Dietary flexibility, niche differentiation and ecological resilience in the Quaternary Cervidae

第四纪鹿科动物的饮食灵活性、生态位分化和生态恢复力

• 批准号: 2390138
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Royal Holloway University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2390138
• 关键词: Dietary; flexibility; niche; differentiation; ecological

Determining diet provides the foundation for understanding palaeoecological dynamics, including resource partitioning and community structure, and can be used to interpret ecological resilience to climatic and environmental change. Dental Microwear Analysis (DMA) is a well-established technique of examining tooth enamel for distinctive microscopic scars made by certain food groups, which provides high-resolution insights into the organism's dietary behaviour during the final weeks before death. This project focuses on the Cervidae (deer), a widespread group in the Quaternary (last 2.6 million years), a period characterised by repeated climate fluctuations and biotic turnovers. This study combines DMA with dental mesowear (providing longer-term dietary signals) alongside seasonality indications (obtained from tooth eruption and occlusal wear) to allow robust inferences of how climate change may affect these species, including the effects of vegetation changes and climate-induced range shifts, which may exacerbate resource competition. Taking a conservation palaeobiology approach, the use of DWA is then combined with species distribution modelling (SDM) for Eld's deer (Rucervus eldii McClelland, 1842). Eld's deer once ranged widely across Southeast Asia, but due to anthropogenic pressures, is now considered Endangered by the IUCN. This project will aim to combine SDM with DWA to understand suitable regions for Eld's deer reintroduction.

确定饮食提供了理解古生态动态，包括资源分配和群落结构的基础，并可用于解释生态恢复力的气候和环境变化。牙齿微磨损分析（DMA）是一种成熟的技术，用于检查牙釉质中由某些食物组形成的独特的微观疤痕，它提供了对生物体在死亡前最后几周的饮食行为的高分辨率见解。这个项目的重点是鹿科（鹿），一个广泛的群体在第四纪（过去260万年），一个时期的特点是反复的气候波动和生物更替。这项研究结合了DMA与牙齿mesowear（提供长期的饮食信号）以及季节性指标（从牙齿萌出和咬合磨损中获得），以允许对气候变化如何影响这些物种进行强有力的推断，包括植被变化和气候引起的范围变化的影响，这可能会加剧资源竞争。以保护古生物学的方法，DWA的使用，然后结合物种分布建模（SDM）的坡鹿（Rucervus eldii McClelland，1842年）。麋鹿曾经广泛分布在东南亚，但由于人为的压力，现在被世界自然保护联盟认为是濒危物种。本项目旨在将联合收割机SDM与DWA相结合，以了解适合于麋鹿再引入的地区。