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Pollen Analysis of Fossil Dung of Ovis Canadensis from Southern Nevada

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Pollen Analysis of Fossil Dung of Ovis Canadensis from Southern Nevada Pollen analysis of fossil dung of Ovis canadensis from southern Nevada Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Spaulding, Walter Geoffrey, 1950- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 17:09:26 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/566368 POLLEN ANALYSIS OF FOSSIL DUNG OF OVIS CANADENSIS FROM SOUTHERN NEVADA by W alter Geoffrey Spaulding A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 4 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of re­ quirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judg­ ment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: QMQh<. n QuMf ALLEN M . SOLOMON V <Date Assistant Professor of Geosciences ACKNOWLEDG MENTS The research for this report was done at the Laboratory of Pa- leoenvironmental Studies, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, under the direction of A. M. Solomon. The aid of the per­ sonnel of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, Las Vegas, Nevada, particularly Jack He Ivy and James Constantino, was invaluable. Field work was done with the aid of C. W. Ogston, A. M. Solomon, and J. E. King. Austin Long of the Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, The University of Arizona, provided two radiocarbon dates. Richard Brooks of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, first directed our attention to the area, and P. S. Martin encouraged its study. Plant specimens were identified at the Herbarium of The University of Arizona by C. T. Mason and Richard Halse. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................... v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS....................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT..................... vii INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................... 1 The Vegetation and Physiography of the Study Area ......................... 2 METHODS AND PROCEDURES................................................................................ 10 Sample C o lle c tio n .......................................................................................... 10 Pollen E xtraction............................................................................................ 10 RESULTS........................................................................................................................ 14 Vegetation S tu d y ............................................................................................. 14 Pollen A n aly sis................................................................................................ 24 Flaherty Shelter Stratigraphy ............... 30 D ISC U SSIO N ............................................................................................................ 36 The H olocene V egetation..................................................................................36 Desert Bighorn Behavior............................................................................. 38 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................. 44 APPENDIX: POLLEN COUNTS AND RELATIVE FREQUENCIES.......................46 REFERENCES.................................................................................................................. 54 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Study area in C lark County, N e v a d a ............................................... 3 2. Flaherty S h e l t e r ....................................................................................... 5 3. Relative frequencies of anemophilous pollen from fecal pellets from Cow Camp Spring, Clark County, Nevada . 26 4. Relative frequencies of entomophilous pollen from fecal pellets from Cow Camp Spring, Clark County, Nevada . 27 5. Relative frequencies of anemophilous pollen from samples from Flaherty Shelter Unit I, Clark County, Nevada .... 28 6. Relative frequencies of entomophilous pollen from samples from Flaherty Shelter Unit I, Clark County, Nevada .... 29 7. Pollen grain, undeterm ined type 1.....................................................31 8. Flaherty Shelter Unit I ........................................................................... 33 9. View south from the east side of the Sheep Range......................42 vi ABSTRACT The Sheep Range of southern Nevada is in Clark County, 35 km north of Las Vegas. Postglacial-age dung deposits of the desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) occur there in large rock shelters between 1,525 and 1,830 meters elevation. I excavated Flaherty Shelter (1,650 meters elevation) and studied the pollen content of the ancient feces. A sample (A-1296), 2.5 cm from the top of the deposit, was dated at 2,400 + 150 radiocarbon years old, and a sample (A-1297), 47.5 cm from the top (2.5 cm from the bottom of the top unit) was dated at 6,950 + 320 radiocarbon years. I compared relative pollen frequencies from the dung midden to those from modern fecal pellets collected semimonthly in the Sheep Range. On the basis of the modern analog, the prehistoric occupation of Flaherty Shelter was determined to have been restricted to late spring or early summer. There was no apparent deviation from this pattern over 4,500 years. This study shows that, while pollen analysis of large-herbivore feces is not ideal for the study of past climates, the method will aid in reconstructing seasonal migration patterns, food habits, and other fea­ tures of herbivore life history through time. vii INTRODUCTION Fossil herbivore dung has long been recognized as a source of paleoecological information. Analysis of plant cuticles in dung is a useful tool to interpret past environments (Laudermilk and Munz 1934, Iberall 1972). Pollen analysis of herbivore coprolites is seldom at­ tempted. The purpose of this study is to probe some limitations in the use of pollen in fossil herbivore dung and to describe the information that may be obtained. Work with the remarkable organic deposits found in certain desert caves may give some new insight into their paleoeco­ logical potential. A primary assumption in this study is that pollen from herbivore feces cannot be treated in the same manner as that from an open basin of deposition. The factors affecting the relative pollen content of her­ bivore feces must be studied. Movements of the animal, selective feed­ ing habits, random pollen ingestion, seasonal habitation, and plant phenology must be considered in order to determine the limitations and possible interpretations. Variables associated with pollen deposition in limnetic sediments, such as differential pollen sedimentation (Davis and Brubaker 1973) and differential preservation and redeposition, either do not apply here or operate differently in fecal deposits. Bartos (1972) has examined modern mule deer fecal pellets with these problems in mind. To provide some control in the pollen analysis of the Flahe^TShelter dung, the vegetation of the area and fecal pellets of modern bighorn were studied. 1 2 Past paleoecological studies in southern Nevada on late Pleisto­ cene packrat (Neotoma sp.) middens (Wells and Jorgensen 1964, Wells and Berger 1967), alluvial and lacustrine deposits in the Las Vegas Val­ ley (Wormington and Ellis 1967), and ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shas- tense) dung from Gypsum Cave (Laudermilk and Munz 1934) have little direct bearing on this study. On the basis of fossil pollen in the Las Vegas Valley, Mehringer (1967) concluded that, in the last 7,000 years, there has been no major climatic change in southern Nevada. Following Bartos' (1972) study, some limitations and potential uses of copropalynology are examined. Previous climatic interpretations based on pollen in feces (Martin, Sabels and Shutler 1961) are examined. This study also attempts to establish whether the prehistoric occupation of Flaherty Shelter by bighorn sheep was seasonal. The fossil pollen in Flaherty Shelter may support or modify Mehringer's (1967) conclusion that there has been no major climatic change in this area during the mid­ dle and late Holocene. The Vegetation and Physiography of the Study Area The Sheep Range ranges in elevation from 1,220 m at its south­ ern base to 3,022 m at Hayford Peak (Fig. 1). It is uptilted in a manner typical of block faulting in the Basin and Range province. There are steep scarps on the west side and gentle slopes down to
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