Response of Mammals to Late Quaternary Global Warming

14个地点的哺乳动物化石分布于沿着中部 密西西比河流域，从密苏里州南部到北方爱荷华州 将被用来重建过去20年的古气候变化 ka. 为了完成这个项目，动物群仍然存在（约。4500-5000 将对来自七个研究中心的样本进行鉴定和分析。 来自四个地点的化石已经被鉴定和分析 电子目录中的数据可以被捕获用于分析， 本研究 对另外四个地点进行了分析， 出版;他们的数据将从文献中编码。 埋藏学研究将有助于确定 动物样本的集水区 放射性碳测年将 建立了绝对的年表。 骨日期将基于两个 氨基酸组分（脯氨酸和羟脯氨酸），以确保 日期的准确性和直接日期个别物种的小 哺乳动物 定量古气候重建将基于 气候空间同域（CSS）和响应面分析 （RSA）。 这些技术或其变型已经提供了 甲虫和植被的古气候解释， 分别 这两种技术的比较 哺乳动物数据库应阐明当地和区域的差异。 哺乳动物的RSA将直接与花粉RSA相比较; 因此，它应该提供另一种审查当地和 区域气候模式。 该项目的结果将记录 哺乳动物对第四纪晚期全球变暖的反应，但 它们还应有助于了解潜在影响， 未来的气候变化。

Mammal fossils from 14 sites distributed along the central Mississippi River valley from southern Missouri to northern Iowa will be used to reconstruct paleoclimatic changes for the last 20 ka. To accomplish this project faunal remains (ca. 4500-5000 specimens) from seven sites will be identified and analyzed. Fossils from four sites have already been identified and analyzed and data from electronic catalogs can be captured for analysis in this study. An additional four sites have been analyzed and published; their data will be encoded from the literature. Taphonomic investigations will assist in defining the size of the catchment areas for the faunal samples. Radiocarbon dates will established absolute chronologies. Bone dates will be based on two amino acid fractions (proline and hydroxyproline) to insure the accuracy of dates and to directly date individual species of small mammals. Quantitative paleoclimatic reconstructions will be based upon both Climate Space Sympatry (CSS) and Response Surface Analysis (RSA). These techniques, or variations thereof, have provided paleoclimatic interpretations of beetles and vegetation, respectively. Comparisons of these two techniques for the mammalian database should elucidate local and regional variations. The mammalian RSA will be directly comparable to the pollen RSA; therefore, it should provide another means of examining local and regional climate patterns. Results from this project will document mammalian responses to global warming in the late Quaternary, but they should also facilitate knowledge of potential affects for future climate change.