Some references on paleo ecology in the Great
Plains as an entre to the literature:
<http://www.pnas.org/content/97/14/7899.full.pdf>Miocene
ungulates and terrestrial primary productivity:
Where have all the browsers gone.
by CM Janis et al 2000. http://www.pnas.org/content/97/14/7899.full.pdf
Tertiary history of C4 biomass in the Great Plains, USA, by
<http://geology.gsapubs.org/search?author1=David+L.+Fox&sortspec=date&submit=Submit>David
L. Fox and
<http://geology.gsapubs.org/search?author1=Paul+L.+Koch&sortspec=date&submit=Submit>Paul
L. Koch. 2003. Geology 31: 809-812.
Using ecological niche modeling for quantitative
biogeographic analysis: a case study of Miocene
and Pliocene Equinae in the Great Plains. by
Kaitlin Clare Maguire and Alycia L.
Stigall. 2009. Paleobiology 35: 587-611.
http://paleobiol.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/35/4/587
For horse evolution, research has an elegant
pedigree: Darwin, Owen, and Thomas Huxley (these
three in walk on roles), and Joseph Leidy, George
Gaylord Simpson, Henry Fairfield Osbourne, and
Othniel Charles Marsh as central figures. As is
usual in science, things have become more complex over time.
David Duffy
At 09:41 AM 9/14/2011, you wrote:
Hello Wayne (and others),
If you're looking for original research on
Pleistocene horses in North America, check out would
papers by RD Guthrie, WW Dalquest, and BJ
MacFadden (for starters)-- a quick Google
Scholar search of "Pleistocene horses" will give you a number of
sources by these and other authors. There's also
this recent
paper(http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%253Adoi%252F10.1371%252Fjournal.pbio.0030241)
in PLOS on the evolution, systematics, and
phylogeography of New World horses, by Weinstock et al.
Best wishes,
Jacquelyn
On 09.14.11, Wayne Tyson <[email protected]> wrote:
> David and Ecolog:
>
> Most interesting! I was aware of Eohippus or
whatever they call it these days (pretty far
back on the evolutionary bush), and other
ancestral forms, but thought the fossil
evidence faded out about 45 million BCE. I
would like to further erode my ignorance by
reading Duffy's sources, especially with
respect to fossil evidence from the
Pleistocene. A little poking around the
Internet didn't bring up any original research,
and the article in Canadian Geographic didn't
cite any sources, alluding to claims that
fossils as recent as 1,000 years BP have been
found! I was totally ignorant of this! Of
course he is correct about the most recent introductions by human invaders.
>
> Of course he is correct with respect to the
current species, clearly introduced from other continents.
>
> With respect to densities and damage to
ecosystems, it's perturbations all the way down, ain't it?
>
> WT
>
>
> PS: I know knot the condition of other's
knickers, but snickerd when I checked--lo and
behold, there are none as I figured!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David C Duffy" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] a non Ivory Tower
view of invasive species -- feral horses
>
>
> "The Great Plains is good horse habitat even
though horses did not evolve there. "
>
> Actually I believe they did. Miocene fossil
remains of precursors to Equus are found in the
Great Plains, as as well as Pleistocene Equus.
I seem to recall the evolution of equids was
shaped by the Plains changing from woodland
savannah to grassland about 15 Ma. The last
horse fossils in North America date to about
10-12,000 years ago and they seemed to vanish
with the other large mammals, perhaps as a
result of human actions. Horses were then
reintroduced by Cortez and company and were
rapidly adopted by the Plains Indians, becoming
an integral part of their culture. One can get
one's knickers in a knot trying to figure out
whether the horse is indigenous or introduced,
invasive or native, feral, alien, or what have you in the Great Plains.
>
>
> One's time is more profitably sent on
interesting questions (besides the evolutionary
ones) such as whether or when horse populations
reach local densities high enough to damage
ecosystems, what do we do about it, given that
The Great Plains and the rest of the west are
not what they were 12,000 years ago or even 200 years ago.
>
>
> David Duffy
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wayne Tyson <[email protected]>
> Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 5:45 pm
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] a non Ivory Tower
view of invasive species -- feral horses
> To: [email protected]
>
> > All:
> >
> > Ecologically speaking, horses are a true grasslands animal,
> > adaptable to some extent, but not adaptable enough; the
> > Intermountain West and the Southwest have few places truly
> > suitable for horses. Dayton Hyde, who owned a big ranch in
> > southwestern Oregon, moved to the plains to care for "wild"
> > (feral) horses http://www.daytonohyde.com/ahomeforwildhors.html .
> >
> > This is another good example to illustrate that habitat is not
> > definable by geography; it is defined by the organisms most
> > suited to habitat conditions. The Great Plains is good horse
> > habitat even though horses did not evolve there. Their
> > requirements are similar to the indigenous bison, the healthy-
> > protein animal birthright which our alien forefathers (except my
> > grandmother's side) almost killed out for the mess of white-
> > bread and breakfast-cereal pottage we industrially farm today,
> > so they could probably establish viable populations, especially
> > in the absence of enough predators to keep their populations
> > healthy.
> >
> > The feral horses which do survive (many starve, and many are ill-
> > suited to the harsh conditions under which they must struggle to
> > live, their numbers harshly thinned out to a wilder and wilder
> > form by indifferent Nature.)
> >
> > Personally, I love horses. Ecologically, the western US is very
> > poor in suitable habitat, which is almost entirely taken up by
> > human, fenced-off uses, forcing them to live a harsher-than-
> > normal life in marginal habitat ill-suited to their survival.
> > Even though I admire their beauty, grace, and apparent
> > toughness, turning domestic horses loose is a cruel act for most
> > of them.
> >
> > Personally, I love pronghorns too; they are better-adapted to
> > the marginal, semi-arid, and otherwise harsh habitats of the
> > West than horses and cattle (which also are a grasslands animal,
> > not a "sagebrush steppe" one).
> >
> > WT
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Warren W. Aney" <[email protected]>
> > To: <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:08 AM
> > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] a non Ivory Tower view of invasive
> > species -- feral horses
> >
> >
> > For a good statement and some facts on feral horses and donkeys
> > go The Wildlife Society sites:
> >
http://joomla.wildlife.org/documents/positionstatements/Feral.Horses.July..2011.pdf
> >
> > http://joomla.wildlife.org/documents/policy/feral_horses_1.pdf
> >
> > The most recent release of domestic horses into the wild
> > probably occurred this morning due to someone's inability to
> > feed their stock or sell them to a meat processor.
> >
> > Warren W. Aney
> > Senior Wildlife Ecologist
> > Tigard, Oregon
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
> > [mailto:[email protected]]
<[email protected]]> On Behalf Of Hamazaki,
> > Hamachan (DFG)
> > Sent: Tuesday, 13 September, 2011 01:12
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] a non Ivory Tower view of invasive species
> >
> > While we are still on invasive species in the US South Western
> > Regions, what is everyone's opinion about wild horses in the US?
> > They are apparently introduced and became invasive, yet are
> > protected by law.
> > BLM manages them as invasive species, while there is a law suit
> > in the 9th circuit court of Appeals to consider them as native
> > species.
> >
> > http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028174.300-are-the-wild-
> > horses-of-the-american-west-native.html
> >
> > http://tdn.com/lifestyles/article_71e93474-92ff-11e0-9d41-
> > 001cc4c002e0.html
> > I always wondered about this issue while I was in NM.
> >
> > Toshihide "Hamachan" Hamazaki, 濱å´ä¿ç§PhD
> > Alaska Department of Fish and Game: ã¢ã©ã¹ã«å·æ¼æ¥éçåç©èª²
> > Division of Commercial Fisheries: åæ¥æ¼æ¥é¨
> > 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518
> > Phone: (907)267-2158
> > Cell: (907)440-9934
> >
> >
> > -----
> > No virus found in this message.
> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> > Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3894 - Release Date:
> > 09/13/11
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3894 - Release Date: 09/13/11
>
>
--
Jacquelyn Gill(https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jlgill/web/Home.html)
PhD Candidate
John W. Williams Lab(http://www.geography.wisc.edu/faculty/williams/lab/)
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Department of Geography
550 North Park St.
Madison, WI 53706
608.890.1188 (phone)
608.265.9331 (fax)
David Cameron Duffy
Professor of Botany and Unit Leader
Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit (PCSU)
University of Hawai`i
3190 Maile Way St. John 410
Honolulu, HI 96822-2279
(808) 956-8218 phone
(808) 956-4710 fax / (808) 956-3923 (backup fax)
email address: [email protected]
