RT Journal Article
T1 Long-period astronomical forcingof mammal turnover
A1 Dam, Juan A. van
A1 Aziz, Hayfaa Abdul
A1 Álvarez Sierra, María De Los Ángeles
A1 Hilgen, Frederik J.
A1 Hoek Ostende, Lars W. van den
A1 Lourens, Lucas J.
A1 Mein, Pierre
A1 Meulen, Albert J. van der
A1 Peláez-Campomanes de Labra, Pablo
AB Mammals are among the fastest-radiating groups, being characterizedby a mean species lifespan of the order of 2.5 million years (Myr)1,2. The basis for this characteristic timescale of origination, extinction and turnover is not well understood. Various studies have invoked climate change to explain mammalian species turnover3,4, but other studies have either challenged or only partly confirmed the climate–turnover hypothesis5–7. Here we use an exceptionally long (24.5–2.5Myr ago), dense, and welldated terrestrial record of rodent lineages from central Spain, and show the existence of turnover cycles with periods of 2.4–2.5 and 1.0Myr. We link these cycles to low-frequency modulations of Milankovitch oscillations8, and show that pulses of turnover occur at minima of the 2.37-Myr eccentricity cycle and nodes of the 1.2-Myr obliquity cycle. Because obliquity nodes and eccentricity minima are associated with ice sheet expansion and cooling and affect regional precipitation, we infer that long-period astronomical climate forcing is a major determinant of species turnover in small mammals and probablyother groups as well.
PB Nature Publishing Group
SN 0028-0836
YR 2006
FD 2006
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/51163
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/51163
LA eng
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 dic 2025