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The nature of the Old World savannah palaeobiome

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 3, page 504 (2019)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Writing in Nature Ecology & Evolution in 2018, we argued that there existed during the later Miocene of the Old World (ca. 15–5 million years ago) “a single cohesive Old-World savannah palaeobiome of which the modern African savannah fauna is the surviving branch”1. Subsequently, Denk et al.2 have taken issue with this interpretation and argued, using palaeobotanical data, that no such cohesive biome existed and that a more compelling reconstruction has mixed trees and shrublands dominant at that time. In addition to defending our original interpretation, we will clarify some terms used in our paper, as we feel that much of the apparent discrepancy may actually reflect differences in terminology.

We used the term savannah in a broad sense, common in Neogene and Quaternary palaeoecology3, meaning a woodland to grassland biome characterized by co-dominance of trees and grasses4, the ‘mixed grass–tree biome’ described in ref. 5. In contrast, Denk et al., approaching the matter from a botanical perspective, adhere to a more restricted definition of savannah as grasslands. We formulated the term Old World savannah palaeobiome (OWSP) to describe localities showing high similarity to our selected reference localities (Lower Nawata, Pikermi and Baode) characterized by large mammal communities dominated by groups associated with open habitats6,7. These localities have all been previously identified as representatives of woodland-dominated or mixed woodland–grassland ecosystems8,9,10,11 through methods independent of mean ordinated hypsodonty. The evidence includes microwear, mesowear, stable isotope, phytolith, sedimentological and that from functional morphological approaches, and covers Late Miocene sites from Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Iran and China8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18. The critique by Denk et al. of our interpretations therefore stands against an extensive multiproxy literature that repeatedly confirms the dominance of woodland and grassy woodland environments across a wide swath of Eurasia and Africa during the late Miocene.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Mikael Fortelius & Ferhat Kaya

  2. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany

    Faysal Bibi

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Hui Tang

  4. Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Indrė Žliobaitė

  5. Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Jussi T Eronen

  6. BIOS Independent Research Unit, Helsinki, Finland

    Jussi T Eronen

Authors
  1. Mikael Fortelius
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  2. Faysal Bibi
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  4. Indrė Žliobaitė
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  5. Jussi T Eronen
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  6. Ferhat Kaya
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Correspondence to Mikael Fortelius.

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Fortelius, M., Bibi, F., Tang, H. et al. The nature of the Old World savannah palaeobiome. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 504 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0857-7

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