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Development of Cenogram Technique Over the Past Six Decades with Some Insights into the Varied Habitats Occupied by Diverse Mammalian Communities Across Spain, China, and India Transiting the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum

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Climate Change and Environmental Impacts: Past, Present and Future Perspective

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Abstract

The climatic evolution of the Neogene, with long-term cooling disrupted by the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO; ~17–14.75 Ma), arises as a suitable baseline to analyze the effects of these transcendent climatic changes on the mammalian community structures. The present investigation is an attempt to examine the palaeohabitat of a Neogene (Middle Miocene: ~15–11.5 Ma) geographically distant (i.e., from Spain, China, and India) extinct mammalian communities utilizing the cenogram approach (in both qualitative and quantitative framework). The detailed statistical analyses (presented herein) incorporating a total of eight mammalian communities allows us to infer predominance of Tropical Deciduous Forest environments between ~15 and ~11.5 Ma interval, with several pulses of distinctive aridity experienced by some communities thriving within the Iberian region. On the contrary, stable forested conditions were witnessed by the middle Miocene communities of Asia [i.e., the ~11.5 million-year-old mammalian community of Laogou (China), and the ~13.5 million-year-old mammalian community of Ramnagar (north India)]. Our present investigation also infers that additional mammalian remains (particularly of body mass of <35 kg) are warranted to decipher the habitat (based on cenogram approach) of the Middle Miocene (~13 Ma) mammalian community of Kalagarh (Himalayan Foreland Basin, north India) and the Middle Miocene (~14 Ma) mammalian community of Palasava (Kutch Basin, western India). Nonetheless, the Cenogram technique (being continuously developed over the past six decades) may become an important tool to decipher any habitat change(s) of western India’s mammalian communities considering renewed palaeontological efforts within the Neogene of the region.

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Acknowledgments

At the onset, VVK acknowledges the use of the infrastructural facilities at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, India and is thankful to Dr Vandana Prasad (Director, BSIP) for constant encouragement and necessary permissions (BSIP/RDCC/Publication no. 93/2020-2022). VVK also acknowledges funding support from BSIP in the form of in-house project 4.2 (2019-2021) & project 3 (2021-2025). BAGY acknowledges funding support from Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia e Investigación in the form of supporting projects (PGC2018-094122-B-I00; PGC2018-094955-A-I00). The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for critical and constructive commentaries that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India

    Vivesh V. Kapur

  2. Dpto. Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales, Sociales y Matemáticas - Facultad de Educación (UCM), Madrid, Spain

    Blanca A. García Yelo

  3. Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Bhuj, Gujarat, India

    M. G. Thakkar

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  1. Vivesh V. Kapur
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  2. Blanca A. García Yelo
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  3. M. G. Thakkar
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Correspondence to Vivesh V. Kapur or Blanca A. García Yelo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Binita Phartiyal

  2. National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa, India

    Rahul Mohan

  3. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India

    Supriyo Chakraborty

  4. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, India

    Venkatesh Dutta

  5. National Institute of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, New Delhi, India

    Anil Kumar Gupta

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Kapur, V.V., García Yelo, B.A., Thakkar, M.G. (2022). Development of Cenogram Technique Over the Past Six Decades with Some Insights into the Varied Habitats Occupied by Diverse Mammalian Communities Across Spain, China, and India Transiting the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum. In: Phartiyal, B., Mohan, R., Chakraborty, S., Dutta, V., Gupta, A.K. (eds) Climate Change and Environmental Impacts: Past, Present and Future Perspective. Society of Earth Scientists Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13119-6_3

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