sorex
araneus also exhibits some niche overlap with N. anomalus, while S. minutus is the
most specialised. Multivariate analysis based only on tooth microwear textures
recovers the same pattern of niche partitioning. Our results also suggest that tooth
textures track seasonal differences in diet. Projecting data from fossils into the
multivariate dietary space defined using microwear from extant taxa demonstrates that
the technique is capable of subtle dietary discrimination in extinct insectivores. |
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