Tracing ancient animal husbandry in tropical Africa using the fossil spore assemblages of coprophilous fungi: a validation study in western Uganda

Goethals, Lore; Verschuren, Dirk

doi:10.1007/s00334-019-00760-3

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Coprophilous fungi grow on the excrement (dung) of large herbivores and their preservation in sediments indicates the presence of animals in the past. Though the spore assemblage does not distinguish between wild and domestic large herbivores, domestic herbivory is often inferred when the abundance of coprophilous spores occurs in association with crop pollen and/or other anthropogenic indicators (Goethals and Verschuren, 2020). The summed abundances of taxa such as Sporormiella, Sordaria, Podospora, and Chaetomium are suggested to be a more robust fungal-spore indicator for the presence of domestic large herbivores in an African context, rather than Sporormiella alone (Goethals and Verschuren, 2020) and they are widely used to infer pastoral activity near lakes (Cugny et al, 2010;Doyen and Etienne, 2017;Gelorini et al, 2012;Guillemot et al, 2015;López-Sáez and López-Merino, 2007;Razanatsoa et al, 2021b;Van Geel et al, 2003).…”

Section: Pollen Sediment Carbon Isotope Charcoal and Coprophilous Fungal Spore Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergy between climate and human land-use maintained open vegetation in southwest Madagascar over the last millennium

et al. 2021

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Madagascar experienced environmental change during the Late-Holocene, and the relative importance of climatic and anthropogenic drivers is still the subject of an ongoing debate. Using palaeoecological records from the southwest region at Lake Longiza, we provide additional records to elucidate the complex history of the island and to identify the changes that occurred in the tropical dry forest during the Late-Holocene. The data showed vegetation changes associated with climate variability until AD 900 as reflected by the variation in grass, dry-adapted taxa, deciduous trees, and isotope records. An increasing effect of human activities was recorded, indicated by increased coprophilous spore concentration, as a result of a shift from foraging to pastoralism leading to further opening of the ecosystem from AD 980. At the same time, the regional palaeoclimate record showed drier conditions from around AD 1000, which could have accentuated the changes in vegetation structure. More open vegetation was likely maintained by increased use of fire and herbivory around the area, as indicated by the multiple peaks in the charcoal and spore records. Since AD 1900, the pollen record from the southwest region showed that the ecosystem became increasingly open with an increased abundance of grass, pioneer taxa, and reduced diversity, which was linked to a simultaneous effect of climate and agropastoralism activities. Our study suggests that the dry conditions around AD 950 initiated the replacement of forest-dominant vegetation with grass-dominant communities over the last millennium, depicted as an open ecosystem at present. Subsequent changes in subsistence activities would have further maintained an open-structured ecosystem.

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Section: Pollen Sediment Carbon Isotope Charcoal and Coprophilous Fungal Spore Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergy between climate and human land-use maintained open vegetation in southwest Madagascar over the last millennium

et al. 2021

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“…To obtain a more complete picture of fungal activity, other SCF have been proven to be just as successful as Sporormiella at indicating the presence of herbivores in a landscape [14,35,36] (Figure 8). Generally, the best other SCF indicators are: the Cercophora type [4,6,54,55], the Podospora -type [9,35,38,54,56], and the Sordaria type [4,35,38,56,57]. However, it should be noted that this is attributed to their ability to withstand the 'standard' pollen preparation procedure.…”

Section: Morphological Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The SCF signal related to human activity can be modulated by factors other than the simple addition, or removal, of animals in a landscape. Goethals and Verschuren [55] found that the farming style (e.g., mixed subsistence) to which livestock are subject also has an effect on the fungal spore record. Furthermore, the growth of fungi, and thus the coprophilous fungal succession, will be influenced by local environments [13], seasonal changes, and geographical change.…”

Section: Vegetation and Landscape Influencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although improving, palaeoecology needs to become more globally applicable as studies that take place outside of North America and Europe are at a disadvantage due to the lack of indicator species identified [13,38]. Yet, progress is being made as studies, such as Montoya et al [87] in South America, Loughlin et al [88] in Ecuador, and Goethals and Verschuren [55] in Africa, increase in number.…”

Section: Improve Id Of Scf Through Morphological and Dna-based Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the Use of Spores of Coprophilous Fungi Preserved in Sediments to Indicate Past Herbivore Presence

2022

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Fungal spores that grew on the faeces of herbivores in the past can be extracted from sediments and used to identify the presence of herbivores in former ecosystems. This review: (i) examines the factors that should be considered when interpreting these fungal spores, (ii) assesses the degree to which they can be used to estimate past herbivore populations and biomass density change, and (iii) identifies gaps in our current understanding that limit, or confound, the information that can be extracted from the fungal spore record. We focus on the life cycles of coprophilous fungi and highlight the importance of understanding spore dispersal mechanisms to ensure robust palaeoecological interpretation. We then discuss how variation in methodological approaches across studies and modifications can influence comparability between studies. The key recommendations that emerge relate to: (i) improving our understanding of the relationship between spores of coprophilous fungi (SCF) and herbivores through the study of the coprophilous fungi succession; (ii) refining our understanding of how climate and environment parameters effect fungal spore abundance, with particular reference to estimating past herbivore biomass density; and (iii) enhancing sedimentary DNA (SedaDNA) analysis to identify SCF that do not allow preservation in a way that allows visual identification. To further this field of study and provide more robust insights into herbivores in the past, we suggest that additional research is required to help to reduce bias during the preparation process, that concertation metrics are used for the quantification of SCF, and that multiple cores should be taken in each site and multiproxy analysis should be utilised.

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“…This means, for example that the youngest fossil of a species never represents the true last appearance – a principle known as the Signor–Lipps effect (Signor & Lipps 1982). In addition to direct evidence, palaeoecological studies can also utilise specific proxies for the presence of mammals, in particular dung fungi (Davies 2019, Goethals & Verschuren 2019) and parasites such as oribatid mites (Chepstow‐Lusty et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental DNA and metagenomics of terrestrial mammals as keystone taxa of recent and past ecosystems

Seeber

Epp

2022

Mammal Review

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Terrestrial mammals shape their ecosystems, and mammalian community assemblages can be important indicators of ecosystem functioning and ecosystem changes over time. Numerous taxa of terrestrial mammals are currently threatened by habitat loss and face displacement to new geographical areas or systems to which they are less suited and where they may affect the original communities. Understanding past ecosystem changes is important for predicting future responses of species assemblages to changes in their environments. Thus, ecological and evolutionary history, as well as adaptive capacity, are important predictors of future population viability. Genomic and metagenomic approaches using environmental or ancient DNA offer a wealth of information regarding genome‐wide variation of changing communities or of taxonomic groups over time, which may help explain past changes and predict future responses of communities to changes in their environment; however, to date, such studies are relatively scarce. We review studies on environmental DNA and environmental genomics of terrestrial mammals to assess the potential of such approaches regarding past, contemporary, and future terrestrial ecosystems, identify inherent challenges, and discuss potential applications. We elaborate on lessons to be learned from mammal genomics of past ecosystems and compare metabarcoding with general metagenetic and metagenomic techniques. We provide a comprehensive overview of current applications, challenges, and future potential of environmental DNA with regards to terrestrial mammals. As current major challenges regarding mammalian eDNA we identify its scarcity and patchy distribution, along with the persistent necessity of genomic reference data. While the latter are steadily increasing, the former can only be tackled by explicitly mapping the environment to gain understanding of spatial eDNA distribution. Such understanding may facilitate informed choices of sample sites and substrates and, together with new sequencing techniques, this can allow mammalian eDNA to be maximally exploited as a source of biodiversity data.

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Tracing ancient animal husbandry in tropical Africa using the fossil spore assemblages of coprophilous fungi: a validation study in western Uganda

Cited by 11 publications

References 62 publications

Synergy between climate and human land-use maintained open vegetation in southwest Madagascar over the last millennium

Synergy between climate and human land-use maintained open vegetation in southwest Madagascar over the last millennium

On the Use of Spores of Coprophilous Fungi Preserved in Sediments to Indicate Past Herbivore Presence

Environmental DNA and metagenomics of terrestrial mammals as keystone taxa of recent and past ecosystems

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