Isotopes in fossil tooth enamel provide robust tools for reconstructing food webs, which have been understudied in Australian megafauna. To delineate the isotopic composition of primary consumers and understand dietary behaviour at the base of the food web, we investigate calcium (Ca) and strontium (Sr) isotope compositions of Pleistocene marsupial herbivores from Wellington Caves and Bingara (New South Wales, Australia). Sr isotopes suggest small home ranges across giant and smaller marsupial herbivores. Ca isotopes in Pleistocene marsupial herbivores cover the same range as those in modern wombats and placental herbivores. Early forming teeth are depleted in heavy Ca isotopes compared to late-forming teeth of a given individual, suggesting a weaning signal. Distinct Ca compositions between taxa can be interpreted as dietary niches. Some niches conform to previous dietary reconstructions of taxa, while others provide new insights into niche differentiation across Australian herbivores
Shutterstock / Gorodenkoff
Our ancestors’ diets changed dramatically over the course of the past 2.5 million years, and one research team thinks that profoundly affected our evolution.
According to a team including Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai at Tel Aviv University in Israel, hominin diets were once so dominated by meat from massive animals that the hunters caused some of those species to go extinct. This, in turn, forced our ancestors to develop more sophisticated hunting techniques to bring down smaller, more elusive prey, leading to greater intelligence and the … Continue reading Subscribe now for unlimited access
App + Web