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Responses of high-elevation herbaceous plant assemblages to low glacial CO2 concentrations revealed by fossil marmot (Marmota) teeth

  • Physiological ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Atmospheric CO2 cycles of the Quaternary likely imposed major constraints on the physiology and growth of C3 plants worldwide. However, the measured record of this remains both geographically and taxonomically sparse. We present the first reconstruction of physiological responses in a late Quaternary high-elevation herbaceous plant community from the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA. We used a novel proxy—fossilized tooth enamel of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris)—which we developed using detailed isotopic analysis of modern individuals. Calculated C isotopic discrimination (\(\Delta\)) of alpine plants was nearly 2 ‰ lower prior to the Last Glacial Maximum than at present, a response almost identical to that of nonherbaceous taxa from lower elevations. However, initial shifts in \(\Delta\) aligned most closely with the onset of the late Pleistocene bipolar temperature “seesaw” rather than CO2 increase, indicating unique limitations on glacial-age high-elevation plants may have existed due to both low temperatures and low CO2. Further development of system-specific faunal proxies can help to clarify this and other plant- and ecosystem-level responses to past environmental change.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (grant EAR-0819678), Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (Dr Lee R. G. Snyder Fellowship), National Speleological Society (Research Grant), and University of New Mexico Biology Department (Joseph Gaudin Scholarship). Carolyn Landes (Bureau of Land Management, Anasazi Heritage Center) provided access to Haystack Cave samples. Personnel from Quest Archaeological Research Program (Southern Methodist University) and the University of North Carolina Wilmington assisted in excavation at Cement Creek Cave. Valentina Ferretti illustrated the marmot maxilla shown in Fig. 1.

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  1. Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, MSC03-2020, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001, USA

    Bryan S. McLean

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7534, USA

    Joy K. Ward

  3. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, MS #50, Woods Hole, MA, 02543-1050, USA

    Michael J. Polito

  4. Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA

    Steven D. Emslie

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  1. Bryan S. McLean
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Correspondence to Bryan S. McLean.

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Communicated by David R. Bowling.

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McLean, B.S., Ward, J.K., Polito, M.J. et al. Responses of high-elevation herbaceous plant assemblages to low glacial CO2 concentrations revealed by fossil marmot (Marmota) teeth. Oecologia 175, 1117–1127 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2982-y

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