Biology subjects

Marciszak, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Marciszak, A..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Trophic adaptation of large terrestrial omnivores to global change

Large omnivores at the top of food webs play a key role in ecosystems, as their ability to feed on multiple trophic levels stabilizes food-web dynamics and impacts ecosystem functioning. However, it is largely unexplored how large omnivores adapt their trophic interactions to altered resource availability under global change, particularly in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we combine macroecological and paleoecological approaches and reveal that extant bears, the largest terrestrial omnivores, adapt their trophic position in food webs dynamically to net primary productivity and growing season length. Throughout their geographic ranges, extant bears occupy higher trophic positions in unproductive ecosystems with short growing seasons than in productive ecosystems with long growing seasons. Consistent with this geographic pattern, the trophic position of the brown bear sharply decreased at the transition from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene, coinciding with an increase in net primary productivity and growing season length. These findings demonstrate that trophic interactions of omnivores are not static but change dynamically in response to environmental change. Our findings suggest that global change impacts on primary production and vegetation seasonality may trigger shifts in the functional role of omnivores, with consequences for food webs and ecosystem functions. Significance statementLarge omnivores play a key role in ecosystems, as they stabilize food-web dynamics and impact ecosystem functioning. However, how omnivores adapt their trophic interactions to changes in resource availability under global change remains unexplored. Combining macroecological and paleoecological approaches, we show that extant bears, the largest terrestrial omnivores, occupy lower trophic positions in food webs as net primary productivity and growing season length increase. This trophic adaptation is evident across the geographic ranges of all extant terrestrial bear species and for brown bears at the transition from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. Therefore, impacts of global change on primary production and vegetation seasonality may trigger shifts in the functional role of omnivores, with consequences for food webs and ecosystems. One sentence summaryGlobal changes in primary productivity and vegetation seasonality alter the functional role of large omnivores in terrestrial ecosystems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Chronostratigraphy of Jerzmanowician.New data from Koziarnia Cave, Poland.

Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) sites are sparse, and Koziarnia Cave in Poland is one of only few such sites situated at the eastern fringe of LRJ. The aim of the recent study was to obtain new chronostratigraphic data for the LRJ industries due to their extreme scarcity in Central Europe. Although the new fieldworks did not bring new fossil directeur such as bifacial leafpoints, a detail debitage analysis enabled identifying a presence of the ventral thinning chips in layer D, which could be identified as the LRJ assemblage-containing stratum. Besides the LRJ assemblage, strata with traces of Late Middle Palaeolithic and Early Gravettian occupation were found at the site. The radiocarbon dates of Koziarnia samples show that the archaeological settlement represent one of the oldest Gravettian stays north to Carpathians. What is more, these dates demonstrate that the cave had been alternately occupied by humans and cave bears. Additionally the radiocarbon dates indicate rather young chronology of the Jerzmanowician occupation in Koziarnia Cave (c.a. 39-36 ky cal. BP). The results confirm the possibility of long chronology of the LRJ technocomplex, exceeding the Campanian Ignimbrite event.

paleontology↗

bioRxiv2018

Human mediated dispersal of cats in the Neolithic Central Europe

Archaeological and genetic evidence suggest that all domestic cats derive from the Near Eastern wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) and were domesticated twice, first in the Near East around 10 000 years ago and for the second time in Ancient Egypt ca. 3 500 years ago. The spread of the domesticated form in Europe occurred much later, primarily mediated by Greek and Phoenician traders and afterwards by Romans who introduced cats to Western and Central Europe around 2 000 years ago. We investigated mtDNA of Holocene Felis remains and provide evidence of an unexpectedly early presence of cats bearing the Near Eastern wildcat mtDNA haplotypes in Central Europe, being ahead of Roman Period by over 2 000 years. The appearance of the Near Eastern wildcats in Central Europe coincide with the peak of Neolithic settlement density, moreover most of those cats belonged to the same mtDNA lineages as those domesticated in the Near East. Thus, although we cannot fully exclude that the Near Eastern wildcats appeared in Central Europe as a result of introgression with European wildcat, our findings strongly support the hypothesis that the Near Eastern wildcats spread across Europe together with the first farmers, perhaps as commensal animals. We also found that cats dated to the Neolithic period belonged to different mtDNA lineages than those brought to Central Europe in Roman times, this supports the hypothesis that the gene pool of contemporary European domestic cats might have been established from two different source populations that contributed in different periods.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2016

Impact of climatic changes in the Late Pleistocene on migrations and extinctions of mammals in Europe: four case studies

Climate changes that occurred during the Late Pleistocene have profound effects on the distribution of many plant and animal species and influenced the formation of contemporary faunas and floras of Europe. The course and mechanisms of responses of species to the past climate changes are now being intensively studied by the use of direct radiocarbon dating and genetic analyses of fossil remains. Here, we review the advances in understanding these processes by the example of four mammal species: woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), cave bear (Ursus spelaeus s. l.), saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) and collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx ssp.). The cases discussed here as well as others show that the migrations, range shifts and local extinctions were the main responses to climate changes and that the dynamics of these climate driven processes were much more profound than it was previously thought. Each species reacted by its individual manner, which depended on its biology and adaptation abilities to the changing environment and climate conditions. The most severe changes in European ecosystems that affected the largest number of species took place around 33-31 ka BP, during the Last Glacial Maximum 22-19 ka BP and the Late Glacial warming 15-13 ka BP.

evolutionary biology↗