Instruction for authors
Authors may submit abstracts for either oral or poster presentations. All accepted abstract will be included in
the conference proceedings. After the conference, the authors will be encouraged to submit full papers to the
special issue of Quaternary International.
Abstracts should be submitted by e-mail as attachments in Word-format. The text including captions, key
words and references should not exceed 1000 words and may include 1 figure. Please send figures separately in
jpg or tiff format. Abstracts are to be limited to two A4-sized pages inclusive of supporting figure and references.
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Title – font size 12 (bold), centered;
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An example of abstract text formatting is given below. If you wish to provide a figure, please send it separately
in jpg or tiff format.
Biostratigraphic correlations and environmental gradients: correlating the
arvicoline faunas of northern Eurasia
A.V. Borodin, E.A. Markova, T.V. Strukova
Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. E-mail: bor@ipae.uran.ru
Key words: biochronology, biostratigraphy, biozones, small mammals, phylogeny, northern Eurasia
In the Northern Hemisphere, the arvicolines represent the group of mammals which is the most
widely used for the biostratigraphic and biochronological purposes due to their rapid evolution, abundant
fossil record, wide geographical ranges and high rates of dispersal in Eurasia and North America. At the
same time, the well pronounced zoogeographical differences at regional level exist within the continents
determined by their latitudinal or (and) longitudinal extent, and the relief. The boundaries of
biochronological units in different regions are often diachronous and based on different taxa that causes
considerable difficulties in interregional correlations (e.g., Vangengeim, Tesakov, 2008). For example,
the need for independent biochronologies in low and high latitudes of the North America has been
considered by Bell et al. (2004) and the problems of interregional correlations within Eurasia (based on
micromammals) are discussed by many authors (e.g., Fejfar et al., 1998; Maul, Markova, 2007).
Vangengeim and Tesakov (2008) emphasize the need to develop the criteria and approaches to correlate
the data from different zoogeographic provinces and landscapegeographic zones.
Our previous studies show that one of the possible ways to solve the problem of interregional
biochronological correlations in the Northern Eurasia is to develop the approach based on the analogy
between the modern biogeographic gradient and the gradual change in faunal composition along the
latitudinal gradient of environment in the central part of Northern Eurasia, namely in the Trans-Urals and
Western Siberia, detected at different stages of the Quaternary. Based on the key taxa and their latitudinal
range overlaps, several zones were proposed according to the north-south gradient (Fig. 1). To designate
the zones, we use index A (“area”, because these zones characterize the distribution areas of the key
taxa). The key lineages and taxa are as follows: †Mimomys intermedius or †M. savini (M.i.) → †A.
mosbachensis (A.m.) → †A. chosaricus-kalmankensis (A.ch.) → A. terrestris (A.t.); †Allophaiomys
deucalion (A.d.) → †A. pliocaenicus (A.p.) → Microtus (Stenocranius): † Stenocranius hintoni (S.h.), →
†S. gregaloides (S.gd.), → S. gregalis (S.g.); †Borsodia newtoni (B.n.) → †Prolagurus ternopolitanus
(Pl.t.) → †P. pannonicus (Pl.p.) → †Lagurus transiens (L.t.) → L. lagurus (L.l.); †Praedicrostonyx
hopkinsi (Pd.h.) → †Pd. compitalis or †Pd. meridionalis (Pd.m.) → †D. renidens (D.r.) → †D. simplicior
(D.s.) → †D. henseli (D.h.) → D. torquatus (D.t.). The latitudinal biochronological zones are established
based on the geographic occurrence of the key lineages of Arvicolinae in the Quaternary localities in the
Trans-Urals and Western Siberia and entitled using the Latin names of the terminal taxa (at generic or
subgeneric level) of those lineages: АI latitudinal zone includes the distribution area of collared lemming
(Dicrostonyx lineage); АII zone includes the area of the shared occurrence of Dicrostonyx &
Stenocranius; AIII zone includes the area where Dicrostonyx & Stenocranius & Arvicola & Lagurus may
be found together; AIV zone includes the area of the shared occurrence of Stenocranius & Arvicola &
Lagurus.
The zones are numbered sequentially from I to IV according to the north-south gradient in the
Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. However, we suggest that the principle of shared geographical
occurrence of the key taxa shown in the fig. 1 may be also used in other regions with pronounced
latitudinal or altitudinal zonation. Gradual change in species composition over space allows one to link
the synchronous faunas of different zones along the environmental gradient based on the evolutionary
level of the key taxa.
When correlating the arvicoline faunas, any fauna may be placed to a particular spatiotemporal
position in the table shown at the fig. 1 according to the evolutionary level of the key taxa and to the
range of its distribution in geographical space. For example, a hypothetical fauna comprising Dicrostonyx
simplicior, M. (Stenocranius) gregaloides and Lagurus transiens should be placed to the biochronological
zone MQR5, and to the geographical zone AIII. A hypothetical fauna comprising the only one species (of
the key taxa mentioned above) belonging to Arvicola lineage and corresponding to the evolutionary level
of A. mosbachensis should be placed to the biochronological zone MQR3, and to the geographical zones
AIII-IV (Fig. 1).
The key taxa used here represent the most common arvicolines distributed in the Northern
Hemisphere during the Quaternary. By adding the data on the composition of regional faunas for a given
period of geological time one may reconstruct the gradients in the composition of micromammal
communities along the regional environmental gradients.
References
Bell C.J., Repenning C.A., Barnosky A.D., 2004. Arvicoline rodents from Porcupine Cave –
identification, spatial distribution, taxonomic assemblages, and biochronologic significance. In: Barnosky
A.D. (ed.) Biodiversity Response to Climate Change in the Middle Pleistocene – the Porcupine Cave
Fauna from Colorado. - California, Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. Р. 207-263.
Fejfar O., Heinrich W.D., Lindsay E.H., 1998. Updatind the Neogene Rodent biochronology in
Europe. MNITG-TNO. Vol. 60. Р. 533-554.
Maul L.C., Markova A.K, 2007. Similarity and regional differences in Quaternary arvicolid
evolution in Central and Eastern Europe. Quaternary International. 160, 81–99.
Vangengeim E.A., Pevzner M.A., Tesakov A.S., 2001. Zonal subdivisions of the Quaternary in
Eastern Europe based on small mammals. Stratigraphy and geological correlation. 9 (3). P. 280-292.
Vangengeim E.A., Tesakov A.S., 2008. Principles of construction for the biochronological scales
based on the Pliocene and Pleistocene mammals. State of art. Bulletin of Commission for Quaternary
Research. N68. P. 59-69 (in Russian).
Fig.1. Combinations of the key arvicoline taxa showing the principle of shared geographic
occurrence applied to biochronological correlation of the Quaternary faunas of the regions with
pronounced environmental gradients in Northern Eurasia. The combinations known in the Trans-Urals
and Western Siberia are marked with grey.