Parameters of range size diversity of European mammals in the Eem interglacial (MIS 5e) and GS 2.1 stadial (MIS 2)
Abstract
Information on mammal remains from 665 sites/localities was used to estimate the range of size diversity of European species in the Eem interglacial (MIS 5e) and the GS 2.1 stadial (MIS 2). Review of faunal composition and comparison of the rank distributions of the occurrence of species remains across sites allowed determination of the composition of groups of typical and indicator species for each of the time intervals. Entropy, dominance index and self-organization index were calculated from the rank distributions of the occurrence of large, small and medium-sized herbivorous, carnivorous and representatives of the order Eulipotyphla. The parameters of the non-linear function describing the increase in the average number of species that can be found in 1, 2, 3, etc. randomly selected sites were calculated. The relationship between the parameters of these functions and between them and species richness is shown. The paper discusses hypotheses about the relationship between parameter variations and changes in range size ratios in different mammal groups during the Eem interglacial and at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.