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Late Pleistocene Plants and Animals of the Sonoran Desert: a Survey of Ancient Packrat Middens in Southwestern Arizona

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Late Pleistocene Plants and Animals of the Sonoran Desert: a Survey of Ancient Packrat Middens in Southwestern Arizona Late Pleistocene plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert: a survey of ancient packrat middens in southwestern Arizona Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Van Devender, Thomas R. 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 27/09/2021 15:06:28 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565295 LATE PLEISTOCENE PLANTS AND ANIMALS OF THE SONORAN DESERT: A SURVEY OF ANCIENT PACKRAT MIDDENS IN SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA by Thomas Roger Van Devender A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN GEOCHRONOLOGY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1 9 7 3 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Thomas Roger Van Devender___________________ entitled LATE PLEISTOCENE PLANTS AND ANIMALS OF THE SONORAN DESERT: A SURVEY OF ANCIENT PACKRAT MIDDENS IN SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA_________________________________ be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of P h i l osophy_____________________________ e c J ■ 7? Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* 2 4 o l £ 7? 2 / Oct 21 /£ /sLe/y ? (Pet, ? 3 0 0^. r>3 This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the Uni­ versity Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that ac­ curate 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 judgment 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: R-0 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to a man and a place that helped pioneer the studies of ecology, phytogeography and bioclimatology in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Forrest Shreve was one of the first students of the deserts of the southwestern United States. He es­ tablished many concepts concerning the relationships of vegetation to rock and soil types, slope, aspect, eleva­ tion and climatic parameters. Although he had only limited data from simple instruments, his concepts have become the foundations of modern ecological research in the Sonoran Desert. I think he would have been extremely interested in the biotic and climatic records preserved in Pleistocene- aged packrat middens from the Sonoran Desert. Both Dr. Shreve1s and my research were conducted at the laboratories at Tumamoc Hill. In Shreve’s days, the facilities were known as the Carnegie Desert Labora­ tories. I knew them first as the Geochronology Laboratories and then as the Laboratory of Paleoenvironmental Studies. Tumamoc Hill is truly an inspirational place to work. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my appreciation to Drs. Paul S. Martin, Everett H. Lindsay, George G. Simpson, Robert B. Chiasson, and C. Roger Hungerford who provided many helpful suggestions during the research, and read and edited this manuscript. I especially thank Dr. Paul S. Martin for arousing my interest in the Pleistocene biota and climate, and fossil packrat middens. This dissertation has been accomplished with the help of many people. Mr. Kevin B. Moodie, University of Arizona; Mr, R. Wayne Van Devender, University of Michigan? Mr. Allan Gottesfeld, University of California at Berkeley? and Dr. James E. King, Illinois State Museum, helped in various aspects of the field work. Dr. Charles H. Lowe, University of Arizona, provided financial support for two years, and helped me to understand and love the deserts of the southwestern United States. Mrs. Betty Fink, Paleo- environmental Laboratories on Tumamoc Hill, helped in many ways, but especially in the editing of rough drafts of the dissertation. My wife Susan Gayle provided support in innumerable ways. Financial support was received from National Science Foundation Grant GB-27406 awarded to Dr. P. S. iv V Martin and a National Defense Education Act Title IV Predoctoral Fellowship for 1968-70. The American Smelting and Refining Company Fellowship to the Department of Geo­ sciences, University of Arizona, provided support for the 1972-73 academic year. Dr. Austin Long and the Radiocarbon Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, furnished the many radiocarbon dates used in this study. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF T A B L E S ..................................... viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................ ix ABSTRACT ........................................... xi INTRODUCTION . , ......................... ..... 1 PACKRAT ECOLOGY .............. ................ .. 6 Den Structure................................... 7 Environmental Adaptations .... .............. 10 F o o d ............... 11 METHODS ............................................. 14 Plant Identification ......... ........ 16 Sampling Techniques............................ 17 Radiocarbon D a t e s .............. 27 PHYTOGEOGRAPHY................ 34 Pleistocene Communities ............. 59 ZOOGEOGRAPHY ....................................... 66 Reptiles and Amphibians ......................... 72 M a m m a l s ......................................... 74 Comparison of Plant and Animal D a t a ............ 78 CLIMATIC INFERENCES ................................. 80 Pleistocene Temperature and Precipitation .... 80 Nature of the C l i m a t e ...................... 86 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ...... ............ 90 Related Changes in Plant Communities .......... 91 Faunal Changes ................................. 94 Late Wisconsin Climates.......... 97 Timing of the Climatic Change .......... 99 vi vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page APPENDIX A: FOSSIL PLANT AND ANIMAL ASSEMBLAGES IN 18 PACKRAT MIDDENS FROM THE SONORAN DESERT IN A R I Z O N A ............ 105 APPENDIX B: IDENTIFICATION OF FOSSIL SNAKE VERTEBRAE ............................. 159 LITERATURE CITED ................................... 173 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1, Compositional differences in four samples from two fossil packrat middens collected in the Sonoran Desert of A r i z o n a ........ .. 19 2, Relative percentages for weights, total counts, and counts minus juniper of plant fossils from four midden samples ....... 20 3, Data for 18 late Pleistocene and postglacial middens from the present Sonoran Desert in Arizona, including elevation (in meters1, ratiocarbon date (in years before present = YBP), radiocarbon laboratory number, and material used for dating 28 4, Plant fossils from three packrat middens from the Artillery Mountains in southern Mohave County, Arizona ........ ....... 36 5, Plant fossils from four packrat middens from the Kofa (Brass Cap Point and Burro Canyon) and New Water Mountains, Yuma County, A r i z o n a ............................... 39 6, Plant fossils in four ancient packrat middens from the Wellton Hills, Yuma County, A r i z o n a ............................... 44 7, Fossil plants from six packrat middens from the Tucson area (Tucson Mountains and Wolcott Peak) ............................. 46 8, Fossil amphibians, reptiles and mammals from ancient packrat middens from the Sonoran Desert in Arizona ..................... 67 9, Fossil amphibians, reptiles and mammals from early postglacial packrat middens from the Wellton Hills, Yuma County, A r i z o n a ................................. 69 10. Ephemeral plant data from fossil packrat middens from the Sonoran Desert of Arizona . 87 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Ground plan of a house of Neotoma albigula from one mile southwest of Gateway, Colorado described by Finley (1958) ....................................... 9 2. Fossil packrat midden from Burro Canyon, Kofa Mountains, Yuma County, Arizona, collected at 860 meters elevation ...... 15 3. Locality of 18 fossil packrat middens from the Sonoran Desert of Ar i z o n a ............ 35 4. Vertical distribution analysis of plant fossils from Pleistocene packrat middens from the Artillery Mountains (A2,3) and the Kofa Mountains (BC1) from 725 and 860 meter elevations, Mohave and Yuma Counties, Arizona ..................... 54 5. Vertical distribution analysis of plant fossils from Pleistocene packrat middens from elevations of 550 to 615 meters in Mohave (Al) and Yuma (BCP1;NW2,4,7) Counties, Arizona ........................... 55 6. Vertical distribution analysis of plant fossils from Pleistocene packrat middens at 740 to 890 meter elevations, from the Tucson
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