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Filling The Gaps: A Comprehensive Understanding Of Diets And Ecosystem Interactions Within The Modern And Fossil Small Mammal Communities Of Meade Basin, Kansas, Hannah Richardson, Kena Fox-Dobbs, Andrew Haveles
Filling The Gaps: A Comprehensive Understanding Of Diets And Ecosystem Interactions Within The Modern And Fossil Small Mammal Communities Of Meade Basin, Kansas, Hannah Richardson, Kena Fox-Dobbs, Andrew Haveles
Summer Research
The modern Great Plains ecosystem began shifting from a woodland biome to a grassland in the Miocene. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of a diverse community of local consumers, in this case small mammals, provides both a paleoenvironmental record of the shift from woodland C3 biomass to grassland C4 biomass, and a paleoecological record of species interactions and community dynamics. The Meade Basin in southwestern Kansas contains a rich and fairly complete fossil record of a Great Plains small mammal community throughout the past 5 million years. SIA of fossil tooth enamel from Meade small mammals has revealed interesting …