0
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Fate and preservation of the Late Pleistocene cave bears from Niedźwiedzia Cave in Poland, through taphonomy, pathology, and geochemistry

      research-article
      1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 1 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 1 , 1 , 15 , 15 , 16 , 1 , 4 ,
      Scientific Reports
      Nature Publishing Group UK
      Biogeochemistry, Climate sciences, Ecology, Natural hazards, Diseases, Trauma, Environmental sciences, Environmental impact, Ecology, Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem ecology, Palaeoecology, Biochemistry, Biogeochemistry, Metals

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          This comprehensive study examines fossil remains from Niedźwiedzia Cave in the Eastern Sudetes, offering detailed insights into the palaeobiology and adversities encountered by the Pleistocene cave bear Ursus spelaeus ingressus. Emphasising habitual cave use for hibernation and a primarily herbivorous diet, the findings attribute mortality to resource scarcity during hibernation and habitat fragmentation amid climate shifts. Taphonomic analysis indicates that the cave was extensively used by successive generations of bears, virtually unexposed to the impact of predators. The study also reveals that alkaline conditions developed in the cave during the post-depositional taphonomic processes. Mortality patterns, notably among juveniles, imply dwindling resources, indicative of environmental instability. Skeletal examination reveals a high incidence of forelimb fractures, indicating risks during activities like digging or confrontations. Palaeopathological evidence unveils vulnerabilities to tuberculosis, abscesses, rickets, and injuries, elucidating mobility challenges. The cave’s silts exhibit a high zinc concentration, potentially derived from successive bear generations consuming zinc-rich plants. This study illuminates the lives of late cave bears, elucidating unique environmental hurdles faced near their species’ end.

          Related collections

          Most cited references80

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found
          Is Open Access

          THE INTCAL20 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE RADIOCARBON AGE CALIBRATION CURVE (0–55 CAL kBP)

          Radiocarbon ( 14 C) ages cannot provide absolutely dated chronologies for archaeological or paleoenvironmental studies directly but must be converted to calendar age equivalents using a calibration curve compensating for fluctuations in atmospheric 14 C concentration. Although calibration curves are constructed from independently dated archives, they invariably require revision as new data become available and our understanding of the Earth system improves. In this volume the international 14 C calibration curves for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as for the ocean surface layer, have been updated to include a wealth of new data and extended to 55,000 cal BP. Based on tree rings, IntCal20 now extends as a fully atmospheric record to ca. 13,900 cal BP. For the older part of the timescale, IntCal20 comprises statistically integrated evidence from floating tree-ring chronologies, lacustrine and marine sediments, speleothems, and corals. We utilized improved evaluation of the timescales and location variable 14 C offsets from the atmosphere (reservoir age, dead carbon fraction) for each dataset. New statistical methods have refined the structure of the calibration curves while maintaining a robust treatment of uncertainties in the 14 C ages, the calendar ages and other corrections. The inclusion of modeled marine reservoir ages derived from a three-dimensional ocean circulation model has allowed us to apply more appropriate reservoir corrections to the marine 14 C data rather than the previous use of constant regional offsets from the atmosphere. Here we provide an overview of the new and revised datasets and the associated methods used for the construction of the IntCal20 curve and explore potential regional offsets for tree-ring data. We discuss the main differences with respect to the previous calibration curve, IntCal13, and some of the implications for archaeology and geosciences ranging from the recent past to the time of the extinction of the Neanderthals.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates

              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: found
              Is Open Access

              Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth’s ecosystems

              Urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                paul.mazza@unifi.it
                Journal
                Sci Rep
                Sci Rep
                Scientific Reports
                Nature Publishing Group UK (London )
                2045-2322
                29 April 2024
                29 April 2024
                2024
                : 14
                : 9775
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Palaeozoology, University of Wrocław, ( https://ror.org/00yae6e25) Wrocław, Poland
                [2 ]Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of Wrocław, ( https://ror.org/00yae6e25) Wrocław, Poland
                [3 ]Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Szczecin University, ( https://ror.org/05vmz5070) Szczecin, Poland
                [4 ]Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, ( https://ror.org/04jr1s763) Florence, Italy
                [5 ]Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, ( https://ror.org/039bjqg32) Warsaw, Poland
                [6 ]GRID grid.413454.3, ISNI 0000 0001 1958 0162, Institute of Geological Sciences, , Polish Academy of Sciences, ; Warsaw, Poland
                [7 ]Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Szczecin, ( https://ror.org/05vmz5070) Szczecin, Poland
                [8 ]Department of Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of Vertebrates, University of Wrocław, ( https://ror.org/00yae6e25) Wrocław, Poland
                [9 ]Institute of Physics – Centre for Science and Education, Silesian University of Technology, ( https://ror.org/02dyjk442) Gliwice, Poland
                [10 ]GRID grid.411200.6, ISNI 0000 0001 0694 6014, Division of Anthropology, , Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, ; Wrocław, Poland
                [11 ]GRID grid.8505.8, ISNI 0000 0001 1010 5103, Institute of Geological Sciences, , University of Wrocław, ; Wrocław, Poland
                [12 ]Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, ( https://ror.org/01aj84f44) 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
                [13 ]Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, ( https://ror.org/01aj84f44) Moesgård Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, Denmark
                [14 ]GRID grid.413454.3, ISNI 0000 0001 1958 0162, Mammal Research Institute, , Polish Academy of Sciences, ; Stoczek 1C, 17-230 Białowieża, Poland
                [15 ]GRID grid.418751.e, ISNI 0000 0004 0385 8977, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, National Museum of Natural History, ; Kyiv, Ukraine
                [16 ]Department of Agricultural Sciences, John Von Neumann University, ( https://ror.org/03n9qzd79) Kecskemét, Hungary
                Article
                60222
                10.1038/s41598-024-60222-3
                11059340
                38684693
                c1c68016-1c97-407c-938a-6c6fb642d677
                © The Author(s) 2024

                Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                : 27 December 2023
                : 19 April 2024
                Funding
                Funded by: Polish National Science Centre
                Award ID: 2012/07/B/NZ8/02845
                Award ID: 2016/23/N/NZ8/03995
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: Danish National Research Foundation
                Award ID: DNRF173
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: Subsidy 2023; (501); MPK 2599280000 ZP; discipline 73
                Funded by: Fondo Ateneo 2023 MIUR
                Award ID: PAULMAZZARICATEN23
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006601, Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale;
                Award ID: Arc-1408
                Award Recipient :
                Categories
                Article
                Custom metadata
                © Springer Nature Limited 2024

                Uncategorized
                biogeochemistry,climate sciences,ecology,natural hazards,diseases,trauma,environmental sciences,environmental impact,ecosystem ecology,palaeoecology,biochemistry,metals

                Comments

                Comment on this article