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Stable isotope ecology of Miocene large mammals from Sandelzhausen, southern Germany

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Abstract

The carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotope composition of enamel from teeth of large Miocene herbivorous mammals from Sandelzhausen (MN5, late Early/early Middle Miocene) in the North Alpine foreland basin, were analyzed to infer diet and habitat. The mean enamel δ13C value of −11.4 ± 1.0‰ (n = 53) for the nine taxa analyzed (including proboscideans, cervids, suids, chalicotheres, equids, rhinocerotids) indicates a pure C3 plant diet for all mammals. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of ~0.710 higher than those from teeth of the western Molasse Basin (0.708–0.709) seem to indicate preferential feeding of the mammals in the northeastern Molasse Basin. The sympatric herbivores have different mean δ13C and δ18O values which support diet partitioning and/or use of different habitats within a C3 plant ecosystem. Especially the three sympatric rhinoceroses Plesiaceratherium fahlbuschi, Lartetotherium sansaniense, and Prosantorhinus germanicus show clear partitioning of plants and/or habitats. The palaeomerycid Germanomeryx fahlbuschi was a canopy folivore in moderately closed environments whereas Metaschizotherium bavaricum (Chalicotheriidae) and P. germanicus (Rhinocerotidae) were browsers in more closed forest environments. The horse Anchitherium aurelianense was probably a more generalized feeder than assumed from its dental morphology. The forest hog Hyotherium soemmeringi has the highest δ13C and lowest δ18O value of all analyzed taxa, possibly related to a frugivorous diet. Most taxa were water-dependent browsers that record meteoric water δ18O values of about −5.6 ± 0.7‰ Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW). Using a modern-day mean annual air temperature (MAT)–\( \delta^{18} {\text{O}}_{{{\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O}}}} \) relation a MAT of 19.3 ± 1.5°C can be reconstructed for Sandelzhausen. A Gomphotherium subtapiroideum tusk serially sampled for δ18O values does not record a clear pattern of seasonality. Thus most taxa were C3 browsers in a forested and humid floodplain environment in the Molasse Basin, which experienced a warm-temperate to subtropical climate and possibly low seasonality.

Kurzfassung

Die Kohlenstoff-, Sauerstoff- und Strontium-Isotopenzusammensetzung von Zahnschmelzproben miozäner herbivorer Großsäuger aus Sandelzhausen (MN5, Unter-/Mittelmiozän) im nördlichen Alpenvorlandbecken wurde analysiert, um die Ernährungsweise und den Lebensraum zu rekonstruieren. Der mittlere Zahnschmelz δ13C-Wert von −11,4 ± 1,0‰ (n = 53) für die 9 analysierten Taxa (u.a. Rüsseltiere, Hirsche, Schweine, Klauentiere, Pferde, Nashörner) zeigt, dass alle Säugetiere eine ausschließlich C3-Pflanzen basierte Ernährungsweise hatten. Die 87Sr/86Sr-Verhältnisse von ~0,710, die höher sind als von Zähne aus dem westlichen Molasse Becken (0,707–0,709), deuten auf eine bevorzugte Nahrungsaufnahme im Bereich des nordöstlichen Molasse Beckens hin. Die zeitgleich vorkommenden Herbivoren haben unterschiedliche δ13C- und δ18O-Werte, welche auf die Nutzung unterschiedlicher Nahrungsressourcen und/oder Lebensräume innerhalb eines C3-Ökosystems hindeuten. Insbesondere die drei Nashörner Plesiaceratherium fahlbuschi, Lartetotherium sansaniense und Prosantorhinus germanicus zeigen die Nutzung verschiedener Nahrungspflanzen und/oder Habitate. Der Palaeomerycide Germanomeryx fahlbuschi war ein Unterholz-Blattfresser in weniger geschlossenen Habitaten während Metaschizotherium bavaricum (Chalicotheriidae) und Prosantorhinus germanicus (Rhinocerotidae) Laubfresser in eher geschlossenen Wäldern waren. Das Pferd Anchitherium aurelianense war vermutlich ein mehr generalistischer Pflanzenfresser als aufgrund seiner Zahnmorphologie bisher angenommen. Das Waldschwein Hyotherium soemmeringi hat die höchsten δ13C und niedrigsten δ18O-Werte aller analysierten Taxa, was möglicherweise auf eine frugivore Ernährungsweise hindeutet. Die meisten Taxa waren wasserabhängige Blattfresser, die δ18O-Werte des meteorischen Wassers von −5,6 ± 0,7‰ VSMOW aufgezeichnet haben. Unter Nutzung einer modernen mittleren Jahrestemperatur (MAT)-\( \delta^{18} {\text{O}}_{{{\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O}}}} \)-Relation kann eine MAT von 19,3 ± 1,5°C für Sandelzhausen rekonstruiert werden. Ein seriell für δ18O-Werte beprobter Gomphotherium subtapiroideum Stoßzahn zeigt kein klares Saisonalitätsmuster. Daher waren die meisten Taxa C3-Blattfresser in einer bewaldeten, feuchten Überflutungsebene im Molasse Becken mit einem warmtemperierten bis subtropischen Klima möglicherweise ohne stark ausgeprägte Saisonalität.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Kurt Heissig, Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie in Munich for kindly supplying the teeth from Sandelzhausen for isotope sampling. This study was financed by the Swiss National Science foundation grant 200021-100530/1 to TWV and partly by the Emmy Noether-Program of the German National Science Foundation DFG grant TU 148/2-1 to TT. The two reviewers Robert Feranec and Hervé Bocherens provided instructive reviews.

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  1. Steinmann Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie, Poppelsdorfer Schloss, University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Thomas Tütken

  2. Institut de Géochimie, Université de Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Thomas Tütken & Torsten Vennemann

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Tütken, T., Vennemann, T. Stable isotope ecology of Miocene large mammals from Sandelzhausen, southern Germany. Paläontol Z 83, 207–226 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-009-0011-y

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