The Last 30,000 Years of Faunal History within the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Bibliographic Data

ID24088151
AuthorsJim I Mead (0000-0002-4975-022X, University of Arizona, corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume15
Issue3
Pages311-326
Publication date1981-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQuaternary Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-5894 • E-ISSN: 1096-0287
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/0033-5894(81)90033-8
OpenAlexW2032127439
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited20

The vertebrate fauna of the last 30,000 radiocarbon years in the Grand Canyon is reviewed. Faunas accompanied with 92 14 C dates have been analyzed from nine cave sites (four systematically excavated) and 50 packrat middens. Reasonably precise chronological and environmental data of late Pleistocene and Holocene age were obtained through dung studies in Rampart, Muav, and Stanton's Caves; from the numerous packrat middens; and from a ringtail refuse deposit in Vulture Cave. The desert tortoise, 8 species of lizards, 12 species of snakes, 68 species of birds, and 33 species of mammals are identified. Extinct animals include the avian carrion feeder, Teratornis merriami , and the mammalian herbivores, Oreamnos harringtoni, Camelops cf. hesternus, Equus sp., and Nothrotheriops shastense . There is no apparent abrupt end to the late Pleistocene as observed in the Grand Canyon fossil faunal or floral record. Animal and plant taxa of the Grand Canyon responded individually to the changes in climate of the last 30,000 yr. Both animal and plant fossil assemblages indicate that a pre-full glacial, a full glacial, and a late glacial woodland community with many less dominant desert taxa were slowly replaced by a Holocene desert community. All woodland taxa were absent from the lower elevations of the Grand Canyon by 8500 yr B.P.

Archaeology · Biology · Canyon · Cave · Equus · Fauna · Geography · Geomorphology · Glacial period · Holocene · Megafauna · Pleistocene · Radiocarbon dating · Tortoise · Woodland · Ecology · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Geology · Paleontology · Species Distribution and Climate Change · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation