BMC ecology.
Discontinued
Publisher:
BioMed Central,
Country: England
Language: English
Start Year:2001 - 2020
Identifiers
| ISSN: | 1472-6785 (Electronic) 1472-6785 (Linking) |
| NLM ID: | 101088674 |
| (OCoLC): | 47657382 |
| LCCN: | 2002243068 |
Ancient feeding ecology inferred from stable isotopic evidence from fossil horses in South America over the past 3 Ma. Stable isotope ratios (13C/12C and 18O/16O) in fossil teeth and bone provide key archives for understanding the ecology of extinct horses during the Plio-Pleistocene in South America; however, what happened in areas of sympatry between Equus (Amerhippus) and Hippidion is less understood. Results: Here, we use stable carbon and oxygen isotopes preserved in 67 fossil tooth and bone samples for seven species of horses from 25 different localities to document the magnitude of the dietary shifts of horses and ancient floral change during the Plio-Pleistocene. Dietary reconstructions inferred from s...
Impacts of feral horses on a desert environment. Free-ranging horses (Equus caballus) in North America are considered to be feral animals since they are descendents of non-native domestic horses introduced to the continent. We conducted a study in a southern California desert to understand how feral horse movements and horse feces impacted this arid ecosystem. We evaluated five parameters susceptible to horse trampling: soil strength, vegetation cover, percent of nonnative vegetation, plant species diversity, and macroinvertebrate abundance. We also tested whether or not plant cover and species diversity were affected by the presence of hors...