Evol Ecol Res 12: 217-233 (2010)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

Precipitation and large herbivorous mammals I: estimates from present-day communities

J.T. Eronen1,2, K. Puolamäki3, L. Liu1,4, K. Lintulaakso1, J. Damuth5, C. Janis6 and M. Fortelius1,7

1Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 3Department of Media Technology, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki, Finland, 4Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China, 5Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA,  6Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA and  7Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Correspondence: J.T. Eronen, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
e-mail: jussi.t.eronen@helsinki.fi

ABSTRACT

Question: How can mammalian community characteristics be used to estimate regional precipitation?

Data: Global distribution data of large mammals and their ecomorphology; global climate data.

Research methods: Non-linear regression-tree analysis and linear regression.

Conclusions: The methods unravelled the complex relationships between the environment and the characteristics of mammalian communities. The regression trees described here provide a reasonably accurate estimate of precipitation values for today’s world. The strongest correlations are for annual precipitation versus diet (R 2 = 0.665), precipitation versus tooth crown height (R 2 = 0.658), and precipitation versus diet and tooth crown height combined (R 2 = 0.742)

Keywords: climate, community structure, decision trees, herbivorous mammals, hypsodonty, precipitation.

DOWNLOAD A FREE, FULL PDF COPY
IF you are connected using the IP of a subscribing institution (library, laboratory, etc.)
or through its VPN.

 

        © 2010 Jussi T. Eronen. All EER articles are copyrighted by their authors. All authors endorse, permit and license Evolutionary Ecology Ltd. to grant its subscribing institutions/libraries the copying privileges specified below without additional consideration or payment to them or to Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. These endorsements, in writing, are on file in the office of Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. Consult authors for permission to use any portion of their work in derivative works, compilations or to distribute their work in any commercial manner.

       Subscribing institutions/libraries may grant individuals the privilege of making a single copy of an EER article for non-commercial educational or non-commercial research purposes. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also use articles for non-commercial educational purposes by making any number of copies for course packs or course reserve collections. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also loan single copies of articles to non-commercial libraries for educational purposes.

       All copies of abstracts and articles must preserve their copyright notice without modification.