Institute for Scientific Archaeology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2020 Jul 22;15(7):e0235692. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235692. eCollection 2020.
Nowadays, opportunistic small predators, such as foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Vulpes lagopus), are well known to be very adaptable to human modified ecosystems. However, the timing of the start of this phenomenon in terms of human impact on ecosystems and of the implications for foxes has hardly been studied. We hypothesize that foxes can be used as an indicator of past human impact on ecosystems, as a reflection of population densities and consequently to track back the influence of humans on the Pleistocene environment. To test this hypothesis, we used stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N) of bone collagen extracted from faunal remains from several archaeological sites located in the Swabian Jura (southwest Germany) and covering a time range over three important cultural periods, namely the Middle Palaeolithic (older than 42,000 years ago) attributed to Neanderthals, and the early Upper Palaeolithic periods Aurignacian and Gravettian (42,000 to 30,000 years ago) attributed to modern humans. We then ran Bayesian statistic systems (SIBER, mixSIAR) to reconstruct the trophic niches and diets of Pleistocene foxes. We observed that during the Middle Palaeolithic period, when Neanderthals sparsely populated the Swabian Jura, the niches occupied by foxes suggest a natural trophic behavior. In contrast, during the early Upper Palaeolithic periods, a new trophic fox niche appeared, characterized by a restricted diet on reindeer. This trophic niche could be due to the consumption of human subsidies related to a higher human population density and the resulting higher impact on the Pleistocene environment by modern humans compared to Neanderthals. Furthermore, our study suggests that, a synanthropic commensal behavior of foxes started already in the Aurignacian, around 42,000 years ago.
如今，一些机会主义的小型捕食者，如狐狸（Vulpes vulpes 和 Vulpes lagopus），由于能够很好地适应人类改造的生态系统而广为人知。然而，对于这种现象开始的时间（即人类对生态系统的影响）以及对狐狸的影响，几乎没有进行研究。我们假设狐狸可以作为过去人类对生态系统影响的指示物，反映种群密度，从而追溯人类对更新世环境的影响。为了验证这一假设，我们使用了来自德国西南部施瓦本汝拉山脉（Swabian Jura）几个考古遗址的动物群遗骸中的骨骼胶原进行稳定同位素分析（δ13C、δ15N），这些遗骸的时间跨度涵盖了三个重要的文化时期，即中石器时代（早于 42000 年前，归因于尼安德特人），以及早更新世的奥瑞纳克文化时期（Aurignacian）和格拉维特文化时期（Gravettian）（42000 至 30000 年前，归因于现代人）。然后，我们运行了贝叶斯统计系统（SIBER、mixSIAR）来重建更新世狐狸的营养生态位和饮食。我们观察到，在中石器时代，当尼安德特人稀疏地居住在施瓦本汝拉山脉时，狐狸占据的生态位表明它们具有自然的营养行为。相比之下，在早更新世时期，出现了一个新的狐狸营养生态位，其特点是对驯鹿的饮食限制。这种营养生态位可能是由于人类密度较高导致的人类副产物的消耗，以及与尼安德特人相比，现代人对更新世环境的影响更高。此外，我们的研究表明，狐狸的共生共栖行为早在奥瑞纳克文化时期（约 42000 年前）就已经开始了。
