Biogeography Over Deep Ecological Time
Recent Research
Island Biogeography Across Long Time Scales; Long-Term Dynamics and Resilience of Island Plant and Animal Communities (NSF 1461496 2015-19; NSF 1118340, 2011-15)
In spite of numerous global efforts to assess biodiversity and to formulate plans to decrease the current rates of loss of species and populations, it is becoming increasingly clear that prospects for success depend on improving our understanding of the dynamics of ecosystems at local and regional scales. In this spirit we examined the long-term dynamics and resilience of terrestrial plant and animal communities in an island system. We studied both prehistoric and contemporary plant and animal communities on the islands of the West Indies -- The Bahamas and the Greater Antilles -- where recently discovered, extremely well-preserved plant and animal fossils in Hispaniola and the Bahamas provide unparalleled evidence of environmental change over the last glacial-interglacial transition through the Holocene. We describe the prehistoric terrestrial ecosystems and learn how biotic communities responded to long-term environmental fluctuations, including cultural impacts since the arrival of humans since about 1000 BP.
NEWS ABOUT THIS PROJECT FROM THE PI DAVID STEADMAN, FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, CAN BE FOUND HERE. AND HERE.
Selected publications (click on links):
​
Oswald, J.A., Steadman, D.W., Franklin, J., 2019, Unexpected limb proportions in a Pleistocene population of Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) from the Bahamas, 2019, Caribbean Naturalist 68:1-22 https://www.eaglehill.us/CANAonline/CANA-access-pages/CANA-regular/CANA-068-Oswald.shtml
​
Steadman, D. W., Albury N. A., Mead, J. I., Soto-Centeno J. A., Franklin, J., 2018, Holocene vertebrates from a dry cave on Eleuthera Island, Commonwealth of The Bahamas, The Holocene 5:806-813. DOI: 10.1177/0123456789123456
​
Steadman, D. W., Singleton, H. M., Delancy, K. M., Albury, N. A., Soto-Centeno, J. A., Gough, H., Duncan, N., Franklin, J., and Keegan, W. F., 2017, Late Holocene historical ecology: The timing of vertebrate extirpation on Crooked Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 12(4):572-584. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2017.1305469
​
Steadman, D. W. and Franklin, J., 2017, Origin, paleoecology and extinction of bluebirds and crossbills in the Bahamas across the last glacial-interglacial transition, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 114(37): 9924-9929
​
Steadman, D.W., Albury, N.A., Kakuk, B., Mead J.I., Soto-Centeno, J.A., Singleton H.M., Franklin, J., 2015, Vertebrate life on an ice-age Caribbean island. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 112(44):E5963-E5971 doi:10.1073/pnas.1516490112
​
​
​
​
​
An Integrated Paleoscape Model for the early Middle and Late Pleistocene of the South Coast of South Africa (NSF BCS 1138073 to C. Marean, PI, Arizona State University and Centre for Coastal Paleoscience, Nelson Mandela University, ZA)
Archaeological sites on the far southern shores of South Africa hold the world’s richest records for the behavioral and cultural origins of our species. Scientists have discovered at this location the earliest evidence for symbolic behavior, complex pyro-technology, projectile weapons, and the first use of foods from the sea.The scientists working on these sites have always faced a dilemma in understanding the context of these evolutionary milestones – much of the landscape used by these ancient people is now submerged undersea due to sea level rise since the last ice age, and thus poorly known to us. That has now changed with the publication of 22 articles in the 2020 special issue in Quaternary Science Reviews titled “The Palaeo-Agulhas Plain: A lost world and extinct ecosystem”. About ten years ago, we began building a transdisciplinary international team to tackle the problem of building an ecology of this ancient landscape. This effort represents a new model for going forward with our search to recreate the nature of past ecosystems. Importantly, our results help us understand why the archaeological records from these South African sites consistently reveal early and complex levels of human behavior and culture. The Palaeo-Agulhas Plain, when exposed, was a “Serengeti of the South” positioned next to some of the richest coastlines in the world. This unique confluence of food from the land and sea cultivated the complex cultures revealed by the archaeology, and provided safe harbor for humans during the glacial cycles that revealed that plain and made much of the rest of the world unwelcoming to human life.
Selected publications:
​
Marean, C.W., Cowling, R.M., Franklin, J., 2020, The Palaeo-Agulhas Plain: Temporal and spatial variation in an extraordinary, extinct ecosystem of the Pleistocene of the Cape Floristic Region, Quaternary Science Reviews Special Issue https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106161
​
Cowling, R.M., Potts, A.*, Franklin, J., Midgley, G.F., and Marean, C.W., 2020, Describing a drowned ecosystem: Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the PalaeoAgulhas Plain, Quaternary Science Reviews Special Issue https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105866
​
Engelbrecht F. A., C. W. Marean, R. M. Cowling, C. Engelbrecht, F. H. Neumann, L. Scott, R. Nkoana, D. O’Neal, E. Fisher, E. Shook, J. Franklin, M. Thatcher, J. McGregor, J. Van der Merwe, Z. Dedekind and M. Difford, 2019, Downscaling Last Glacial Maximum climate over southern Africa, Quaternary Science Reviews 226:105879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105879
​
Marean, C.W., Anderson, R.J., Bar-Matthews, M., Braun, K., Cawthra, H.C., Cowling, R.M., Engelbrecht, F., Esler, K.J., Fisher, E., Franklin, J., Hill, K., Janssen, M., Potts, A.J.*, Zahn, R., 2015, A new research strategy for integrating studies of climate, environment, and paleoanthropology, Evolutionary Anthropology 24:62-72. DOI 10.1002/evan.21443
​
Franklin, J., Potts, A.J.*, Fisher, E.C., Cowling, R.M. and Marean, C.W., 2015, Paleodistribution modeling in archaeology and paleoanthropology, Quaternary Science Reviews 110:1-14. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.12.015
​