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How could sympatric megaherbivores coexist? Example of niche partitioning within a proboscidean community from the Miocene of Europe

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Abstract

Although low in diversity, megaherbivores (mammals weighting over 103 kg) and especially proboscideans have a powerful impact on the structure and dynamics of present-day ecosystems. During the Neogene (23 to 2.6 Ma) of Europe, the diversity and geographic distribution of these megaherbivores was much greater. Nonetheless, their role in past ecosystems is unclear. Nutrition is one of the main bonds between organisms and their environment. Therefore, the ecology of organisms can be inferred from their dietary habits. The present study is aimed at characterizing the feeding habits of diverse megaherbivores through dental microwear analyses. This method was applied on cheek teeth of three sympatric species of proboscideans from the middle/late Miocene of the Molasse Basin in Southern Germany: Gomphotherium subtapiroideum, Gomphotherium steinheimense, and Deinotherium giganteum. The microwear signatures are significantly different between these taxa, suggesting differences in feeding habits and ecological niches within a woodland environment. D. giganteum probably browsed on dicotyledonous foliages whereas the two species of gomphotheres were neither strict grazers nor strict browsers and instead probably fed on a large spectrum of vegetal resources. The differences of occlusal molar morphology between the two gomphotheres are supported by the dental microwear pattern. Indeed, G. subtapiroideum probably ingested more abrasive material than G. steinheimense. Thus, our results suggest that these proboscideans did not compete for food resources.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to T. Kaiser and E. Schulz for discussions. IC thanks S. Legendre, G. Escarguel (Univ. Lyon, France), and the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon and the Office Franco-Allemand pour la Jeunesse for their financial supports. UG was financed by a Habilitation-Fellowship (Hochschul-Wissenschafts-Programm, HWP) of the University of Munich. GM was supported by the Humboldt Foundation (Germany) and the Singer-Polignac Foundation (France). The authors are grateful to M. Nargolwalla and L. Foley-Ducrocq for improving the quality and especially the English writing of this manuscript. Finally, the authors thank G. Rössner and two anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of that manuscript. The experiments performed for this study are in agreement with the French and German laws.

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  1. Gildas Merceron

    Present address: Natural History Museum of Vienna, Burgring 7, Vienna, 1010, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 5125 PEPS - University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Ivan Calandra

  2. Natural History Museum of Vienna, Burgring 7, Vienna, 1010, Austria

    Ursula B. Göhlich

  3. Zoological Institute and Museum - University of Hamburg, Martin Luther King Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Gildas Merceron

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  1. Ivan Calandra
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  2. Ursula B. Göhlich
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Correspondence to Gildas Merceron.

Electronic supplementary material

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S1

Location and time scale (DOC 408 KB)

S2

List material list (DOC 89 KB)

S3

Dental facet nomenclature. Occlusal views of right M2 and left M2 of Macaca mulatta with location of each dental facet superimposed (modified after Kay 1977). Stippled features symbolized the grinding facets (x, 9, 10n) that are involved in phase II during the mastication. Shearing facets (1a, 3a, 4a, 5) are hatched and are involved in the lingual and the buccal chewing phase I. The dental facets that are here investigated are drawn on an M3 of G. subtapiroideum (top) and an M2 of D. giganteum (below) (DOC 2.29 MB)

S4

ANOVA summary (DOC 92 KB)

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Calandra, I., Göhlich, U.B. & Merceron, G. How could sympatric megaherbivores coexist? Example of niche partitioning within a proboscidean community from the Miocene of Europe. Naturwissenschaften 95, 831–838 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0391-y

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