Next Article in Journal
A Review of Chemical Composition and Bioactivity Studies of the Most Promising Species of Ganoderma spp.
Previous Article in Journal
Spatial Turnover and Functional Redundancy in the Ants of Urban Fragments of Tropical Dry Forest
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Diversity
Volume 15
Issue 7
10.3390/d15070881
diversity-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Propose a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite question_answer Discuss in SciProfiles thumb_up
...
Endorse textsms
...
Comment
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Paleoclimatic Reconstruction Based on the Late Pleistocene San Josecito Cave Stratum 720 Fauna Using Fossil Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds

by
J. Alberto Cruz
1,2,*,
Julián A. Velasco
3,
Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales
4 and
Eileen Johnson
5
1
Coordinación Nacional de Arqueología, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Ciudad de México 06700, Mexico
2
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
3
Instituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico
4
Laboratorio de Arqueozoología, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Ciudad de México 06060, Mexico
5
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3191, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diversity 2023, 15(7), 881; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15070881
Submission received: 15 June 2023 / Revised: 8 July 2023 / Accepted: 12 July 2023 / Published: 24 July 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity in Subterranean Habitats)
Browse Figures
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

:
Advances in technology have equipped paleobiologists with new analytical tools to assess the fossil record. The functional traits of vertebrates have been used to infer paleoenvironmental conditions. In Quaternary deposits, birds are the second-most-studied group after mammals. They are considered a poor paleoambiental proxy because their high vagility and phenotypic plasticity allow them to respond more effectively to climate change. Investigating multiple groups is important, but it is not often attempted. Biogeographical and climatic niche information concerning small mammals, reptiles, and birds have been used to infer the paleoclimatic conditions present during the Late Pleistocene at San Josecito Cave (~28,000 14C years BP), Mexico. Warmer and dryer conditions are inferred with respect to the present. The use of all of the groups of small vertebrates is recommended because they represent an assemblage of species that have gone through a series of environmental filters in the past. Individually, different vertebrate groups provide different paleoclimatic information. Birds are a good proxy for inferring paleoprecipitation but not paleotemperature. Together, reptiles and small mammals are a good proxy for inferring paleoprecipitation and paleotemperature, but reptiles alone are a bad proxy, and mammals alone are a good proxy for inferring paleotemperature and precipitation. The current paleoclimatic results coupled with those of a previous vegetation structure analysis indicate the presence of non-analog paleoenvironmental conditions during the Late Pleistocene in the San Josecito Cave area. This situation would explain the presence of a disharmonious fauna and the extinction of several taxa when these conditions later disappeared and do not reappear again.

1. Introduction

Starting in the 1980s [1], technological advances in computational power, modeling, and databases have equipped paleobiologists with new tools to analyze the fossil record [2]. Furthermore, the field of paleobiology has demonstrated that it can provide long-term perspectives on the impacts of climate change on natural systems [3]. Accordingly, it is possible to conduct studies of paleoclimatic reconstructions using different data and approaches. For example, recent studies have used different proxies, such as ice cores, sediments, speleothems, pollen, tree rings, and corals, to reconstruct climate during the Quaternary [4].
Plants and animals have responded in different ways to past and ongoing climate change [5]. Species may exhibit functional traits or ecometrics that enable inferences concerning climatic differences at different temporal and geographical scales [6,7,8,9]. In vertebrates, tooth crown height (hypsodonty) correlates with precipitation, relationships between body size and temperature, thermal ecology, community diversity, and biogeographical information. These correlations are used to make paleoclimatic inferences [8,10]. Mammals and reptiles are the groups most commonly used for paleoclimatic reconstruction [8,10]. Amphibians, fish, and birds are used infrequently. In American Quaternary deposits, birds are the second-most-studied group after mammals, but they are seldom used in paleoclimatic reconstructions. They are considered a poor paleoambiental proxy because of their high vagility and phenotypic plasticity that allows them to respond more effectively to climate change [11,12,13,14].
In Mexico, more than 20 cave excavations have occurred, but very few have controlled stratigraphy, radiometric dates, or small vertebrate studies [15]. Only recently have quantitative paleoenvironmental (including paleoclimate) reconstructions of the Mexican Pleistocene been conducted using vertebrates. The ecometrics that were first used, and which are still most commonly used with Mexican vertebrates, are stable isotopes on megafaunal remains [16,17]. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions, however, are usually very similar: some mammals have grazer diets, others have browser diets, and still others are mixed feeders. Together, they imply a grassland with open forests. Stable isotopes have not been used with fossil mammals from caves. The questions are what kind of forests were those open forests, and what was the paleoclimate? Microvertebrates are suitable proxies that can be used to reconstruct past environments and, thereby, answer these questions [10,18,19], and caves are excellent places to find their preserved remains. In this study, the paleoclimatic conditions in the Mexican Late Pleistocene are inferred based on distributional and climatic niche information concerning different groups of vertebrates (i.e., small mammals, squamate reptiles, and birds) found in San Josecito Cave. The effectiveness with which the paleoclimate can be reconstructed using each group is compared in order to generate the most reliable reconstruction.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

San Josecito Cave is located on the western flank of the Sierra Madre Oriental, 1 km SSW of Ejido de San Josecito and 8 km SW of Arramberri (23°57′21″ N, 99°54′45″ O, 2250 m elevation) in Northeast Mexico (Figure 1). The cave is a single fissure with multiple entrances formed by Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous folded limestone. Today, three natural entrances lead down vertically from 12 m to 30 m into a main cavity. None of the entrances provide easy access to the cave today, and they most likely did not in the past. Because a walking or horizontal entrance does not exist, the cave probably has acted as a natural trap. The single cavity measures 34 m long and 25 m wide, and it narrows to the north [20,21,22]. Several successive faunas are present within a stratigraphic framework, dating from 45,000 to 11,000 14C years BP [20].

2.2. Material

Information is used about the fossil small mammals, reptiles, and birds previously identified from stratum 720 (Table 1; [22]) radiocarbon dated to 28,005 ± 1035 14C years BP (32,942 ± 4077 calendar years). The Nearest Living Relative (NLR) is utilized for the fossil taxa identified. If the identified fossil species still exists, then the biogeographical and ecological information of this species (e.g., Pluvialis cf. P. squatarola = NLR Pluvialis squatarola) is employed. If it is an extinct species, the information about the closest species or genus (e.g., extinct Desmodus stocki = NLR Desmodus rotundus) is applied.

2.3. Ocurrence Data

Presence data were obtained for the NLR from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) [23] for the American continent. Specimens preserved, occurrence, and material sample were included. Cleaning the occurrence data was performed using the R packages Wallace 2.0 [24] and NicheToolBox [25]. The database was cleaned by removing records that: (1) were less than 5 km away (because the resolution of the climate layers is of 2.5 arc min (~4.5km)); (2) fell into the sea; or (3) were outside of the known range distribution. For all taxa distribution, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN [26]) geographic range information was used. For birds, information was obtained from BirdLife International [27]. For some reptiles, distribution information published in the scientific literature was applied [28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36] because it contained more detailed information about the distribution of those taxa.

2.4. Potential Distribution Maps

All species modeled in this work are endemic to North America. This region is used as a background area to estimate potential geographical distribution for each species using ecological niche modeling approaches [37]. Ecological niche models (ENMs) have been fitted with eight algorithms: multivariate adaptive regression spline (mars); boosted regression trees (gbm); random forest (rf); classification and regression trees (cart); support vector machines (svm); flexible discriminant analysis (fda); generalized linear model (glm); and generalized additive model (gam) using the sdm R package [38]. To calibrate the models, pseudo-absences have been used that were generated based on three-times the number of presences for each species using the ecospat.rand.pseudoabsences function from the ecospat R package [39]. This procedure has maximized the number of pseudo-absences for model validation using standard validation metrics [40,41]. An ensemble model has been used to generate a potential geographical distribution where models were weighted according to a high value of the True Skill Statistic metric (TSS [41]). The continuous outputs maps have been converted into binary maps (i.e., presence and abscence) using the 10th percentile training presence threshold.

2.5. Paleoclimatic Reconstruction

The Mutual Ecogeographic Range (MER) method [10] was used to reconstruct the Late Pleistocene paleoclimate based on the stratum 720 fauna from San Josecito Cave with modification when using the ENM to obtain the potential distribution [42,43,44,45,46]. The overlapping area was obtained between the distribution for each vertebrate group and combining the groups. That is, the overlapping areas of all small mammals, all reptiles, and all birds were found. Next, the overlapping area combining mammals and reptiles was determined and then the area combining all groups (small mammals, reptiles, and birds). The overlap between the distributions of taxa was determined using QGIS 3.16 software [47]. The climatic variables mean annual temperature (bio01, MAT) and annual precipitation (Bio12, AP) from worldclim database 2.0 [48] were extracted from the overlapping area for each taxa combination area using extract function from the raster R package [49]. The results then were compared with their current values obtained from the Meteorological Station 00019066 General Zaragoza (https://smn.conagua.gob.mx/, Servicio Metereológico Nacional de México, accessed on 30 March 2022) that is the nearest station to the San Josecito Cave area.

3. Results

3.1. Paleoclimatic Inferences of the Late Pleistocene from San Josecito Cave

Different vertebrate groups provide different paleoclimatic information (Table 2 and Figure 2), and not all groups are useful in inferring paleotemperature, paleoprecipitation, or both by themselves. A community is a set of species that occurs at a determinate time and geographical space, and its assemblage of species has to pass a series of environmental filters to be present [50]. The climatic data of all groups, therefore, have been utilized to reconstruct the paleoclimatic values for the Late Pleistocene from San Josecito Cave (Table 2 and Figure 2). The all-vertebrates group information becomes a point of comparison to evaluate the paleoclimatic inferences from each group of vertebrates. The paleotemperature inference using the all-vertebrates group indicates a warmer (+2.64 °C) mean annual temperature (MAT = 20.24 °C). The paleoprecipitation is dryer (−79.175 mm) with an annual precipitation (AP = 695.5 mm) with respect to the present (Table 2 and Figure 2).

3.2. Paleoclimatic Inferences between Vertebrate Groups

The overlap area with the optimal climatic conditions was determined for each vertebrate group (Figure 3 and Figure 4) that would facilitate the development of the stratum 720 assemblage community. The birds presented the largest overlap area, encompassing the Veracruzan, Chihuahuan, Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre del Sur, Pacific Lowland, and Yucatán provinces [51,52]. The reptiles had an overlap area composed of the Austroriparian, Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra Madre Occidental, Transmexican Volcanic Belt, Sierra Madre del Sur, and Chiapas Highlands [51]. The small mammals exhibited the least overlap area, consisting of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Sierra Madre del Sur [51]. The overlap area using small mammals and reptiles together contained only the Sierra Madre Oriental province [51] in San Luis Potosí State in Cerritos, Río Verde, Cárdenas, and Ciudad Maíz area. The overlap area using all vertebrates together comprised the Sierra Madre Oriental province [51] in San Luis Potosí State, with a smaller area of only the Cárdenas and Ciudad Maíz area.
Birds and reptiles infer a slightly cooler MAT (−0.5 °C and −0.35 °C, respectively), contrary to that found using the all-vertebrates group (Table 2 and Figure 2). These two groups show the highest variation from the average of the data. For San Josecito Cave, these groups are a poor proxy on their own to infer paleotemperature in the Late Pleistocene. Small mammals indicate a warmer MAT (+2.54 °C), similar to that found using the all-vertebrates group, and exhibit the least variation from the average of the data (Table 2 and Figure 2). Small mammals, then, are a good proxy on their own to infer paleotemperature in the Late Pleistocene at San Josecito Cave.
Regarding annual precipitation, the reptiles infer the highest precipitation value (AP = 990.5 mm) with respect to the present (Table 2 and Figure 2). This value overestimates the precipitation values found using the all-vertebrates group and is the highest variation from the average. These findings indicate that reptiles are a poor proxy on their own to infer Late Pleistocene paleoprecipitation at San Josecito Cave. Birds and mammals individually have similar precipitation values (AP = 664.2 mm and 617.7 mm, respectively) and imply a dryer condition than today during the Late Pleistocene in the San Josecito Cave area. This finding is similar to that found using all vertebrates (Table 2 and Figure 2). The difference between the small mammals and bird groups is that small mammals show a smaller variation with respect to the average of the data and birds a higher variation. This situation indicates that the small mammals on their own are a better proxy to infer paleoprecipitation during the Late Pleistocene in the San Josecito Cave area but that birds on their own are an acceptable proxy.
Paleoenvironmental inferences using herps and small mammals together are known from the literature [22,43,44,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65]. The paleoclimatic reconstruction obtained with the all-vertebrates group is compared with respect to using the reptile and small mammal results. The combined small mammals and reptiles infer the warmest MAT (+2.95 °C) and driest (AP = −106.58 mm) conditions with respect to the present (Table 2 and Figure 2). Paleotemperature and paleoprecipitation are similar to those inferred by small mammals alone rather than reptiles alone, but the variation in the data is reduced almost to that of the all-vertebrates group (Table 2 and Figure 2). This situation indicates that a combined small mammal and reptiles group is a good proxy for paleoclimatic reconstruction for San Josecito Cave. A comparison of small mammals and reptiles together versus birds alone shows that paleoprecipitation values are similar between these two groups. This finding underscores that birds are an acceptable proxy for paleoprecipitation at San Josecito Cave.

4. Discussion

4.1. Paleoclimatic Inferences between Vertebrate Groups

San Josecito Cave is one of the best-studied Late Pleistocene localities in Mexico, with six new fossil species, eight extinct birds, and nineteen extinct mammals [22]. San Josecito Cave exhibits a disharmonious biota that could have been maintained by equable climates with reduced seasonal extremes that have no modern analogs [22]. Paleoenvironmental studies have been undertaken with birds [66], reptiles [67], and an all-vertebrates approach [22], the latter being the only one with a quantitative inference. Paleoclimatic reconstructions, however, have not been made previously with the San Josecito Cave assemblages.
For stratum 720 (~28,000 14C years BP/~32,900 calendar years), a paleotemperature (MAT = 20.24 °C) warmer (+2.64 °C) and paleoprecipitation (AP = 695.5 mm) dryer (−79.175 mm) are inferred with respect to the present (Table 2 and Figure 2). These paleoclimate data are in agreement with those found by Van Devender [68] for the lowest, hottest elevations in the Chihuahuan Desert, with warmer and drier climates during the Middle Wisconsin (45,600–24,100 years BP). The warmer temperature found in this study is consistent with pollen and diatom analyses in Central Mexico that indicate an interstadial period during MIS 3 (56,000–35,000 years BP), with warmer conditions with respect to the present [69,70]. The Late Pleistocene dry conditions at San Josecito Cave are in agreement with the driest conditions during the MIS 3 interstadial (~40,000–31,000 years BP) obtained with speleothem geochemical proxies in Cueva Bonita [71] located 99.7 km SE of San Josecito Cave. The concordance of the paleoclimatic inference in this study with other proxies reflects that the presence of the various taxonomic groups within the same site/stratigraphic unit contains the information of all environmental filters those species have had to pass to be present in a determinate time and geographical space [50].
Previous paleoenvironmental inferences for San Josecito Cave with birds from a mixed assemblage across stratigraphic units indicate the presence of a mixture of forest/woodland, grassland, and wetland [66]. Reptiles infer drier conditions than today, with a subhumid climate and a more marked winter season [67]. In the most recent study, a coniferous-oak forest similar to the Rocky Mountains biome was noted but with a non-analog vegetational association that includes grassland. A drier and cooler (by 2 °C) climate than today is suggested using small mammals, reptiles, and birds [22]. The current results are concordant with a drier condition but not with a cooler climate. This contrast between vegetation structure (coniferous-oak forest) and climate (drier and warmer) in the past indicates the presence of non-analog paleoenvironmental conditions during the Late Pleistocene in the San Josecito Cave area. This situation would explain the presence of the stratum 720 disharmonious fauna and the extinction of several taxa when these conditions disappear and do not reappear later.

4.2. Paleoclimatic Inferences between Vertebrate Groups

The use of birds in paleoclimatic reconstruction is very limited because they are considered a poor paleoambient proxy. They have high vagility and phenotypic plasticity, allowing them to respond more effectively to climate change [11,12,13,14]. In this analysis, however, birds are a good proxy for inferring paleoprecipitation but not for mean annual paleotemperature. Some bird populations today are affected by summer temperature and precipitation but not by mean annual temperature [72]. Further, the Late Pleistocene stratum 720 San Josecito Cave birds have been used in quantitative paleoenvironmental reconstructions [22]. In that study, the birds inferred a different component of the paleoenvironment (grasslands, wetlands) with respect to reptiles and small mammals (coniferous and oak forest). Other recent studies where birds provide qualitative paleoenvironmental information are for North America [73], the Neotropics [74,75,76], Europe [77,78,79], and South Africa [80].
In this study, small mammals and reptiles together are a good paleoclimatic proxy. This situation also has been the case for the Iberian Peninsula [53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65], Mexico [22,43], and Argentina [44]. In these cases, the paleoclimatic reconstructions are in agreement with other proxies, such as pollen, isotopes, diatoms, and soils studies. While small mammals and reptiles together are a good paleoclimatic proxy, when only reptiles were used in this study, they are a poor proxy to infer paleotemperature and paleoprecipitation. Most likely, the small mammals–reptiles group is a good proxy in this study because the overlap area of this group is similar to that of the all-vertebrates group (Figure 4).
Although reptiles depend on external heat sources to regulate their body temperature, climate is a key factor influencing the distribution and abundance of species [81,82,83,84]. Paleoprecipitation reconstructions are always subject to large uncertainties [10,85]. Other studies, however, infer that the richness of Paleartic reptiles is highly correlated with precipitation [86], and most reptile species are highly sensitive to precipitation tolerances [83]. The identification of half of the reptile taxa at the genus level may be the reason that the San Josecito Cave stratum 720 reptiles were a poor proxy. This observation is important in relation to the quality of reconstructions. At the genus level and higher, ecological niches appear relatively resistant to climatic change, even as pronounced as glacial–interglacial transitions [87]. Climate factors have a greater effect at the species level [87]. These findings explain why the stratum 720 small mammals at San Josecito Cave are a good proxy, because all fossils were identified to species level. This aspect underscores the importance, then, of identifying remains to the species level to the extent possible and using all vertebrates identified to the species level in paleoclimatic reconstructions.
The biogeographical and climatic niche information of modern vertebrates in paleoclimatic reconstruction has been used previously for North America [42,44,46,88]. This globally applicable method is a good tool to infer the paleoenvironmental reconstruction in vastly different parts of the world, such as Europe [10,89,90,91] and South America [43]. It is, however, the first time that this method has been used to incorporate birds. The use of climatic niche and biogeographical information can be particularly helpful in inferring paleoclimatic conditions if other types of proxies (e.g., pollen, diatoms, glacial records, isotopes) are not available.

5. Conclusions

A warmer (+2.64 °C) mean annual temperature (MAT = 20.24 °C) and a drier (−79.175 mm) annual precipitation (AP = 695.5 mm) are inferred with respect to the present for the Late Pleistocene at San Josecito Cave using the fossil stratum 720 (~28,000 14C years BP/~32,900 calendar years) vertebrate assemblage. The inferences are based on a combined approach of small mammals, reptiles, and birds. The all-vertebrates community approach has been used because all groups represent the assemblage of species that pass a series of environmental filters to be present in the past at San Josecito Cave. Individually, different vertebrate groups provide different paleoclimatic information. When an all-vertebrates group is used, variation in the data is reduced, and paleoclimate reconstructions are more reliable.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, J.A.C., J.A.-C. and E.J.; methodology, J.A.C. and J.A.V.; validation, E.J. and J.A.-C.; formal analysis, J.A.C. and J.A.V.; investigation, J.A.C., J.A.V., J.A.-C. and E.J.; resources, J.A.-C. and E.J.; data curation, J.A.C. and J.A.V.; writing, review and editing, J.A.C., J.A.V., J.A.-C. and E.J.; funding acquisition, J.A.-C. and E.J. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research JAC was funded by CONAHCYT program Investigadoras e Investigadores por Mexico, grant number 74243; EJ was founded from the National Geographic Society; EJ and JA-C were founded from the National Speleological Society; JA-C was founded by American Society of Mammologists, Cave Research Foundation, Geological Society of America, and the American Museum of Natural History Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund; JAV was funded by DGAPA, grant number UNAM-PAPIIT IA206523.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

All data are available upon request to authors. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17-YhZoEaLd-KVtxNcJfBZPqmE9Aqkkga?usp=sharing, accessed on 15 June 2023.

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the invitation to participate in the Special Issue entitled “Biodiversity in Subterranean Habitats” and thank the three anonymous reviewers for the comments and recommendations for the publication of this manuscript. This manuscript represents part of the ongoing Lubbock Lake Landmark regional research program on the Quaternary paleoecology and paleoclimates of the Southern Plains.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. Schweitzer, M.H. Paleontology in the 21st Century. Curr. Biol. 2023, 12, 487. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  2. Dillon, E.M.; Dunne, E.M.; Womack, T.M.; Kouvari, M.; Larina, E.; Claytor, J.R.; Ivkic, A.; Juhn, M.; Carmona, P.S.M.; Robson, S.K.; et al. Challenges and directions in analytical paleobiology. Paleobiology 2023, 3, 1–17. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  3. Kiessling, W.; Smith, J.A.; Raja, N.B. Improving the relevance of paleontology to climate change policy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2023, 120, e2201926119. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  4. Bradley, R.S. Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary, 3rd ed.; Academic Press: Oxford, UK, 2015; p. 675. [Google Scholar]
  5. Blois, J.L.; Zarnetske, P.L.; Fitzpatrick, M.C.; Finnegan, S. Climate change and the past, present, and future of biotic interactions. Science 2013, 341, 499–504. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  6. Eronen, J.T.; Polly, P.D.; Fred, M.; Damuth, J.; Frank, D.C.; Mosbrugger, V.; Scheidegger, C.; Stenseth, N.C.; Fortelius, M. Ecometrics: The traits that bind the past and present together. Integr. Zool. 2010, 5, 88–101. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  7. Polly, P.D.; Eronen, J.T.; Fred, M.; Dietl, G.P.; Mosbrugger, V.; Scheidegger, C.; Frank, D.C.; Damuth, J.; Stenseth, N.C.; Fortelius, M. History matters: Ecometrics and integrative climate change biology. Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 2011, 278, 1131–1140. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  8. Vermillion, W.A.; Polly, P.D.; Head, J.J.; Eronen, J.T.; Lawing, A.M. Ecometrics: A trait-based approach to paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. In Methods in Paleoecology: Reconstructing Cenozoic Terrestrial Environments and Ecological Communities, 1st ed.; Croft, D.A., Su, D.F., Simpson, S.W., Eds.; Springer Nature: Basel, Switzerland, 2018; pp. 373–394. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  9. Balk, M.A.; Deck, J.; Emery, K.F.; Walls, R.L.; Reuter, D.; LaFrance, R.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Barrett, P.; Blois, J.; Boileau, A.; et al. A solution to the challenges of interdisciplinary aggregation and use of specimen-level trait data. iScience 2022, 25, 105101. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  10. Blain, H.A.; Cruz-Silva, J.A.; Arenas, J.M.J.; Margari, V.; Roucoux, K. Towards a Middle Pleistocene terrestrial climate reconstruction based on herpetofaunal assemblages from the Iberian Peninsula: State of the art and perspectives. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2018, 191, 167–188. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  11. Jonzén, N.; Lindén, A.; Ergon, T.; Knudsen, E.; Vik, J.O.; Rubolini, D.; Piacentini, D.; Brinch, C.; Spina, F.; Karlsson, L.; et al. Rapid advance of spring arrival dates in long-distance migratory birds. Science 2006, 312, 1959–1961. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  12. Charmantier, A.; McCleery, R.H.; Cole, L.R.; Perrins, C.; Kruuk, L.E.B.; Sheldon, B.C. Adaptative phenotypic plasticity in response to climate change in a wild bird population. Science 2008, 320, 800–803. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  13. Youngflesh, C.; Socolar, J.; Amaral, B.R.; Arab, A.; Guralnick, R.P.; Hurlbert, A.H.; LaFrance, R.; Mayor, S.J.; Miller, D.A.W.; Tingley, M.W. Migratory strategy drives species-level variation in bird sensitivity to vegetation green-up. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2021, 5, 987–994. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  14. McLean, N.; Kruuk, L.E.; Van Der Jeugd, H.P.; Leech, D.; van Turnhout, C.A.; van de Pol, M. Warming temperatures drive at least half of the magnitude of long-term trait changes in European birds. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2022, 119, e2105416119. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  15. Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Polaco, O.J. Caves and the Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology of Mexico. In Ice Age Cave Faunas of North America, 1st ed.; Schubert, B.W., Mead, J.I., Graham, R.W., Eds.; Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IN, USA, 2003; pp. 273–291. [Google Scholar]
  16. Nunez, E.E.; Macfadden, B.J.; Mead, J.I.; Baez, A. Ancient forests and grasslands in the desert: Diet and habitat of Late Pleistocene mammals from Northcentral Sonora, Mexico. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2010, 297, 391–400. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  17. Pérez-Crespo, V.A.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Alva-Valdívia, L.M.; Morales-Puente, P.; Cienfuegos-Alvarado, E.; Otero, F.J. Estado actual de la aplicación de los marcadores biogeoquímicos en paleoecología de mamíferos del Pleistoceno tardío de México. Archaeobios 2012, 6, 53–64. [Google Scholar]
  18. Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Lawrence, G.; Straus González Morales, M.R.; García Pimienta, J.C. The reconstruction of past environments through small mammals: From the Mousterian to the Bronze Age in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria Spain). J. Archaeol. Sci. 2009, 36, 947–955. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  19. Baca, M.; Popovic, D.; Lemanik, A.; Bañuls-Cardona, S.; Conard, N.J.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Desclaux, E.; Fewlass, H.; Garcia, J.T.; Hadravova, T.; et al. Ancient DNA reveals interstadials as a driver of common vole population dynamics during the last glacial period. J. Biogeogr. 2023, 50, 183–196. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  20. Stock, C. The Cave of San Josecito, Mexico. Eng. Sci. 1943, 6, 10–14. [Google Scholar]
  21. Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Johnson, E.; Ralph, R.W. An initial reappraisal of San Josecito Cave and its Late Pleistocene fauna. Curr. Res. Pleistocene 1989, 6, 63–64. [Google Scholar]
  22. Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Johnson, E.; Cruz, J.A. San Josecito Cave and Its Paleoecological Contributions for Quaternary Studies in Mexico. Quaternary 2021, 4, 34. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  23. GBIF. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility Ocurrence Download. Available online: https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.mqz2g8; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.4cedb9; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.tnfnn2; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.qdxbwq (accessed on 19 January 2021); https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.66mfbe; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.f7y54g; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.zvyqn8; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ajd4bv; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.4fr4gy; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.mmp74y; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.7wnckf; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.gp4s6s; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.kq95r8; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.z7tz3n; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.c56a7m; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ppbwyq; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.6dx2nc; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.fx2trk; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.6bjgx2; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.w9a6ww; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.qc5b73; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.5x4y4z; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.e9jvhh; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.xe7q6t; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.87te5y; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ga4m2m; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.uxbfe3; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.75sj32; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.k4kyh2; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.yp6b6h; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.dg4g72; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.6m2x5e; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.9j87yt; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.uy285t; https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ypz3cc (accessed on 27 July 2021).
  24. Kass, J.M.; Pinilla-Buitrago, G.E.; Paz, A.; Johnson, B.A.; Grisales-Betancur, V.; Meenan, S.I.; Attali, D.; Broennimann, O.; Galante, P.J.; Maitner, B.S.; et al. Wallace 2: A shiny app for modeling species niches and distributions redesigned to facilitate expansion via module contributions. Ecography 2022, 3, e06547. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  25. Osorio-Olvera, L.; Lira-Noriega, A.; Soberón, J.; Townsend, P.A.; Falconi, M.; Contreras-Díaz, R.G.; Martínez-Meyer, E.; Barve, V.; Barve, N. ntbox: An R package with graphical user interface for modeling and evaluating multidimensional ecological niches. Methods Ecol. Evol. 2020, 11, 1199–1206. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  26. IUCN. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2. Available online: https://www.iucnredlist.org (accessed on 3 September 2021).
  27. BirdLife International. Available online: http://www.birdlife.org (accessed on 3 September 2021).
  28. Campbell, J.A.; Lamar, W.W.; Brodie, E.D. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere; Comstock Publishing Associates: Ithaca, NY, USA, 2004; Volume 1, p. 528. [Google Scholar]
  29. Martínez-Méndez, N.; Méndez-De la Cruz, F.R. Molecular phylogeny of the Sceloporus torquatus species-group (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae). Zootaxa 2007, 1609, 53–68. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  30. Mulcahy, D.G. Phylogeography and species boundaries of the western North American Nightsnake (Hypsiglena torquata): Revisiting the subspecies concept. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 2008, 46, 1095–1115. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  31. Leache, A.D. Species tree discordance traces to phylogeographic clade boundaries in North American fence lizards (Sceloporus). Syst. Biol. 2009, 58, 547–559. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  32. Ernst, C.H. Storeria. CAAR 2012, 900, 900.1–900.14. [Google Scholar]
  33. Grummer, J.A. Testing Species Limits and Inferring the Species Tree for the Sceloporus scalaris Species Group (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae). Master’s Thesis, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA, June 2013. [Google Scholar]
  34. Leache, A.D.; Harris, R.B.; Maliska, M.E.; Linkem, C.W. Comparative species divergence across eight triplets of spiny lizards (Sceloporus) using genomic sequence data. GBE 2013, 5, 2410–2419. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  35. Mulcahy, D.G.; Martínez-Gómez, J.E.; Aguirre-León, G.; Cervantes-Pasqualli, J.A.; Zug, G.R. Rediscovery of an endemic vertebrate from the remote Islas Revillagigedo in the Eastern Pacific Ocean: The Clarión Nightsnake lost and found. PLoS ONE 2014, 9, e97682. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  36. Campillo-García, G.; Flores-Villela, O.; Butler, B.O.; Vinasco, J.A.V.; Corona, F.R. Hidden diversity within a polytypic species: The enigmatic Sceloporus torquatus Wiegmann, 1828 (Reptilia, Squamata, Phrynosomatidae). Vertebr. Zool. 2021, 71, 781–798. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  37. Guisan, A.; Thuiller, W.; Zimmermann, N.E. Habitat Suitability and Distribution Models: With Applications in R, 1st ed.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2017; p. 462. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  38. Naimi, B.; Araújo, M.B. sdm: A reproducible and extensible R platform for species distribution modelling. Ecography 2016, 39, 368–375. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  39. Di Cola, V.; Broennimann, O.; Petitpierre, B.; Breiner, F.T.; d’Amen, M.; Randin, C.; Engler, R.; Pottier, J.; Pio, D.; Dubuis, A.; et al. ecospat: An R package to support spatial analyses and modeling of species niches and distributions. Ecography 2017, 40, 774–787. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  40. Fielding, A.H.; Bell, J.F. A review of methods for the assessment of prediction errors in conservation presence/absence models. Environ. Conserv. 1997, 24, 38–49. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  41. Allouche, O.; Tsoar, A.; Kadmon, R. Assessing the accuracy of species distribution models: Prevalence, kappa and the true skill statistic (TSS). J. Appl. Ecol. 2006, 43, 1223–1232. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  42. Cruz, J.A.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Reynoso, V.H. Reconstructing the paleoenvironment of Loltún Cave, Yucatán, Mexico, with Pleistocene amphibians and reptiles and their paleobiogeographic implications. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Geol. 2016, 33, 342–354. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  43. Cruz, J.A.; Alarcón, D.I.; Figueroa-Castro, D.M.; Castañeda-Posadas, C. Fossil pigmy rattlesnake inside the mandible of an American mastodon and use of fossil reptiles for the paleoclimatic reconstruction of a Pleistocene locality in Puebla, Mexico. Quat. Int. 2021, 574, 116–126. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  44. Cruz, J.A.; Prado, J.L.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J. The mutual ecogeographical range and paleoclimatic reconstruction during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene in the Pampas (Argentina) using meso and microvertebrate fossils. Holocene 2021, 31, 983–992. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  45. Hernández-Hernández, M.J.; Cruz, J.A.; Castañeda-Posadas, C. Paleoclimatic and vegetation reconstruction of the miocene southern Mexico using fossil flowers. J. South Am. Earth Sci. 2020, 104, 102827. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  46. Medina-Castañeda, C.I.; Bravo-Cuevas, V.M.; Cruz, J.A. Turtles from the Late Pleistocene of Hidalgo and Puebla and their paleobiogeographic and paleoclimatic significance. Quat. Int. 2022, 634, 111–123. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  47. QGIS Development Team. QGIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation. 2021. Available online: https://qgis.osgeo.org/ (accessed on 26 May 2021).
  48. Fick, S.E.; Hijmans, R.J. Worldclim 2: New 1-km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. Int. J. Climatol. 2017, 37, 4302–4315. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  49. Hijmans, R. Raster: Geographic Data Analysis and Modeling. R Package Version 3.6-20. 2023. Available online: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=raster (accessed on 3 September 2021).
  50. Keddy, P.A.; Laughlin, D.C. A Framework for Community Ecology: Species Pools, Filters and Traits, 1st ed.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2021; p. 360. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  51. Escalante, T.; Rodriguez-Tapia, G.; Morrone, J.J. Toward a biogeographic regionalization of the Nearctic region: Area nomenclature and digital map. Zootaxa 2020, 5027, 351–375. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  52. Escalante, T.; Morrone, J.J. Evolutionary biogeography and the regionalization of the Neotropics: A perspective from mammals. Mastozool. Neotrop. 2020, 27, 5–14. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  53. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Ruiz-Zapata, M.B.; Dorado-Valiño, M.; Gil-García, M.J.; Valdeolmillos, A.; Ortega, A.I.; Carretero, J.M.; Arsuaga, J.L.; et al. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction of the latest Pleistocene of El Portalón site, Sierra de Atapuerca, northwestern Spain. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2010, 292, 453–464. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  54. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Allué, E.; Bañuls, S.; Bargalló, A.; Martín, P.; Morales, J.I.; Pedro, M.; Rodríguez, A.; Solé, A.; et al. First fossil evidence of an “interglacial refugium” in the Pyrenean region. Naturwissenschaften 2010, 97, 753–761. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  55. López-García, J.M.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Blain, H.A.; Álvarez-Lao, D.; Uzquiano, P.; Adán, G.; Arbizu, M.; Arsuaga, J.L. Palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate of the Mousterian–Aurignacian transition in northern Iberia: The small-vertebrate assemblage from Cueva del Conde (Santo Adriano, Asturias). J. Hum. Evol. 2011, 61, 108–116. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  56. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Alonso, C.; Alonso, S.; Vaquero, M. Small vertebrates (Amphibia, Squamata, Mammalia) from the late Pleistocene-Holocene of the Valdavara-1 cave (Galicia, northwestern Spain). Geobios 2011, 44, 253–269. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  57. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Bennàsar, M.; Euba, I.; Bañuls, S.; Bischoff, J.; López-Ortega, E.; Saladié, P.; Uzquiano, P.; Vallverdú, J. A multiproxy reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate of the Late Pleistocene in northeastern Iberia: Cova dels Xaragalls, Vimbodí-Poblet, Paratge Natural de Poblet, Catalonia. Boreas 2012, 41, 235–249. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  58. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Sanz, M.; Daura, J. A coastal reservoir of terrestrial resources for neanderthal populations in north-eastern Iberia: Palaeoenvironmental data inferred from the small-vertebrate assemblage of Cova del Gegant, Sitges, Barcelona. J. Quat. Sci. 2012, 27, 105–113. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  59. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Bennàsar, M.; Sanz, M.; Daura, J. Heinrich event 4 characterized by terrestrial proxies in southwestern Europe. Clim. Past 2013, 9, 1053–1064. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  60. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Julià, R.; Maroto, J. Environment and climate during MIS 7 and their implications for the late Middle Pleistocene hominins: The contribution of Mollet cave, Serinyà, Girona, northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Quat. Int. 2014, 337, 4–10. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  61. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Bennàsar, M.; Fernández-García, M. Environmental and climatic context of Neanderthal occupation in southwestern Europe during MIS3 inferred from the small-vertebrate assemblages. Quat. Int. 2014, 326, 319–328. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  62. López-García, J.M.; Fernández-García, M.; Blain, H.A.; Sanz, M.; Daura, J. MIS 5 environmental and climatic reconstruction in northeastern Iberia using the small-vertebrate assemblage from the terrestrial sequence of Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona). Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2016, 451, 13–22. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  63. López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Sánchez-Bandera, C.; Cohen, J.; Lebreton, L.; Montuire, S.; Stewart, J.R.; Desclaux, E. Multi-method approach using small vertebrate assemblages to reconstruct the Marine Isotope Stage 6 climate and environment of the Lazaret cave sequence (Maritime Alps, Nice, France). Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2021, 577, 110529. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  64. Bañuls-Cardona, S.; López-García, J.M.; Blain, H.A.; Salomó, A.C. Climate and landscape during the Last Glacial Maximum in southwestern Iberia: The small-vertebrate association from the Sala de las Chimeneas, Maltravieso, Extremadura. C. R. Palevol. 2012, 11, 31–40. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  65. Rey-Rodríguez, I.; López-García, J.M.; Bennasar, M.; Bañuls-Cardona, S.; Blain, H.A.; Blanco-Lapaz, Á.; Rodríguez-Álvarez, X.P.; de Lombera-Hermida, A.; Díaz-Rodríguez, M.; Ameijenda-Iglesias, A.; et al. Last Neanderthals and first Anatomically Modern Humans in the NW Iberian Peninsula: Climatic and environmental conditions inferred from the Cova Eirós small-vertebrate assemblage during MIS 3. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2016, 151, 185–197. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  66. Steadman, D.W.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Johnson, E.; Guzman, A.F. New information on the late Pleistocene birds from San Josecito cave, Nuevo León, Mexico. Condor 1994, 96, 577–589. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  67. Mead, J.I.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Johnson, E. Pleistocene lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo León, México. Copeia 1999, 1999, 163–173. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  68. Van Devender, T.R. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of the Chihuahuan Desert, United States and Mexico. In Packrat Middens: The Last 40,000 Years of Biotic Change, 1st ed.; Betancourt, J.L., Van Devender, T.R., Martin, P.S., Eds.; Arizona University Press: Tucson, AZ, USA, 1990; pp. 104–133. [Google Scholar]
  69. Caballero, M.; Lozano-García, S.; Ortega-Guerrero, B.; Correa-Metrio, A. Quantitative estimates of orbital and millennial scale climatic variability in central Mexico during the last ∼40,000 years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2019, 205, 62–75. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  70. Lozano-García, S.; Torres-Rodríguez, E.; Figueroa-Rangel, B.; Caballero, M.; Sosa-Nájera, S.; Ortega-Guerrero, B.; Acosta-Noriega, C. Vegetation history of a Mexican Neotropical basin from the late MIS 6 to early MIS 3: The pollen record of Lake Chalco. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2022, 297, 107830. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  71. Wright, K.T. Reconstructing Rainfall Variability in Northeast Mexico in the Late-Pleistocene and Holocene Using Multiple Speleothem Geochemical Proxies. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA, 2021. [Google Scholar]
  72. Pearce-Higgins, J.W.; Eglington, S.M.; Martay, B.; Chamberlain, D.E. Drivers of climate change impacts on bird communities. J. Anim. Ecol. 2015, 84, 943–954. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  73. Moretti, J.A.; Johnson, E. Small rails from the late Quaternary of the Southern High Plains and their paleoenvironmental context. Ibis 2023, in press. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  74. Oswald, J.A.; Steadman, D.W. The changing diversity and distribution of dry forest passerine birds in northwestern Peru since the last ice age. Auk 2015, 132, 836–862. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  75. Steadman, D.W.; Albury, N.A.; Kakuk, B.; Mead, J.I.; Soto-Centeno, J.A.; Singleton, H.M.; Franklin, J. Vertebrate community on an ice-age Caribbean Island. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2015, 112, E5963–E5971. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  76. Steadman, D.W.; Franklin, J. Origin, paleoecology, and extirpation of bluebirds and crossbills in the Bahamas across the last glacial–interglacial transition. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2017, 114, 9924–9929. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  77. Tomek, T.; Bochenski, Z.M.; Socha, P.; Stefaniak, K. Continous 300,000-year fossil record changes in the ornithofauna of Bisnik Cave, Poland. Palaeontol. Electron. 2012, 15, 2A–20A. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  78. Carrera, L.; Scarponi, D.; Martini, F.; Sarti, L.; Pavia, M. Mid-Late Pleistocene Neanderthal landscapes in southern Italy: Palaeocological contributions of the avian assemblage from Grotta del Cavallo, Apulia, Southern Italy. Palaeogeog. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2021, 567, 110256. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  79. Núñez-Lahuerta, C.; Galán, J.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; García-Medrano, P.; Cáceres, I. A bird asseblage across the MIS9/8 boundary: The Middle Pleistocene of Galería (Atapuerca). Quat. Sci. Rev. 2022, 293, 107708. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  80. Pavia, M.; Val, A.; Carrera, L.; Steininger, C.M. Fossil birds from Cooper’s D aid in reconstructing the Early Pleistocene palaeoenvironment in the Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng, South Africa). J. Hum. Evol. 2022, 167, 103185. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  81. Brattstrom, B. The climate of the past. Eng. Sci. 1956, 19, 22–23. [Google Scholar]
  82. Vitt, L.J.; Caldwell, J.P. Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, 4th ed.; Academic Press: San Jose, CA, USA, 2014; p. 776. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  83. Böhm, M.; Cook, D.; Ma, H.; Davidson, A.D.; García, A.; Tapley, B.; Pearce-Kelly, P.; Carr, J. Hot and bothered: Using trait-based approaches to assess climate change vulnerability in reptiles. Biol. Conserv. 2016, 204, 32–41. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  84. Diele-Viegas, L.M.; Figueroa, R.T.; Vilela, B.; Rocha, C.F.D. Are reptiles toast? A worldwide evaluation of Lepidosauria vulnerability to climate change. Clim. Change 2020, 159, 581–599. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  85. Porch, N. Climate space, bioclimatic envelopes and coexistence methods for the reconstruction of past climates: A method using Australian beetles and significance for Quaternary reconstruction. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2010, 29, 633–647. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  86. Araújo, M.B.; Nogués-Bravo, D.; Diniz-Filho, J.A.F.; Haywood, A.M.; Valdes, P.J.; Rahbek, C. Quaternary climate changes explain diversity among reptiles and amphibians. Ecography 2008, 31, 8–15. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  87. Hadly, E.A.; Spaeth, P.A.; Li, C. Niche conservatism above the species level. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2009, 106, 19707–19714. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  88. Smith, M.R.; Polly, P.D. A reevaluation of the Harrodsburg Crevice fauna (Late Pleistocene of Indiana, USA) and the climatic implications of its mammals. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 2013, 33, 410–420. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  89. Polly, P.D.; Eronen, J.T. Mammal associations in the Pleistocene of Britain: Implications of ecological niche modelling and a method for reconstructing palaeoclimate. In The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain, 1st ed.; Ashton, N., Lewis, S., Stringer, C., Eds.; Elsevier: London, UK, 2011; pp. 279–304. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  90. Villa, A.; Blain, H.A.; Delfino, M. The Early Pleistocene herpetofauna of Rivoli Veronese (Northern Italy) as evidence for humid and forested glacial phases in the Gelasian of Southern Alps. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2018, 490, 393–403. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  91. Villa, A.; Blain, H.A.; van den Hoek Ostende, L.W.; Delfino, M. Fossil amphibians and reptiles from Tegelen (Province of Limburg) and the early Pleistocene palaeoclimate of The Netherlands. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2018, 187, 203–219. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
Diversity 15 00881 g001 550
Figure 1. Location of San Josecito Cave (yellow circle) in the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO), Nuevo León, Mexico.
Figure 1. Location of San Josecito Cave (yellow circle) in the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO), Nuevo León, Mexico.
Diversity 15 00881 g001
Diversity 15 00881 g002 550
Figure 2. Paleoclimatic reconstruction from San Josecito Cave (SJC), stratum 720 assemblage community. The paleoclimatic reconstruction from San Josecito Cave with the different groups of vertebrates including the mean annual temperature (MAT, red squares) and annual precipitation (AP, blue circles) are compared with the current climate at the fossil locality. The paleoclimatic values inferred with the all-vertebrate community were used to reconstruct the paleotemperature and precipitation of the Late Pleistocene from San Josecito Cave.
Figure 2. Paleoclimatic reconstruction from San Josecito Cave (SJC), stratum 720 assemblage community. The paleoclimatic reconstruction from San Josecito Cave with the different groups of vertebrates including the mean annual temperature (MAT, red squares) and annual precipitation (AP, blue circles) are compared with the current climate at the fossil locality. The paleoclimatic values inferred with the all-vertebrate community were used to reconstruct the paleotemperature and precipitation of the Late Pleistocene from San Josecito Cave.
Diversity 15 00881 g002
Diversity 15 00881 g003 550
Figure 3. Mutual Ecogeographic Range analyses showing the overlap areas where optimal climatic conditions exist for all Nearest Living Relative (NLR) species of birds (A), reptiles (B), small mammals (C), the community of reptiles and small mammals (D), and all-vertebrates community (E) are present. San Josecito Cave is represented by the white star.
Figure 3. Mutual Ecogeographic Range analyses showing the overlap areas where optimal climatic conditions exist for all Nearest Living Relative (NLR) species of birds (A), reptiles (B), small mammals (C), the community of reptiles and small mammals (D), and all-vertebrates community (E) are present. San Josecito Cave is represented by the white star.
Diversity 15 00881 g003
Diversity 15 00881 g004 550
Figure 4. Overlap areas with the optimal climatic conditions so that all Nearest Living Relative (NLR) taxa of birds (A), reptiles (B), small mammals (C), the community of reptiles and small mammals (D), and all-vertebrates community (E) are present. The small mammals, small mammals and reptiles community, and all-vertebrates community inferred the more reliable current climate conditions in the San Josecito Cave area today. San Josecito Cave is represented by the white star.
Figure 4. Overlap areas with the optimal climatic conditions so that all Nearest Living Relative (NLR) taxa of birds (A), reptiles (B), small mammals (C), the community of reptiles and small mammals (D), and all-vertebrates community (E) are present. The small mammals, small mammals and reptiles community, and all-vertebrates community inferred the more reliable current climate conditions in the San Josecito Cave area today. San Josecito Cave is represented by the white star.
Diversity 15 00881 g004
Table
Table 1. Stratum 720 (~28,000 14C years BP/~32,900 calendar years) fossil taxa from San Josecito Cave utilized in the paleoclimatic reconstruction.
Table 1. Stratum 720 (~28,000 14C years BP/~32,900 calendar years) fossil taxa from San Josecito Cave utilized in the paleoclimatic reconstruction.
GroupOrdenFamiliaEspecie
BirdsAccipitriformesAccipitridaeAquila chrysaetos
GalliformesPhasianidaeCyrtonyx montezumae
GruiformesRallidaeRallus limicola
CharadriiformesCharadriidaePluvialis cf. P. squatarola
StrigiformesStrigidaeMegascops asio/M. kennicottii
Asio otus
Ciccaba virgata
PasseriformesCorvidaeGymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Corvus corax
IcteridaeSturnella sp.
ReptilesSquamataAnguidaeBarisia ciliaris
Barisia imbricata
PhrynosomatidaePhrynosoma modestum
Phrynosoma orbiculare
Sceloporus spp.
ColubridaeTantilla sp.
Heterodon cf. H. simus
Hypsiglena
Storeria sp.
ViperidaeCrotalus spp.
MammalsSoricomorphaSoricidaeSorex altoensis
ChiropteraPhyllostomidaeDesmodus stocki
Leptonycteris nivalis
VespertilionidaeMyotis californicus
Myotis thysanodes
RodentiaCricetidaeMicrotus mexicanus
Neotoma albigula
Neotoma albigula
Peromyscus difficilis
Peromyscus labecula
Peromyscus levipes
Reithrodontomy megalotis
LagomorphaLeporidaeSylvilagus floridanus
Table
Table 2. Paleoclimatic reconstruction of the Late Pleistocene based on San Josecito Cave using the all-vertebrates community and the difference with respect to the current climate in the San Josecito area. The results obtained with all vertebrates are compared with small mammals and reptiles together and small mammals, reptiles, and birds separately.
Table 2. Paleoclimatic reconstruction of the Late Pleistocene based on San Josecito Cave using the all-vertebrates community and the difference with respect to the current climate in the San Josecito area. The results obtained with all vertebrates are compared with small mammals and reptiles together and small mammals, reptiles, and birds separately.
MAT °C (Average ± SD)AP mm (Average ± SD)
Current San Josecito Cave17.6 ± 1.69774.68 ± 259.85
Difference00
All vertebrates20.24 ± 0.32695.5 ± 80.95
Difference+2.64−79.175
Mammals and reptiles20.55 ± 0.48668.1 ± 74.18
Difference+2.95−106.58
Mammals20.14 ± 1.22617.7 ± 147.66
Difference+2.54−156.98
Reptiles17.25 ± 3.27990.5 ± 389.77
Difference−0.35+215.82
Birds17.1 ± 5.1664.2 ± 380.87
Difference−0.5−110.48
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Cruz, J.A.; Velasco, J.A.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Johnson, E. Paleoclimatic Reconstruction Based on the Late Pleistocene San Josecito Cave Stratum 720 Fauna Using Fossil Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds. Diversity 2023, 15, 881. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15070881

AMA Style

Cruz JA, Velasco JA, Arroyo-Cabrales J, Johnson E. Paleoclimatic Reconstruction Based on the Late Pleistocene San Josecito Cave Stratum 720 Fauna Using Fossil Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds. Diversity. 2023; 15(7):881. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15070881

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cruz, J. Alberto, Julián A. Velasco, Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales, and Eileen Johnson. 2023. "Paleoclimatic Reconstruction Based on the Late Pleistocene San Josecito Cave Stratum 720 Fauna Using Fossil Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds" Diversity 15, no. 7: 881. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15070881

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop