Reconstructing Late Pleistocene ecology, environment and climate using bulk and compound specific isotope measurements of megafauna

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The Late Pleistocene of British Columbia, specifically dating from 50,000 to 20,000 years ago, has generally been defined as a period where much, if not all of the province was covered with glacial ice. Recent studies of refugia plant communities, and a number of radiocarbon dates on animal remains (megafauna such as mammoths) has suggested that the glacial history of the province is more complex. This project will seek to better understand the past ecology and climate of British Columbia during this period through the isotopic analysis of megafauna (especially mammoth) from throughout the province. We have identified many new mammoth specimens in our pilot study for this project and have some preliminary radiocarbon dates that places the mammoths at time clusters of 35,000 and 20,000 years ago. In collaborations with many museums throughout the province, as well as with the Royal British Columbia museum and universities, we will sample the newly identified (more than 50) mammoth remains to determine their ages with radiocarbon dating. Then we will apply an in-depth analysis of the remains to determine the climate and ecological conditions when they were living in different parts of the province. This analysis involves isotope measurements of the remains to look at the diets of these mammoths (carbon, nitrogen, including individual amino acids) and their migration patterns (oxygen). We have permission to sample over 50 mammoths from more than 20 museums and universities around the province. All of the isotope analysis will be undertaken in the isotope research lab at the Faculty of the Environment at Simon Fraser University. We are especially interested in how dietary adaptations and migration patterns changed throughout this time period. Then we will use this data to help us reconstruct the climate and ecology of where the mammoths were living, using a multi-isotope method of climate and ecological reconstruction of animal remains that we have developed in our laboratory, to better help us understand the changing ecology and climate of British Columbia over a 30,000 year time period.