TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sommer, Robert S.
A1  - Kalbe, Johannes
A1  - Ekstrom, Jonas
A1  - Benecke, Norbert
A1  - Liljegren, Ronnie
T1  - Range dynamics of the reindeer in Europe during the last 25,000 years
JF  - Journal of biogeography
N2  - Aim To understand the role and significance of the reindeer, Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758), as a specific indicator in terms of late Quaternary biogeography and to determine the effects of global climate change on its range and local extinction dynamics at the end of the Ice Age.
 Location Late Pleistocene/early Holocene range of reindeer over all of central and western Europe, including southern Scandinavia and northern Iberia, but excluding Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine.
 Methods Radiocarbon-dated subfossil records of R. tarandus from both archaeological and natural deposits younger than 25,000 years were assembled in a database. The distribution area was divided into six representative regions. The C-14 dates were calibrated and plotted chronologically in maps in order to compare presence and absence and regional extinction patterns from one region to another.
 Main conclusions The late Quaternary record for reindeer in Europe during the last 25 kyr shows a climate-driven dispersal and retreat in response to climate change, with regional variations. The collapse of the mammoth steppe biome did not lead to the local extinction in Europe, as in the case of other megafaunal species. Rangifer tarandus co-existed for about 3000 years during the Late Glacial and early Holocene with typical temperate species such as red deer and roe deer in non-analogue faunal communities. The regional extinction at the end of the Pleistocene coincides with the transition from light open birch/pine forests to pine/deciduous forests.
KW  - Climate change
KW  - environmental change
KW  - extinction
KW  - global change
KW  - late Quaternary
KW  - Pleistocene/Holocene transition
KW  - Rangifer tarandus
KW  - reindeer
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12193
SN  - 0305-0270
SN  - 1365-2699
VL  - 41
IS  - 2
SP  - 298
EP  - 306
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -