The microtine distribution and its environmental significance since the Middle Pleistocene in Zhangping Caves of the Qinling Mountains  

作　　者：LI YongXiang1 & XUE XiangXu1,2 1 State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Institute of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Xi’an 710069, China 2 Institute of Earth Environment, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710075, China 

出　　处：《Science China Earth Sciences》2008年第2期294-299,共6页中国科学（地球科学英文版）

基　　金：the Science and Technology Commission of Shaanxi Province and the Provincial Board Fund (JK028 and JK01)

摘　　要：Three microtine species are recovered from the Zhangping Caves of the Qingling Mountains, namely Microtus oeconomus, Caryomys inez and Caryomys eva. They are climate-sensitive ones with different ecological habits, therefore their distribution well corresponds to environmental variations. Statistical comparison of the distribution of fossil microtines and their counterparts nowadays displays that the climate variation of the studied area and its contiguity since the middle Pleistocene are: warm and humid at 493 ka ago, cool and humid at 259 ka ago―cold and humid at 205 ka ago―cool and humid at 28 ka ago, and warm and dry at present.Three microtine species are recovered from the Zhangping Caves of the Qingling Mountains, namely Microtus oeconomus, Caryomys inez and Caryomys eva. They are climate-sensitive ones with different ecological habits, therefore their distribution well corresponds to environmental variations. Statistical comparison of the distribution of fossil microtines and their counterparts nowadays displays that the climate variation of the studied area and its contiguity since the middle Pleistocene are: warm and humid at 493 ka ago, cool and humid at 259 ka ago—cold and humid at 205 ka ago—cool and humid at 28 ka ago, and warm and dry at present.

关 键 词：environmental variation SINCE Middle PLEISTOCENE microtine FOSSILS Zhangping Caves of the QINLING MOUNTAINS 

分 类 号：P532[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]