Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems

In order to interpret fossil and sub-fossil associations of vertebrates, it is important to understand how carcasses degrade in nature. Here we describe the process of bone loss from of 32 carcasses from eight species of terrestrial mammals over two to 63 months in two Mediterranean ecosystems in th...

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Autores: Bernáldez Sánchez, Eloísa, García-Viñas, Esteban, Sánchez Donoso, Inés, Leonard, Jennifer A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:IAPH
Repositorio:Repositorio de Activos Digitales del IAPH
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.iaph.es:11532/327478
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11532/327478
https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2016.047
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hueso
Animales
Cadáveres
Fósiles
Ecosistema
Paleobiología
Paleontología
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spelling Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystemsBernáldez Sánchez, EloísaGarcía-Viñas, EstebanSánchez Donoso, InésLeonard, Jennifer A.HuesoAnimalesCadáveresFósilesEcosistemaPaleobiologíaPaleontologíaIn order to interpret fossil and sub-fossil associations of vertebrates, it is important to understand how carcasses degrade in nature. Here we describe the process of bone loss from of 32 carcasses from eight species of terrestrial mammals over two to 63 months in two Mediterranean ecosystems in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The carcasses ranged in mass from 5 kg to over 450 kg. These data allow the quantitative description of the dynamics of degradation in three time phases defined by changes in the rate of bone loss as measured by the Skeletal Conservation Index (SCI). The SCI values estimated for each phase of degradation is considered the fossil potentiality of the carcass. In the first phase, very few bones were lost, followed by a phase of high bone loss driven by scavengers. The rate of bone loss reduced greatly again in the final phase, which was driven primarily by abiotic, enviromental factors. The largest carcasses spend a longer time in each phase, and also had a higher SCI at the end of Phase II. The smallest carcasses experienced a much higher variance in degradation, had signifiantly lower SCI, and many of the smallest carcasses were consumed completely in a short period of time. Differences between localities were observed regarding SCI values. Presence or absence of three coverage in the place where the carcass was located also had a significant effect on SCI. These data highlight the importance of considering the contemporaneous scavengers when interpreting animals from paleontological contexts. These data also explain the bias observed in many ancient sites whereby larger animals are over representedFlagstaff: Society for Sedimentary Geology2017info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/11532/327478https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2016.047Palaios, 2017, v. 32, pp. 288-294reponame:Repositorio de Activos Digitales del IAPHinstname:IAPHIngléshttps://repositorio.iaph.es/bitstream/11532/327478/1/Bone%20loss%20from%20carcasses%20in%20Mediterranean%20ecosystems.pdfinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositorio.iaph.es:11532/3274782026-06-23T12:46:57Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
title Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
spellingShingle Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
Bernáldez Sánchez, Eloísa
Hueso
Animales
Cadáveres
Fósiles
Ecosistema
Paleobiología
Paleontología
title_short Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
title_full Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
title_fullStr Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
title_full_unstemmed Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
title_sort Bone loss from carcasses in mediterranean ecosystems
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bernáldez Sánchez, Eloísa
García-Viñas, Esteban
Sánchez Donoso, Inés
Leonard, Jennifer A.
author Bernáldez Sánchez, Eloísa
author_facet Bernáldez Sánchez, Eloísa
García-Viñas, Esteban
Sánchez Donoso, Inés
Leonard, Jennifer A.
author_role author
author2 García-Viñas, Esteban
Sánchez Donoso, Inés
Leonard, Jennifer A.
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Hueso
Animales
Cadáveres
Fósiles
Ecosistema
Paleobiología
Paleontología
topic Hueso
Animales
Cadáveres
Fósiles
Ecosistema
Paleobiología
Paleontología
description In order to interpret fossil and sub-fossil associations of vertebrates, it is important to understand how carcasses degrade in nature. Here we describe the process of bone loss from of 32 carcasses from eight species of terrestrial mammals over two to 63 months in two Mediterranean ecosystems in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The carcasses ranged in mass from 5 kg to over 450 kg. These data allow the quantitative description of the dynamics of degradation in three time phases defined by changes in the rate of bone loss as measured by the Skeletal Conservation Index (SCI). The SCI values estimated for each phase of degradation is considered the fossil potentiality of the carcass. In the first phase, very few bones were lost, followed by a phase of high bone loss driven by scavengers. The rate of bone loss reduced greatly again in the final phase, which was driven primarily by abiotic, enviromental factors. The largest carcasses spend a longer time in each phase, and also had a higher SCI at the end of Phase II. The smallest carcasses experienced a much higher variance in degradation, had signifiantly lower SCI, and many of the smallest carcasses were consumed completely in a short period of time. Differences between localities were observed regarding SCI values. Presence or absence of three coverage in the place where the carcass was located also had a significant effect on SCI. These data highlight the importance of considering the contemporaneous scavengers when interpreting animals from paleontological contexts. These data also explain the bias observed in many ancient sites whereby larger animals are over represented
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/11532/327478
https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2016.047
url https://hdl.handle.net/11532/327478
https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2016.047
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://repositorio.iaph.es/bitstream/11532/327478/1/Bone%20loss%20from%20carcasses%20in%20Mediterranean%20ecosystems.pdf
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Flagstaff: Society for Sedimentary Geology
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Flagstaff: Society for Sedimentary Geology
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Palaios, 2017, v. 32, pp. 288-294
reponame:Repositorio de Activos Digitales del IAPH
instname:IAPH
instname_str IAPH
reponame_str Repositorio de Activos Digitales del IAPH
collection Repositorio de Activos Digitales del IAPH
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,300719

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