Based on faunal structure (using cenograms), paleotemperature reconstruction (using cricetid diversity), and dietary reconstruction of ruminants (using molar micro-wear analyses), four faunal assemblages are used to characterize the regional environmental context.
Our combined approach shows no evidence for dense forested environments during the Early and Middle Turolian, and then supports previous hypotheses based on faunal analyses.
The basal sauropodomorph Saturnalia was discovered in the rhynchosaur biozone of the Carnian Santa María Formation in Brazil, strata widely regarded as contemporary to the Ischigualasto Formation in Argentina based on faunal similarities [53], [54].
The remains of H. naledi were analysed following the six stage classification system of Behrensmeyer (1978) based on faunal remains that weathered on the landscape in Kenya.
Based on the faunal composition the aquatic ecosystem can be reconstructed as a densely vegetated, large eutrophic freshwater body, representing a slow-flowing river or oxbow lake.
Similarity between sites based on their faunal composition was analysed using clustering analysis and ordination (PCA).
Based on mollusk faunal composition and endemism, the Southern Caribbean has been long identified as being isolated from the rest of the Caribbean and otherwise more allied with the Eastern Pacific (e.g., [25], [53], [60]).
Although few of the total number of examined species are shared among the sites, the similarity analysis based on their faunal composition, the Atlantic equatorial belt sites clustered within regions and according to depth ranges (Fig. 2), a result that is reinforced by the principal component analysis.
Based on the faunal compositions and 14C ages of the assemblages in this cave, Kitamura et al. (2015) identified four coseismic uplift events at 1256 950 BC (uplift 1), AD 1000 1270 (uplift 2), AD 1430 1660 (uplift 3), and AD 1506 1815 (uplift 4).
The Gulf Stream was noted as a major influence on faunal composition on the outer continental shelf; cold-temperate benthic species were found inshore and offshore of the Gulf Stream on bottoms of a variety of types.
