Changes in Biodiversity within Environments during the Pleistocene Epoch via Fossil Record Analysis

• Nathan Heibeck

  Juniata College

  Author

Throughout earth’s history the planet, and life inhabiting it, has been molded by several influencing factors such as geological shifts, extinction events, and most notably climate change. Through the millions of years earth and life on it has been evolving, species have had to adapt to the stresses of global events in order to survive. Many times in earth’s history there have been global events that change the biodiversity of ecosystems all around the world, giving rise to new dominant species and sometimes forcing others into extinction. Luckily for us, fossil records allow us to paint a picture of what ecology was like before, during, and after these events by preserving the remains of species from another time. In this study, we use fossil database tools to study the shifts in global biodiversity during one of the last global events in earth’s history: The Last Ice Age. Here we explore how this global climate event impact the presence of different taxa around the globe, shaping the future for the modern world and the potential influence it may have had on a higher mammalian presence as the ice age ended.

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