They’re Alright: Late Quaternary Fossil Pocket Gopher DNA Provides Nuanced View of Climate Changes at Hall’s Cave, Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Although considered pests to farmers and golfers alike, gophers – specifically pocket gophers (family Geomyidae) – can be excellent proxies for assessing climate change in archaeological contexts owing to their penchant for living in specific soil conditions. At the Hall’s Cave site in Kerr County, Texas, geomyids are found in most of the radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic units, including those associated with periods of environmental change. In this study, we use ancient DNA to evaluate the distribution of geomyid species throughout the site in combination with the nearly 20,000 years of clearly defined stratigraphy to provide a finely-tuned view of the climatic changes experienced at Hall’s Cave. In addition, this study will also focus on identifying what genetic adaptations and structural population differences in geomyids, if any, might have been driven by the fluctuating climate. Ultimately, we hope that the results of this study will aid in developing our understanding of why certain species are able to persist through ecological stress while others cannot.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36286.0