Paleoenvironmental Implications of the Quaternary Distribution of the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias Striatus) in Central Texas

Abstract

Four Quaternary cave sites in central Texas demonstrate that the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) ranged more than 600 km southwest of its modern distribution. Climatographs suggest that the late Pleistocene/early Holocene summer climates were either 7.5°C cooler and 120 mm moister than today or 300 mm moister, if temperature remained unchanged. The distribution of T. striatus also implies that mixed deciduous forest existed on the eastern Edwards Plateau at this time.