The Ordovician conodont faunal provinces were previously divided into the Midcontinent and Atlantic Faunal Regions situated respectively in low and high latitudes, where warm- and cold-water type conodont faunas flour...The Ordovician conodont faunal provinces were previously divided into the Midcontinent and Atlantic Faunal Regions situated respectively in low and high latitudes, where warm- and cold-water type conodont faunas flourished respectively. According to the international correlation this paper proposes the third Ordovician conodont faunal region—Qinling Faunal Region, in which cold-water conodont faunas were well developed in the Early to middle Middle Ordovician and warm-water conodont faunas were well developed in the late Middle and Late Ordovician, indicating that the Qinling Region was situated in high latitudes earlier and in low latitudes later. The origin was only due to plate movement. In the Qinling Region the time interval of the change of the conodont fauna from the cold- to warm-water type was 4 Ma (from 474 to 470 Ma), during which the fauna geographically spanned 40° of latitudes, with a movement velocity of nearly 1.12 m/a, indicating that the high-latitude plates were divorced and reduced in the late Middle Ordovician, while the low-latitude plates were converged and accreted. According to the features of the conodont faunas, the Qinling Faunal Region can be divided into the North Tarim, Wudang, Scandic and Pingliang provinces.展开更多
Late Olenekian assemblages in the western Panthalassa have been recovered from bedded radiolarian chert sequences of an accretionary complex, the Ashio belt. These faunas are documented and considered in terms of radi...Late Olenekian assemblages in the western Panthalassa have been recovered from bedded radiolarian chert sequences of an accretionary complex, the Ashio belt. These faunas are documented and considered in terms of radiolarian diversity and faunal turnover during the latest Permian to Middle Triassic time. The fauna includes 30 radiolarians belonging to Spumellaria or Entactinaria, with two relicts from the Late Permian. This late Olenekian fauna is markedly different from Permian and Anisian faunas, respectively, and is herein named the Minowa fauna. Study of the literature indicates that radiolarian provinces were significantly disconnected between the western Panthalassa and eastern Tethys during late Olenekian time. Furthermore, 121 of 143 species disappeared during late Olenekian time, and in turn 118 new species appeared in the western Panthalassa around the Olenekian Anisian boundary. It is concluded that faunal turnover occurred at least three times between the latest Permian and Middle Triassic. The first turnover is the Paleozoic type radiolarian extinction at the Permian Triassic boundary, the second is the diversification of spheroidal Spumellaria and Entactinaria between early and late Olenekian time, and the third is a faunal turnover from the Minowa fauna to the true Mesozoic type radiolarian faunas that are characterized by multi segmented Nassellaria.展开更多
Sedentary crop-livestock mixed farming is the predominant agricultural land use in Central Himalaya upland and largely rainfed;agrochemicals are not used at all. Farmers focus on increasing yields with poor soil ferti...Sedentary crop-livestock mixed farming is the predominant agricultural land use in Central Himalaya upland and largely rainfed;agrochemicals are not used at all. Farmers focus on increasing yields with poor soil fertility management practices resulted in sharp decline in production of pea crop in the study site. Therefore in present study options are being looked into devising some conservation strategies that increase yields of pea while reducing harm to soil biodiversity at a local scale here. The present study explores the efficiency of P. excavatus as endemic earthworm species for vermicomposting, the potential utilization of Conventional oak based farmyard manure (FM-O);Conventional pine based farmyard manure(FM-P);Earthworm fed ? Cow dung + oak leaves based vermicompost (VC-O);Earthworm fed ? Cow dung + pine leaves based vermicompost (VC-P);freshly fallen leaf litter (LM) on pea crop productivity and soil faunal diversity in agricultural system, and if the changed soil faunal biodiversity scenario in any way affected the crop production. The higher uptake of nitrogen, higher germination percentage enhanced seedling growth, early emergence flower, increase number of pods, seed, husk , and root biomass was significantly higher in plants which received VC-O followed by VC-P as manure input treatments. The change in the diversity of soil micro arthropods in relation to quality change in organic residues input in experimental plots and expressed as the Simpsons diversity index showed that the diversity of soil fauna is related to improvements in soil conditions resulting from nutrient manipulations through vermicompost and conventional compost treatments. This response of soil biota to increased production most likely represents an increase in the availability of resources through addition of vermicompost when compared to other compost treatments. Alternatively, an increase in predators and therefore predation, could, increase the diversity of its prey, thereby decreasing dominant competitors and reducing the possibility of competitive exclusion, but this needs further studies. Chronosequence study during cropping season indicated that the composition and abundance of soil fauna in agricultural fields changed considerably with time under cultivation. This technology has now been adopted by the farmers in the area once again for growing the pea crop.展开更多
Present study is carried out in the bone samples collected from Roopkund Lake in district Chamoli Garhwal, Uttarakhand which is located at 5,029 meters from main sea level in between Nanda Ghunghti and Trishuli peak. ...Present study is carried out in the bone samples collected from Roopkund Lake in district Chamoli Garhwal, Uttarakhand which is located at 5,029 meters from main sea level in between Nanda Ghunghti and Trishuli peak. This historical site belongs to 9th century A.D. All the samples selected for the study were dried in room temperature as well as hot air oven at 32 ~C. Cleaning, pretreatment and digestion process of faunal remains was followed through established scientific methods. Chemical analysis i.e. concentration of different elements such as calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium and zinc as well as isotopic ratios of Carbon and Nitrogen was estimated with the help of ICP （inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy） and AAS （atomic absorption spectrophotometer）. The results obtained from the chemical analysis are significant. On the basis of concentration of different elements and ratios of Nitrogen and Carbon isotopes, the dietary habits of the peoples buried in the Roopkund Lake are identified, which is different from sample to sample person to person. Besides this, the results are also significantly helpful for knowing the preservation status of faunal remains in Roopkund Lake. Finally this study also indicated the potentiality of chemical analysis for reconstructing the palaeodiet behaviour and preservation status of bone remains.展开更多
This article examines the abundant marine mollusc,and fish remains at the Jingtoushan shell midden(8,300 to7,800 cal a BP)in Zhejiang Province,China,to investigate the fishing economy,community development,the palaeoe...This article examines the abundant marine mollusc,and fish remains at the Jingtoushan shell midden(8,300 to7,800 cal a BP)in Zhejiang Province,China,to investigate the fishing economy,community development,the palaeoenvironment,and their interactions among the prehistoric populations in the lower Yangtze River Basin and southeastern coastal China.It also attempts to explore the prosperity and decline of coastal settlements in China during the Neolithic Age and the potential reasons for their rise and fall,respectively.Based on the ecological and biological principles of marine animals,standard zooarchaeological methods and radiocarbon dating analysis are used for sampling,identification,measurement,and quantification.Results show that at least 11 mollusc taxa and 14 fish taxa can be identified from the Jingtoushan faunal assemblage.The ancient Jingtoushan residents possibly lived in a settlement close to the coast and engaged in inshore and offshore fishing,hunting,and gathering as their primary subsistence strategies,with low-level rice cultivation as a supplementary means of sustenance.Eventually,the changes in the coastal environment could be one of the reasons why the Jingtoushan residents abandoned their settlement.The research contributes to Chinese Neolithic archaeology with new evidence of the exploitation of marine resources around 8000 a BP in the eastern coastal areas and the relationship between Neolithic community development and environmental changes.展开更多
One of the largest Ordovician sea-level rises is the Evae transgression,which occurs in the lower part of the Oepikodus evae Biozone,indicative of a late Floian age.Specifically,the characteristics associated with the...One of the largest Ordovician sea-level rises is the Evae transgression,which occurs in the lower part of the Oepikodus evae Biozone,indicative of a late Floian age.Specifically,the characteristics associated with the highstand of this event included:a higher proportion of specimens of the index species O.evae than other species,a diversity acme in the evae Biozone,and a reduction of biogeographic barriers that resulted in a high proportion of species with cosmopolitan distribution.In the present contribution,the pattern of species similarity among Laurentia,Argentine Precordillera,Baltica,Kazakhstania,South China,and Australia is evaluated with a multiple coefficient analysis including only the sections that recorded the highstand of the Evae transgression.Moreover,the effect of possible terrestrial,latitudinal,physicochemical barriers and palaeogeographic distance on the species distribution is statistically analysed.Our results show a global pattern of conodont species distribution that is highly constrained by the tested palaeoenvironmental factors.This suggests that contrary to what was expected for a prominent transgression,faunal barriers did not decrease significantly during the Evae drowning peak.展开更多
We examined the global biogeography of the Scytodes thoracica group of spitting spiders based on 23 years of sampling at the species level(61 species in the thoracica group and 84 species of Scytodes)using DNA data fr...We examined the global biogeography of the Scytodes thoracica group of spitting spiders based on 23 years of sampling at the species level(61 species in the thoracica group and 84 species of Scytodes)using DNA data from six loci.Our results indicated that the thoracica group initially dispersed from Southeast Asia to East Africa between 46.5 and 33.0 million years ago,and dispersal events intensified between Southeast/South Asia and East/South Africa from the early to late Miocene.The timing of these events indicates that Asian-African faunal exchange of the thoracica group was driven by the Indian monsoon,and the pattern of dispersal suggests that colonialization took root when the Indian monsoon shifted from a North-South direction to an East-West direction from the middle Eocene.展开更多
We here report a paleoecological analysis and depositional history of the marine Jurassic (Toarcian–early Bajocian) strata cropping out in the western part of Thailand, based on bivalve assemblages with additional da...We here report a paleoecological analysis and depositional history of the marine Jurassic (Toarcian–early Bajocian) strata cropping out in the western part of Thailand, based on bivalve assemblages with additional data from ammonites, brachiopods, and microfossils. Generally, the benthic bivalve facies in most outcrops is rich in infaunal, semi-infaunal and epifaunal suspension-feeders. Of these, infaunal forms dominate. The diversity of this benthic assemblage was influenced by energy level, substrate, sedimentation rate, and salinity. Low to intermediate energy levels and rather soft fine-grained siliciclastic substrate are proposed as factors governing faunal distribution and explaining the greater abundance and diversity of infaunal than epifaunal suspension-feeders. There were paleoenvironmental changes both in space and time, i.e., from south to north (Umphang to Mae Sot) and from Early Bajocian to Toarcian. In the Toarcian, most outcrops in Umphang are dominated by benthic bivalve facies (infaunal, semi-infaunal, and epifaunal associations). This implies warm, shallow water (inner neritic, 50―100 m) and oxygenated conditions except for the Mae Sot area where a deeper setting (outer neritic to possibly upper continental slope, 50―200 m) with restricted basinal anoxic conditions is favored as indicated by the presence of Bositra. After higher energy conditions in the Toarcian, lower energy conditions with low sediment supplies prevail in the Alenian, and the Mae Sot area was still a restricted basin. As a result of higher sea levels, the oxygen content in the basin is increased, resulting in the presence of the ammonites. By the end of the Alenian-early Bajocian, an ammonite-bivalve association (mixed facies A) and the presence of corals and microfauna (mixed facies B) are dominant but pass upwards to near-shore higher energy conditions in most areas except for restricted basin in Mae Sot. By the middle Bajocian the environment in all areas had changed from marine to nonmarine.展开更多
We collected available chorological data of birds and mammals in China and assigned faunal types.The 19 sub-regions of the zoogeographical regions of China were used as operative geographical units.Matrices of the geo...We collected available chorological data of birds and mammals in China and assigned faunal types.The 19 sub-regions of the zoogeographical regions of China were used as operative geographical units.Matrices of the geo-graphical units using the species number of each faunal type were then constructed.Based on the matrices we clustered the geographical units using a hierarchical cluster analysis The results of the faunal divisions according to the cluster analysis were illustrated in a geographic information system(GIS).When 19 geographical units were clustered into two clusters,the boundary of the two clusters corresponded to that of the Palearctic and Indomalayan(Oriental)realms in the recent division of Chinese fauna.When the geographical units were clustered into eight clusters,the sub-region Southern Yunnan Hilly became an idiographic cluster.As a result,Southern Yunnan hilly should be regarded as a region rather than a sub-region at the same level as Southwest region,Central China region and South China region.The differences in the distribution patterns of birds and mammals among the units in the Indomalayan(Oriental)realm were more complicated than those in Palearctic realm.Afew differences of the cluster analysis results based on the faunal types were found between the bird and mammal species.These differences might result from the different ecological and geographical distribution patterns of these two animal categories.展开更多
Cenozoic terrestrial mammals from Sardinia contribute substantial information for reconstructing the complex his-tory of the western Mediterranean.The occurrence of endemic perissodactyls in Eocene marine and marsh de...Cenozoic terrestrial mammals from Sardinia contribute substantial information for reconstructing the complex his-tory of the western Mediterranean.The occurrence of endemic perissodactyls in Eocene marine and marsh deposits suggests the existence of ecological or physical barriers between the Corso-Sardinian massif and the Iberian-Occitanic area.At the end of the Oligocene,isolation of Sardinia was almost complete,although a migration from Europe occurred at the beginning of the Early Miocene,as indicated by the unbalanced endemic fauna from Oschiri.During the Late Miocene,the Tusco-Sardinian palaeobioprovince came into existence as an isolated region inhab-ited by the quite diversified,but notably endemic,Oreopithecus fauna.Sardinia was definitely isolated from Tuscany by the Messinian,but temporary connections with the European mainland possibly allowed the colonization of forerunners of some Sardinian Pliocene taxa.During the Plio-Pleistocene,Sardinia maintained permanent isolation.However,sea level drop,resulting in a relatively short distance between Sardinia and the European mainland,allowed different migratory events.From the Late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene–Holocene,two main mammalian faunal complexes(FC)can be recognized:the Nesogoral FC(Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene)and the Microtus(Tyrrhenicola)FC(late Early Pleistocene–Early Holocene).At the transition from Nesogoral to Microtus(Tyrrhenicola)FC,approximately 47%of the genera and 76%of the species disappeared,while approximately 58%of the genera and 71%of the species appeared.A noticeable turnover followed the arrival of Neolithic man and his accompanying fauna.Nonetheless,Praemegaceros was still present at about 7000 years BP,while Microtus(Tyrrhenicola)and Prolagus are respectively recorded in the Bronze and Iron Ages.展开更多
文摘The Ordovician conodont faunal provinces were previously divided into the Midcontinent and Atlantic Faunal Regions situated respectively in low and high latitudes, where warm- and cold-water type conodont faunas flourished respectively. According to the international correlation this paper proposes the third Ordovician conodont faunal region—Qinling Faunal Region, in which cold-water conodont faunas were well developed in the Early to middle Middle Ordovician and warm-water conodont faunas were well developed in the late Middle and Late Ordovician, indicating that the Qinling Region was situated in high latitudes earlier and in low latitudes later. The origin was only due to plate movement. In the Qinling Region the time interval of the change of the conodont fauna from the cold- to warm-water type was 4 Ma (from 474 to 470 Ma), during which the fauna geographically spanned 40° of latitudes, with a movement velocity of nearly 1.12 m/a, indicating that the high-latitude plates were divorced and reduced in the late Middle Ordovician, while the low-latitude plates were converged and accreted. According to the features of the conodont faunas, the Qinling Faunal Region can be divided into the North Tarim, Wudang, Scandic and Pingliang provinces.
文摘Late Olenekian assemblages in the western Panthalassa have been recovered from bedded radiolarian chert sequences of an accretionary complex, the Ashio belt. These faunas are documented and considered in terms of radiolarian diversity and faunal turnover during the latest Permian to Middle Triassic time. The fauna includes 30 radiolarians belonging to Spumellaria or Entactinaria, with two relicts from the Late Permian. This late Olenekian fauna is markedly different from Permian and Anisian faunas, respectively, and is herein named the Minowa fauna. Study of the literature indicates that radiolarian provinces were significantly disconnected between the western Panthalassa and eastern Tethys during late Olenekian time. Furthermore, 121 of 143 species disappeared during late Olenekian time, and in turn 118 new species appeared in the western Panthalassa around the Olenekian Anisian boundary. It is concluded that faunal turnover occurred at least three times between the latest Permian and Middle Triassic. The first turnover is the Paleozoic type radiolarian extinction at the Permian Triassic boundary, the second is the diversification of spheroidal Spumellaria and Entactinaria between early and late Olenekian time, and the third is a faunal turnover from the Minowa fauna to the true Mesozoic type radiolarian faunas that are characterized by multi segmented Nassellaria.
文摘Sedentary crop-livestock mixed farming is the predominant agricultural land use in Central Himalaya upland and largely rainfed;agrochemicals are not used at all. Farmers focus on increasing yields with poor soil fertility management practices resulted in sharp decline in production of pea crop in the study site. Therefore in present study options are being looked into devising some conservation strategies that increase yields of pea while reducing harm to soil biodiversity at a local scale here. The present study explores the efficiency of P. excavatus as endemic earthworm species for vermicomposting, the potential utilization of Conventional oak based farmyard manure (FM-O);Conventional pine based farmyard manure(FM-P);Earthworm fed ? Cow dung + oak leaves based vermicompost (VC-O);Earthworm fed ? Cow dung + pine leaves based vermicompost (VC-P);freshly fallen leaf litter (LM) on pea crop productivity and soil faunal diversity in agricultural system, and if the changed soil faunal biodiversity scenario in any way affected the crop production. The higher uptake of nitrogen, higher germination percentage enhanced seedling growth, early emergence flower, increase number of pods, seed, husk , and root biomass was significantly higher in plants which received VC-O followed by VC-P as manure input treatments. The change in the diversity of soil micro arthropods in relation to quality change in organic residues input in experimental plots and expressed as the Simpsons diversity index showed that the diversity of soil fauna is related to improvements in soil conditions resulting from nutrient manipulations through vermicompost and conventional compost treatments. This response of soil biota to increased production most likely represents an increase in the availability of resources through addition of vermicompost when compared to other compost treatments. Alternatively, an increase in predators and therefore predation, could, increase the diversity of its prey, thereby decreasing dominant competitors and reducing the possibility of competitive exclusion, but this needs further studies. Chronosequence study during cropping season indicated that the composition and abundance of soil fauna in agricultural fields changed considerably with time under cultivation. This technology has now been adopted by the farmers in the area once again for growing the pea crop.
文摘Present study is carried out in the bone samples collected from Roopkund Lake in district Chamoli Garhwal, Uttarakhand which is located at 5,029 meters from main sea level in between Nanda Ghunghti and Trishuli peak. This historical site belongs to 9th century A.D. All the samples selected for the study were dried in room temperature as well as hot air oven at 32 ~C. Cleaning, pretreatment and digestion process of faunal remains was followed through established scientific methods. Chemical analysis i.e. concentration of different elements such as calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium and zinc as well as isotopic ratios of Carbon and Nitrogen was estimated with the help of ICP （inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy） and AAS （atomic absorption spectrophotometer）. The results obtained from the chemical analysis are significant. On the basis of concentration of different elements and ratios of Nitrogen and Carbon isotopes, the dietary habits of the peoples buried in the Roopkund Lake are identified, which is different from sample to sample person to person. Besides this, the results are also significantly helpful for knowing the preservation status of faunal remains in Roopkund Lake. Finally this study also indicated the potentiality of chemical analysis for reconstructing the palaeodiet behaviour and preservation status of bone remains.
基金the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology for supporting this studysupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.T2192950)。
文摘This article examines the abundant marine mollusc,and fish remains at the Jingtoushan shell midden(8,300 to7,800 cal a BP)in Zhejiang Province,China,to investigate the fishing economy,community development,the palaeoenvironment,and their interactions among the prehistoric populations in the lower Yangtze River Basin and southeastern coastal China.It also attempts to explore the prosperity and decline of coastal settlements in China during the Neolithic Age and the potential reasons for their rise and fall,respectively.Based on the ecological and biological principles of marine animals,standard zooarchaeological methods and radiocarbon dating analysis are used for sampling,identification,measurement,and quantification.Results show that at least 11 mollusc taxa and 14 fish taxa can be identified from the Jingtoushan faunal assemblage.The ancient Jingtoushan residents possibly lived in a settlement close to the coast and engaged in inshore and offshore fishing,hunting,and gathering as their primary subsistence strategies,with low-level rice cultivation as a supplementary means of sustenance.Eventually,the changes in the coastal environment could be one of the reasons why the Jingtoushan residents abandoned their settlement.The research contributes to Chinese Neolithic archaeology with new evidence of the exploitation of marine resources around 8000 a BP in the eastern coastal areas and the relationship between Neolithic community development and environmental changes.
基金supported by the Centro de Investigaciones Geol ogicas Aplicadas (CIGEA) (FCEFy NUNC)the Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología (Se Cy T-UNC),Universidad Nacional de C ordoba,Argentina。
文摘One of the largest Ordovician sea-level rises is the Evae transgression,which occurs in the lower part of the Oepikodus evae Biozone,indicative of a late Floian age.Specifically,the characteristics associated with the highstand of this event included:a higher proportion of specimens of the index species O.evae than other species,a diversity acme in the evae Biozone,and a reduction of biogeographic barriers that resulted in a high proportion of species with cosmopolitan distribution.In the present contribution,the pattern of species similarity among Laurentia,Argentine Precordillera,Baltica,Kazakhstania,South China,and Australia is evaluated with a multiple coefficient analysis including only the sections that recorded the highstand of the Evae transgression.Moreover,the effect of possible terrestrial,latitudinal,physicochemical barriers and palaeogeographic distance on the species distribution is statistically analysed.Our results show a global pattern of conodont species distribution that is highly constrained by the tested palaeoenvironmental factors.This suggests that contrary to what was expected for a prominent transgression,faunal barriers did not decrease significantly during the Evae drowning peak.
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to S.Q.L.(XDB31000000)National Natural Sciences Foundation of China to Y.F.L.(NSFC-31860602,32170463,31660611)。
文摘We examined the global biogeography of the Scytodes thoracica group of spitting spiders based on 23 years of sampling at the species level(61 species in the thoracica group and 84 species of Scytodes)using DNA data from six loci.Our results indicated that the thoracica group initially dispersed from Southeast Asia to East Africa between 46.5 and 33.0 million years ago,and dispersal events intensified between Southeast/South Asia and East/South Africa from the early to late Miocene.The timing of these events indicates that Asian-African faunal exchange of the thoracica group was driven by the Indian monsoon,and the pattern of dispersal suggests that colonialization took root when the Indian monsoon shifted from a North-South direction to an East-West direction from the middle Eocene.
基金Supported by Special Basic Research Program of Ministry of Science and Techno-logy of China (Grant No. 2006 FY 120300) National Committee of Stratigraphy of China
文摘We here report a paleoecological analysis and depositional history of the marine Jurassic (Toarcian–early Bajocian) strata cropping out in the western part of Thailand, based on bivalve assemblages with additional data from ammonites, brachiopods, and microfossils. Generally, the benthic bivalve facies in most outcrops is rich in infaunal, semi-infaunal and epifaunal suspension-feeders. Of these, infaunal forms dominate. The diversity of this benthic assemblage was influenced by energy level, substrate, sedimentation rate, and salinity. Low to intermediate energy levels and rather soft fine-grained siliciclastic substrate are proposed as factors governing faunal distribution and explaining the greater abundance and diversity of infaunal than epifaunal suspension-feeders. There were paleoenvironmental changes both in space and time, i.e., from south to north (Umphang to Mae Sot) and from Early Bajocian to Toarcian. In the Toarcian, most outcrops in Umphang are dominated by benthic bivalve facies (infaunal, semi-infaunal, and epifaunal associations). This implies warm, shallow water (inner neritic, 50―100 m) and oxygenated conditions except for the Mae Sot area where a deeper setting (outer neritic to possibly upper continental slope, 50―200 m) with restricted basinal anoxic conditions is favored as indicated by the presence of Bositra. After higher energy conditions in the Toarcian, lower energy conditions with low sediment supplies prevail in the Alenian, and the Mae Sot area was still a restricted basin. As a result of higher sea levels, the oxygen content in the basin is increased, resulting in the presence of the ammonites. By the end of the Alenian-early Bajocian, an ammonite-bivalve association (mixed facies A) and the presence of corals and microfauna (mixed facies B) are dominant but pass upwards to near-shore higher energy conditions in most areas except for restricted basin in Mae Sot. By the middle Bajocian the environment in all areas had changed from marine to nonmarine.
基金supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30370215)the International Cooperation Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30611120127)the Talent Cultivation Project of Anhui University.
文摘We collected available chorological data of birds and mammals in China and assigned faunal types.The 19 sub-regions of the zoogeographical regions of China were used as operative geographical units.Matrices of the geo-graphical units using the species number of each faunal type were then constructed.Based on the matrices we clustered the geographical units using a hierarchical cluster analysis The results of the faunal divisions according to the cluster analysis were illustrated in a geographic information system(GIS).When 19 geographical units were clustered into two clusters,the boundary of the two clusters corresponded to that of the Palearctic and Indomalayan(Oriental)realms in the recent division of Chinese fauna.When the geographical units were clustered into eight clusters,the sub-region Southern Yunnan Hilly became an idiographic cluster.As a result,Southern Yunnan hilly should be regarded as a region rather than a sub-region at the same level as Southwest region,Central China region and South China region.The differences in the distribution patterns of birds and mammals among the units in the Indomalayan(Oriental)realm were more complicated than those in Palearctic realm.Afew differences of the cluster analysis results based on the faunal types were found between the bird and mammal species.These differences might result from the different ecological and geographical distribution patterns of these two animal categories.
文摘Cenozoic terrestrial mammals from Sardinia contribute substantial information for reconstructing the complex his-tory of the western Mediterranean.The occurrence of endemic perissodactyls in Eocene marine and marsh deposits suggests the existence of ecological or physical barriers between the Corso-Sardinian massif and the Iberian-Occitanic area.At the end of the Oligocene,isolation of Sardinia was almost complete,although a migration from Europe occurred at the beginning of the Early Miocene,as indicated by the unbalanced endemic fauna from Oschiri.During the Late Miocene,the Tusco-Sardinian palaeobioprovince came into existence as an isolated region inhab-ited by the quite diversified,but notably endemic,Oreopithecus fauna.Sardinia was definitely isolated from Tuscany by the Messinian,but temporary connections with the European mainland possibly allowed the colonization of forerunners of some Sardinian Pliocene taxa.During the Plio-Pleistocene,Sardinia maintained permanent isolation.However,sea level drop,resulting in a relatively short distance between Sardinia and the European mainland,allowed different migratory events.From the Late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene–Holocene,two main mammalian faunal complexes(FC)can be recognized:the Nesogoral FC(Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene)and the Microtus(Tyrrhenicola)FC(late Early Pleistocene–Early Holocene).At the transition from Nesogoral to Microtus(Tyrrhenicola)FC,approximately 47%of the genera and 76%of the species disappeared,while approximately 58%of the genera and 71%of the species appeared.A noticeable turnover followed the arrival of Neolithic man and his accompanying fauna.Nonetheless,Praemegaceros was still present at about 7000 years BP,while Microtus(Tyrrhenicola)and Prolagus are respectively recorded in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
