Palaeoecological and genetic analyses of Late Pleistocene bears in Asiatic Russia

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dc.contributor.authorKosintsev, PAen_AU
dc.contributor.authorBocherens, Hen_AU
dc.contributor.authorKirillova, IVen_AU
dc.contributor.authorLevchenko, VAen_AU
dc.contributor.authorZazovskaya, EPen_AU
dc.contributor.authorTrofimova, SSen_AU
dc.contributor.authorLan, Ten_AU
dc.contributor.authorLindqvist, Cen_AU
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-09T04:46:13Zen_AU
dc.date.available2025-01-09T04:46:13Zen_AU
dc.date.issued2022-04-20en_AU
dc.date.statistics2024-08-21en_AU
dc.description.abstractBrown bears are one of the few large carnivore species that survived the final Pleistocene wave of extinctions, perhaps in part owing to their wide ecological plasticity, variety of forms and polyphagia. Although the brown bear has become a well‐studied system, many questions remain regarding the ecological, trophic and genetic diversity throughout their distribution. For example, knowledge about Asiatic Russian brown bears from the Late Pleistocene arctic tundra steppe, an ecosystem with no analogue in modern times, is sparse. Here we compared diets, morphometry and genetic affinities of Late Pleistocene bears based on broadly sampled subfossil remains from Asiatic Russia. Collecting sites included the Ural Mountains, the lower reaches of the Irtysh River, the upper reaches of the Ob River, the Altai Mountains of western Siberia, the Indigirka–Kolyma Lowlands and northwestern Chukotka. An extremely large bear specimen from the middle Indigirka (41 090 14C a BP) that lived in landscapes of treeless shrubs and wet meadows had a diet composed principally of large herbivorous mammals. A bear from western Chukotka (25 880 14C a BP), much smaller in size, had a diet close to that of modern brown bears. These two Late Pleistocene NE Russian brown bears may comprise a previously undiscovered, but extinct, genetic lineage. At the end of the Pleistocene (MIS 3 and MIS 2), the brown bears from the Ob River Valley and Urals lived in periglacial forest‐steppes and those from the southern Urals in conditions of periglacial steppe. Brown bears from the Ob River valley and Urals, as well as ancient Altai bears, were characterized by a varied diet, from polyphagia to vegetarianism. In living brown bears, the proportions of different dietary foods are primarily related to food availability, which depends on the geographical zone and climatic conditions. We conclude that the same was true for Late Pleistocene brown bears of NE Siberia. © 2021 The Authors. Boreas published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Boreas Collegiumen_AU
dc.description.sponsorshipWe are grateful to Fedor Shidlovskiy (National Alliance of Shidlovskiy ‘Ice Age’, Moscow, Russia) for the provision of samples from the Ice Age Museum (Moscow, Russia) and Ivo Verheijen for his help in finding data on fossil bears. Part of the research was performed under the State Contract of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, UB RAS, N AAAA19-119031890086-0 and with funding from the US National Science Foundation (DEB grant 1556565 and EAR grant 1854550). The authors are especially grateful to L. Drell and thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.en_AU
dc.identifier.citationKosintsev, P. A., Bocherens, H., Kirillova, I. V., Levchenko, V. A., Zazovskaya, E. P., Trofimova, S. S., Lan, T., & Lindqvist, C. (2022). Palaeoecological and genetic analyses of Late Pleistocene bears in Asiatic Russia. Boreas, 51(2), 465-480. doi:10.1111/bor.12570en_AU
dc.identifier.issn0300-9483en_AU
dc.identifier.issn1502-3885en_AU
dc.identifier.issue2en_AU
dc.identifier.journaltitleBoreasen_AU
dc.identifier.pagination465-480en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12570en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://apo.ansto.gov.au/handle/10238/15869en_AU
dc.identifier.volume51en_AU
dc.languageEnglishen_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherWileyen_AU
dc.subjectRussian Federationen_AU
dc.subjectEcological balanceen_AU
dc.subjectGeneticsen_AU
dc.subjectTundraen_AU
dc.subjectEcosystemsen_AU
dc.subjectBearsen_AU
dc.subjectGeographyen_AU
dc.subjectPleistocene Epochen_AU
dc.subjectMountainsen_AU
dc.subjectRiversen_AU
dc.subjectBiological extinctionen_AU
dc.subjectEndangered speciesen_AU
dc.titlePalaeoecological and genetic analyses of Late Pleistocene bears in Asiatic Russiaen_AU
dc.typeJournal Articleen_AU
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