干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

We inferred the diet of Equus conversidens (three specimens), Cuvieronius hyodon (five specimens), Bison sp., Eremotherium laurillardi, Mammuthus columbi and Panthera atrox (one specimen each) from Rancholabrean fluvio-lacustrine deposits in the Central Depression of Chiapas, using their carbon and oxygen isotopic composition. The environmental conditions prevailing during the Late Pleistocene in the region were also inferred. Our analysis shows that E. conversidens, Bison sp., and M. columbi fed on C-4 plants (delta C-13: -1.8%o to -1.0 parts per thousand), E laurillardi was a mixer feeder C-3/C-4(delta C-13: -7.7 parts per thousand); on the other hand C. hyodon was a largely a C-3 plants feeder (delta C-13: -9.4%o to 11.4 parts per thousand), whereas P. atrox preyed upon C-4 herbivores (delta C-13: -5.5 parts per thousand). Our analysis also discloses more arid climate than at present, as well as the presence of grasslands associated to trees.