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Size matters: elephantoid dispersal, evolution, paleoecology and extinction in Asia.

Grant


Scheme

  • Future Fellowships

Abstract

  • This research will use the rich fossil record of continental and insular elephants (including closely related extinct lineages) from Asia in reconstructing their dispersal, paleoecology and their evolutionary responses to natural environmental change and inter-specific competition during the past ~5 million years. It wil include analysing stable isotope records from enamel. Interactions between early humans and elephants will also be explored. The results will bring in new evidence in the debate on Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions. The integrated study of insular elephant body-size adjustments to island size and productivity may provide valuable information for the conservation of the ever-declining populations of elephants worldwide.

Date/time Interval

  • 2010 - 2015

Sponsor Award Id

  • FT100100384

Local Award Id

  • 11975

Scheme

  • Future Fellowships

Abstract

  • This research will use the rich fossil record of continental and insular elephants (including closely related extinct lineages) from Asia in reconstructing their dispersal, paleoecology and their evolutionary responses to natural environmental change and inter-specific competition during the past ~5 million years. It wil include analysing stable isotope records from enamel. Interactions between early humans and elephants will also be explored. The results will bring in new evidence in the debate on Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions. The integrated study of insular elephant body-size adjustments to island size and productivity may provide valuable information for the conservation of the ever-declining populations of elephants worldwide.

Date/time Interval

  • 2010 - 2015

Sponsor Award Id

  • FT100100384

Local Award Id

  • 11975