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Sporormiella Fungal Spores as a Proxy for Megaherbivore Abundance and Decline at Pilauco

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Pilauco: A Late Pleistocene Archaeo-paleontological Site

Part of the book series: The Latin American Studies Book Series ((LASBS))

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Abstract

The study of coprophilous fungal spores associated with herbivorous faeces has been used to determine, among others, the presence, abundance and decrease of the megafauna populations on land at the end of the Pleistocene. Sporormiella sp. is the most abundant spore species in pollen samples, and it is exclusively restricted to faeces from domestic and wild herbivores. The present study encompasses the analysis and interpretation of Sporormiella sp. concentrations from two sediment columns with different resolution from the archaeo-paleontological Pilauco site. In both cases, the concentration of Sporormiella sp. reaches maximum values up to ~1.920 spores per cm−3 within the sedimentary layers PB-7 and PB-8, followed by a decline at the base of PB-9 layer corresponding to 12.800 cal. year BP. The disappearance of Sporormiella sp. across the PB-8/PB-9 erosional unconformity might be explained by a local decline of the megafauna producing this spore at Pilauco. Additional proxies and records are needed to further confirm the regional extinction of megafauna towards the end of the Pleistocene in north-western Chilean Patagonia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra and Transdisciplinary Center for Quaternary Research in the South of Chile, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Mario Pino

  2. LabNat Pilauco, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Nathalie Cossio-Montecinos & Benazzir Pinto

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  1. Mario Pino
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  2. Nathalie Cossio-Montecinos
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  3. Benazzir Pinto
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Correspondence to Mario Pino .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Mario Pino

  2. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Giselle A. Astorga

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Pino, M., Cossio-Montecinos, N., Pinto, B. (2020). Sporormiella Fungal Spores as a Proxy for Megaherbivore Abundance and Decline at Pilauco. In: Pino , M., Astorga, G. (eds) Pilauco: A Late Pleistocene Archaeo-paleontological Site. The Latin American Studies Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23918-3_6

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