The identification of extant european bird remains: a review of the literature

Stewart, John R.; Carrasquilla, Francisco Hernández

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1212(199707/08)7:4<364::aid-oa377>3.0.co;2-p

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Fossil bird bones are often fragmented and oftentimes relegated to incertae sedis beyond Aves (Stewart and Hernandez Carrasquilla 1997). This can limit their utility from a taxonomic standpoint (Mannermaa and Stora 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of weathering on bird bone survivorship in modern and fossil saline-alkaline lake environments

Prassack¹

2011

Paleobiology

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A modern Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) assemblage was collected along the shoreline of Lake Emakat, a saline-alkaline lake in northern Tanzania. Taphonomic analysis found the assemblage to be heavily weathered. This is likely due to the bone's heightened exposure to solar radiation and corrosive soil and water chemistries, as is expected to occur in such depositional environments.Analysis found that deep, wide, longitudinal cracks penetrate the medullar cavities of both weathered and unweathered long bones. The cause and taphonomic consequence of these cracks are addressed here, using data from Lake Emakat and from controlled studies. Results support repeated (episodic) submersion, followed by drying, as the causal mechanism behind thesewet-drycracks. Mineral salt uptake by bone may explain the early appearance and prevalence of these cracks in saline-alkaline lake settings, as compared to other depositional settings.The rate of weathering and incidence of wet-dry cracking varies significantly across limb elements. This difference correlates to element specific resistance properties to external loading forces. Heavy weathering weakens the structural integrity of bone and can accelerate its fragmentation. This can lead to bird bone loss in nearshore and ephemeral wetland settings, which may then affect resulting skeletal part, diversity, and richness profiles. Heavy weathering can therefore obscure important taphonomic and paleoecological information.The weathering data collected here are then applied to a fossil bird assemblage from the FLK Complex, (late Pliocene), Olduvai Gorge, in Tanzania. Results provide evidence for the effect of weathering on paleoecological and behavioral interpretations. Weathering should be considered when analyzing fossil bird assemblages.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of weathering on bird bone survivorship in modern and fossil saline-alkaline lake environments

Prassack¹

2011

Paleobiology

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“…Avian anatomical description has made use of the terminology described in Baumel [ 25 ]. Stewart and Hernandez-Carrasquilla [ 26 ] published a review of literature which aids identification of bird skeletal remains and, where relevant, such literature has been consulted. Hence, Woolfenden [ 27 ] has been consulted for the identification of the Anseriformes as a whole; Woelfle [ 28 ] for ducks; Bacher [ 29 ] for swans and geese; Fitzgerald [ 30 ] for Gaviformes; Schmidt-Burger [ 31 ] for hawks; Solti [ 32 , 33 ] for larger and smaller falcons; Stewart [ 34 ] for the thrushes; Langer [ 35 ] for owls; Gruber [ 36 ] for storks; Kellner [ 37 ] for herons; Stewart [ 38 ] for the starlings and cranes; Kraft [ 39 ] for smaller gamebirds; Fick [ 40 ] and Cassoli [ 41 ] for pigeons, doves and sandgrouse, and Tomek and Bochenski [ 42 ] for crows.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Long Term Response of Birds to Climate Change: New Results from a Cold Stage Avifauna in Northern England

Stewart

Jacobi

2015

PLoS ONE

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The early MIS 3 (55–40 Kyr BP associated with Middle Palaeolithic archaeology) bird remains from Pin Hole, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England are analysed in the context of the new dating of the site’s stratigraphy. The analysis is restricted to the material from the early MIS 3 level of the cave because the upper fauna is now known to include Holocene material as well as that from the Late Glacial. The results of the analysis confirm the presence of the taxa, possibly unexpected for a Late Pleistocene glacial deposit including records such as Alpine swift, demoiselle crane and long-legged buzzard with southern and/or eastern distributions today. These taxa are accompanied by more expected ones such as willow ptarmigan /red grouse and rock ptarmigan living today in northern and montane areas. Finally, there are temperate taxa normally requiring trees for nesting such as wood pigeon and grey heron. Therefore, the result of the analysis is that the avifauna of early MIS 3 in England included taxa whose ranges today do not overlap making it a non-analogue community similar to the many steppe-tundra mammalian faunas of the time. The inclusion of more temperate and woodland taxa is discussed in the light that parts of northern Europe may have acted as cryptic northern refugia for some such taxa during the last glacial. These records showing former ranges of taxa are considered in the light of modern phylogeographic studies as these often assume former ranges without considering the fossil record of those taxa. In addition to the anomalous combination of taxa during MIS 3 living in Derbyshire, the individuals of a number of the taxa are different in size and shape to members of the species today probably due to the high carrying capacity of the steppe-tundra.

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“…Second, we checked for possible misidentifications of the specimens extracted from the bibliographic search, especially regarding specimens assigned to Aquila sp. Following different atlas and osteological guides (Baumel, 1993; García‐Matarranz, 2013; Schmid, 1972) and some synthesis works for the studied palaeontological records (Hernández‐Carrasquilla, 1993; Mlíkovský, 2002; Steward & Hernández‐Carrasquilla, 1997; Tyrberg, 1998), we performed a morphometric comparative analysis of diagnostic anatomical elements to distinguish Bonelli's eagles ( Aquila fasciata = Hieraaetus fasciatus ) from other large Mediterranean accipitrids that might cause confusion. This allowed us to assess whether species assignment made by the authors of the reviewed studies could contain errors due to confusion with similar species.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, we checked for possible misidentifications of the specimens extracted from the bibliographic search, especially regarding specimens assigned to Aquila sp. Following different atlas and osteological guides (Baumel, 1993;García-Matarranz, 2013;Schmid, 1972) and some synthesis works for the studied palaeontological records (Hernández-Carrasquilla, 1993;Mlíkovský, 2002;Steward & Hernández-Carrasquilla, 1997;Tyrberg, 1998) and (c) between the density of Bonelli's and golden eagles (pairs/ km 2 ) and mean HF for each Spanish province. For each province, we excluded those areas that were too cold for holding Bonelli's eagle pairs (i.e.…”

Section: Fossil Record Of Bonelli's Eaglementioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife following people: A multidisciplinary assessment of the ancient colonization of the Mediterranean Basin by a long‐lived raptor

Moleón,

Graciá,

García

et al. 2024

People and Nature

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Modern humans widely shaped present ecosystems through intentional and unintentional geographical redistribution of wildlife, both in historical and pre‐historical times. However, the patterns of ancient human‐mediated indirect changes in wildlife range are largely unknown, and the mechanisms behind them remain obscure. We used a multidisciplinary approach to (a) reconstruct the process of colonization of the Mediterranean Basin by a long‐lived bird of prey, the Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata), and (b) test the hypothesis that this colonization was unintentionally favoured by anatomically modern humans through a release of competition by dominant species, primarily golden eagles (A. chrysaetos). The fossil record of Bonelli's eagles in the Mediterranean Basin was restricted to the last c. 50 ky. This timing matches the period of modern human presence in Europe. Distribution modelling showed that Bonelli's eagles find more suitable conditions in interglacial periods, while glacial maxima are largely unfavourable unless in coastal refugia. In agreement with this, all Bonelli's eagle's fossils were found in coastal areas, and demographic inference from genetic data revealed a drop in the effective population size by around the last glacial maximum. In today's communities, we found a strongly asymmetric competitive relationship between (subordinate) Bonelli's and (dominant) golden eagles, with the former occupying far more humanized areas than the latter both at the landscape scale and the local (i.e. nesting cliff) scale. Moreover, the nesting habitat overlap analysis indicated that, in the absence of the other species, a notably higher population of Bonelli's eagle, but not of golden eagle, could be expected. Our findings are consistent with the human‐mediated competitor release hypothesis, by which anatomically modern humans could have unintentionally favoured the large‐scale colonization by Bonelli's eagles of a previously competitively hostile Mediterranean Basin. Reconstructing the role of ancient humans in shaping present ecosystems may help to understand the historical, current and future population trajectories of competing species of conservation concern under the ongoing scenario of global environmental change. It also illustrates how human‐mediated apparent competition may promote large‐scale redistribution and colonization of wildlife, including long‐lived species. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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The identification of extant european bird remains: a review of the literature

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

The effect of weathering on bird bone survivorship in modern and fossil saline-alkaline lake environments

The effect of weathering on bird bone survivorship in modern and fossil saline-alkaline lake environments

The Long Term Response of Birds to Climate Change: New Results from a Cold Stage Avifauna in Northern England

Wildlife following people: A multidisciplinary assessment of the ancient colonization of the Mediterranean Basin by a long‐lived raptor

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