Mammoths and the Environment

About this book

The study of fossilised remains of herbivorous animals, particularly those rare findings with well-preserved gastrointestinal tracts filled with plant remains, is crucial to our understanding of the environment in which they lived. Summarising thirty years of research, Ukraintseva presents evidence on plants once eaten by Siberia's major herbivorous mammals. The collection of pollen and plant spores from food remains sheds light on the vegetation of these ancient habitats, enabling researchers to reconstruct local floras of the time. This also promotes further insight into the causes of the extinction of various species due to changing environmental conditions and food availability. Providing a history of the research undertaken, the book also includes specific chapters on the Cherski horse and bison, along with the vegetation and climate of Siberia in the late Anthropogene period, making it a lasting reference tool for graduate students and researchers in the field.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. Some pages of history
2. Material and methods
3. The mammoth faunal complex
4. Solving the mysteries of the Siberian mammoth and its companions
5. Food remains of fossil herbivorous mammals as indicators of Late Quaternary floras in the North of Siberia
6. Vegetation and climate of Siberia in the Late Quaternary
7. Why did the mammoths die out so quickly?
8. Summary

Glossary
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Valentina V. Ukraintseva is Chief Investigator at the State Biosphere Reserve 'Taymyrskiy', Department of Research Investigations, Russia. She has published extensively on mammoths, is a member of the Mammoth Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is also president of the Palynological Section of the Russian Botanical Society.