EXTINCTION DYNAMICS OF MIDCONTINENTAL CERVALCES

Radiocarbon AMS and stable isotope analysis on twelve midwestern Cervalces (stag moose) remains offer new information on the paleoecology of the taxon as it approached extinction. Dates span 17,000 years, from 30,000 cal. B.P. to 12,800 cal. B.P. with a hiatus during the last glacial maximum (27,000-17,000 cal. B.P.). Cervalces is present in the region during the Farmdalian inter-stadial and Bølling/Allerød, and goes extinct at the beginning of the Younger Dryas. Collagen δ¹³C values are essentially unchanged through time, and indicate that the diet did not change substantially (i.e., conservative niche) over ca. 17,000 years despite significant changes in vegetation and climate. Regionally, Cervalces is present during period of relatively high moisture conditions, when regional vegetation was dominated by spruce parkland or mixed spruce and ash forests. Extinction is co-eval with the disappearance of Proboscidea, occurring prior to grassland expansion during the early Holocene.