USING LARGE MAMMAL COMMUNITIES TO EXAMINE ECOLOGICAL AND TAXONOMIC STRUCTURE AND PREDICT VEGETATION IN EXTANT AND EXTINCT ASSEMBLAGES

Evolutionary paleoecology is the study of paleoecological patterns of organization over time. However, identification of such patterns withi n modern communities must be made before any study over time can be at tempted. This research analyzes mammalian ecological diversity of 31 A frican localities classified into eight vegetation types: forests, clo sed woodlands, closed woodland/bushland transition, bushlands, open wo odlands, shrublands, grasslands, and deserts. Ecological diversity is measured as the relative proportions of large mammal trophic and locom otor behaviors within communities. Trophic and locomotor adaptations a re assigned on the basis of published observations and stomach content s of 184 African mammal species. Communities are accordingly described on the basis of total percentages of mammalian trophic and locomotor adaptations. Since many paleoecology studies have been made using taxo nomic uniformitarianism, this study also examines taxonomic community structure to compare with ecologically derived patterns. Results indic ate that particular types of vegetation have predictable percentages o f arboreal, aquatic, frugivorous, grazing, etc, large mammals. Therefo re, these adaptations, because they are predictable in extant assembla ges, can be used to predict paleovegetation as well as to portray the community structure of fossil assemblages. Taxonomic groupings also ca n be used to predict vegetation in extant assemblages, and taxonomic p atterns in communities are compared with ecological ones. The mammalia n communities of the Pliocene fossil locality Makapansgat, South Afric a, are interpreted using these ecological and taxonomic methodologies. Trophic and locomotor adaptations are assigned for Makapansgat fossil mammals through morphological examination of each taxon. Vegetation t ype is predicted for these fossil localities, but ecological and taxon omic differences in the assemblages differ from extant communities.