Ground Beetles as human-independent landscape proxy

子项目P7(地面甲虫作为人类独立的景观代理)使用无翼土壤栖息的特有地面甲虫作为代理，重建埃塞俄比亚高地最后一次冰川最大时期的古气候和古生态。关于湿度是影响人类和其他哺乳动物种群持久性的最重要因素，我们的另一个目标是寻找前冰川干燥时期潮湿栖息地的证据。这特别指的是贝尔山脉，但埃塞俄比亚的其他山脉也可能产生重大的古生态问题。在第一阶段，我们发现了埃塞俄比亚高地所有斜坡上在最后一次冰川时期永久存在地表水的证据，当地出人意料地丰富的地方性甲虫动物群证明了这一点。在第二阶段，我们将提供贝尔山脉永久古地表水系统的详细地图。此外，我们还将根据当地特有甲虫种类和单倍型的分布数据，分别推导出贝尔山脉所有悬崖的LGM温度下降。湿度估计和古温度推算提供了埃塞俄比亚南部山区的大冰川古环境条件。我们的目的是估计最后一次冰川最干燥时期的最小森林面积，并据此估计适合野生动物和石器时代觅食动物的栖息地的分布和数量。在地甲虫系统发育和系统地理学的帮助下，我们的另一个目标是找到该地区在前冰川最干燥时期森林覆盖的证据。这就提出了这样一个问题，即埃塞俄比亚高地是否在第四纪期间不断地为人类提供了合适的栖息地。分类学和系统化的工作包是存放在亚的斯亚贝巴大学动物博物馆的《埃塞俄比亚地面甲虫参考资料集》的基础(与C2一起)。它包括昆虫学收藏品的管理指导和昆虫学野外工作、昆虫准备、保护和鉴定方面的教育。

Subproject P7 (Ground Beetles as human-independent landscape proxy) uses wingless soil-dwelling endemic ground beetles as proxies to reconstruct Last Glacial Maximum paleoclimate and paleoecology in the Ethiopian Highlands. With respect to humidity as the most important factor influencing persistence of human as well as other mammal populations, we additionally aim to find evidence for humid habitats during dry periods of former glaciations. This refers in particular to the Bale Mountains but major paleoecological aspects may also be derived for other Ethiopian mountains. In Phase 1 we found evidence of permanent surface water along all slopes of the Ethiopian Highlands during the last glacial period testified by an unexpectedly rich local endemic ground beetle fauna. In Phase 2 we will provide a detailed mapping of the permanent paleo-surface water system of the Bale Mountains. In addition, we will derive LGM temperature depression for all escarpments of the Bale Mountains from distributional data of the local endemic beetle species and haplotypes, respectively. Humidity estimations and paleotemperature derivations provide LGM paleoenvironmental conditions of southern Ethiopian mountains. Our aim is to estimate the minimum forest area during the driest periods of the last glaciation and therewith, to estimate the distribution and quantity of habitats suitable for wild animals and Stone Age foragers, respectively. With the help of the ground beetle phylogeny and phylogeography we additionally aim to find evidence of forest cover in the area during driest periods of former glaciations. This contributes to the question whether the Ethiopian Highlands may have uninterruptedly provided suitable habitats for humans during the Quaternary. The taxonomic and systematic work package is fundamental for the “Ground Beetle of Ethiopia Reference Collection” to be deposited at the Zoological Museum, Addis Ababa University (with C2). It includes management instruction of entomological collections and education in entomological fieldwork, insect preparation, conservation and identification.