Ref ID:	34762
Ref Type:	Journal Article
Authors:	Cerling, Thure E. Harris, John M. Ambrose, Stanley H. Leakey, Meave G. Solounias, Nikos
Title:	Dietary and environmental reconstruction with stable isotope analyses of herbivore tooth enamel from the Miocene locality of Fort Ternan, Kenya
Date:	1997
Source:	Journal of Human Evolution
Abstract:	Tooth enamel of nine Middle Miocene mammalian herbivores from Fort Ternan, Kenya, was analyzed for d13C and d18O. The d18O values of the tooth enamel compared with pedogenic and diagenetic carbonate confirm the use of stable isotope analysis of fossil tooth enamel as a paleoenvironmental indicator. Furthermore, the d18O of tooth enamel indicates differences in water sources between some of the mammals. The d13C values of tooth enamel ranged from -8·6–-13·0‰ which is compatible with a pure C3diet, though the possibility of a small C4fraction in the diet of a few of the specimens sampled is not precluded. The carbon isotopic data do not support environmental reconstructions of a Serengeti-typed wooded grassland with a significant proportion of C4grasses. This study does not preclude the presence of C3grasses at Fort Ternan it is possible that C3grasses could have had a wider geographic range if atmospheric CO2levels were higher than the present values.
Date Created:	7/5/2001
Volume:	33
Number:	6
Page Start:	635
Page End:	650