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Reconstructing grassland vegetation and paleotemperatures using carbon isotope ratios of bison tooth enamel

¹ Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-2115, USA

Carbon isotope ratios (¹³C values) of herbivores reflect the ¹³C values of dietary plants, and the ¹³C values of grazers (animals that consume >90% grass) reflect the local abundance of C₃ versus C₄ grasses. Because grassland C₃/C₄ ratios correlate with climate, the ¹³C of fossil grazers may serve as a proxy for reconstructing paleoclimates and paleovegetation patterns. However, the accuracy of environmental reconstructions based on herbivore ¹³C values is often uncertain, because the relationship between the ¹³C of many animals and the abundance of C₄ and C₃ grasses has not been precisely quantified. We analyzed the ¹³C of tooth enamel carbonate from modern bison (Bison bison bison) from nine localities in the United States. The C₄ grass biomass at these sites ranged from <1% to 95% of the total grass biomass. The mean ¹³C of enamel for each population correlated well with the local abundance of C₄ grasses and with variations in mean annual temperatures. The variability of enamel ¹³C values did not differ among habitats and was not correlated with the abundance of C₄ grasses. These results demonstrate that analyses of the ¹³C values of fossil bison can be used as a quantitative proxy for reconstructing grassland C₃/C₄ ratios and paleotemperatures, and they will serve as a baseline for interpreting the ¹³C of fossil bison and other large herbivores in North America.

Key Words: Bison • carbon isotopes • enamel • diet • grasslands

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