Bison body size and climate change.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between body size and temperature of mammals is poorly resolved, especially for large keystone species such as bison (Bison bison). Bison are well represented in the fossil record across North America, which provides an opportunity to relate body size to climate within a species. We measured the length of a leg bone (calcaneal tuber, DstL) in 849 specimens from 60 localities that were dated by stratigraphy and ¹⁴C decay. We estimated body mass (M) as M = (DstL/11.49)³. Average annual temperature was estimated from δ¹⁸O values in the ice cores from Greenland. Calcaneal tuber length of Bison declined over the last 40,000 years, that is, average body mass was 37% larger (910 ± 50 kg) than today (665 ± 21 kg).

SUBMITTER: Martin JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5938452 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature