Fossil Rodent Burrows in Frozen Late Pleistocene Beds of the Kolyma Lowland

摘要

The structure and contents of fossil rodent burrows dated 28-32 ka from the frozen Late Pleistocene ice-loess beds of the Kolyma Lowland (northern Yakutia) were studied. The examination of paleoecological material (plants, fruits and seeds, insects, bones, hair, etc ) allowed the reconstruction of environmental conditions for extinct rodents. Their characteristic features included an arid and severe climate, a small depth of inhabited strata, and a wide distribution of disturbed habitats with pioneerand steppe vegetation in areas with relatively flat topography typical of the study region. Comparative analysis of the structure and contents of fossil and present-day suslik burrows provided detailed data on the differences between natural conditionsin local habitats of the Kolyma Lowland in the Holocene and Pleistocene.