Late Pleistocene chronology and environment of woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799)) in Beringia

• Published in: Quaternary science reviews Vol. 263; p. 106994
• Main Authors: Puzachenko, Andrey Yu, Levchenko, Vladimir A., Bertuch, Fiona, Zazovskaya, Elya P., Kirillova, Irina V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-07-2021
• Subjects: Beringia; Chronology; Late quaternary; Paleoecology; Pollen; Woolly rhinoceros; Late quaternary; Pollen; Chronology; Paleoecology; Beringia; Woolly rhinoceros
• ISSN: 0277-3791; 1873-457X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106994

Uncertain chronology and data scarcity have impeded realistic reconstructions of megafauna extinctions in the Late Pleistocene in several key regions of the Northern Hemisphere such as Beringia. This region was a refuge for several plants, animals during the extremely cold period of the Late Pleistocene in high Arctic latitudes. The woolly rhinoceros was one of the most widespread members of the megafauna in the Asiatic part of the region (West Beringia) between ∼60 and 14 cal ka BP. This study is based on statistical analyses of 20 newly obtained and 110 previously published radiocarbon dates. We found three large “waves” in the woolly rhinoceros range changes separated between themselves by the cold climatic Heinrich events (H2 and H4). The chronology of the woolly rhinoceros was overlaid on data of environmental changes obtained basing on 504 generalized early published pollen spectra throughout the species range and, separately, outside the range – in the east of the West Beringia realm and in East Beringia. In general, milder environmental conditions of MIS3 (57–29 ka BP) were more favourable for the woolly rhinoceros than the harsh conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum (∼29–15 cal ka BP) in MIS2. We have concluded that the feed base was unlikely the main limiting factor in the distribution of woolly rhinoceros in Western Beringia, and other ecological factors (temperature/precipitation) determined the species range and its oscillation over the MIS3–MIS2 stages. Based on summarizing available data and this research, we have proposed that there were sets of different reasons that prevented the woolly rhinoceros migration to the east of Beringia in different periods of the Late Pleistocene. Abrupt woolly rhinoceros extinction in Beringia between 15 and 14 cal ka BP coincided with the Bölling warming and the Older Dryas cooling. The ecological situation just before the extinction, associated with climate warming, moisture increasing and shrub tundra expansion in West Beringia, was qualitatively different from previous cases of the species range degradations in the second half of the Late Pleistocene. This multi-proxy study of woolly rhinoceros chronology provide a new basis for further understanding of its population history, demography, and biology in Beringia before its extinction.
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•We provide new data of the Late Pleistocene chronology of the woolly rhinoceros in West Beringia, Northeast Asia.•Three “waves” in the species range changes divided among themselves by the Heinrich events (H2 and H4) were described.•Multivariate statistical analyses of 504 generalized pollen spectra provide basic environmental changes in Beringia.•Milder environmental conditions of MIS3 were more favourable for the rhinoceros than the harsh conditions of the LGM.•The ecological conditions just before the extinction, associated with warming, moisture increasing, mesic tundra expansion.