Wood, Jamie R. ， Wilmshurst, Janet M.
2013-10-01 QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS 2013 77(卷), null(期), (1-3页)
Spores of coprophilous fungi, and in particular those of Spororrniella, are a routinely used proxy for detecting late Quaternary herbivore extinction events in sedimentary records. Spore abundance is typically quantified as a percentage of the total, or dryland, pollen sum. Although this is a quick method that does not require the development of site-specific age depth models, it relies on stable pollen accumulation rates and is therefore highly sensitive to changes in vegetation. This may lead to incorrect placement of extinction events in sedimentary records, particularly when they occur contemporaneously with major climatic/vegetation transitions. We suggest that the preferred method of quantification should be accumulation rate, and that pollen abundance data should also be presented, particularly for periods of major vegetation change. This approach provides a more reliable record of past herbivore abundance independent of vegetation change, allowing extinction events to be more accurately placed in stratigraphic sequences. (C)2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.