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Dr Margaret Avery
Honorary Associate:
Cenozoic Fossil Collections
Natural History Department
Iziko South African Museum
Box 61, Cape Town 8000
South Africa
Phone: +27 (0)21 481 3894
Fax: +27 (0)21 481 3993
e-mail: mavery@iziko.org.za
Margaret Avery is
a palaeoecologist who specialises in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction
based on the remains of micromammals (rats and mice) from archaeological
and palaeontological sites. Ancillary interests include establishing
the vegetational and climatic controls on modern micromammals, and
the potential of modern barn owl prey remains for providing environmental
information.
This programme has various objectives, all of
which rely on micromammals (small rodents and insectivores). The
initial aim, which is based on potential of these animals to provide
information on the environments in which they live, is to contribute
to our understanding of changes in vegetation and climate during
the Pleistocene Epoch (currently considered to have lasted from
about two million to 10 thousand years ago). This work is based
micromammalian remains recovered from archaeological and palaeontological
sites in southern Africa. There are two inter-linked reasons for
undertaking such research. First, Pleistocene data can be expected
to yield information on natural variation in regional vegetation
cover. Such natural variation provides, in turn, a necessary yardstick
against which the impact of human activities can be measured. Second,
the data will assist in establishing long-term patterns of regional
climate change. Such information is essential for validating Global
Circulation Models, which are themselves crucial for predicting
future weather patterns.
As an extension of this objective, a database
of detailed environmental correlates for the various micromammalian
species is being compiled. The correlates will be used to tighten
interpretations of past environmental conditions. They will also
be employed in the development of a transfer function that will
allow quantitative estimates to be made of past temperature and
precipitation.
A second aim is to make a contribution to determining
the history of southern African micromammalian taxa. Establishing
the taxonomic content of Lower Pleistocene samples in particular
will make it possible to improve estimates of the longevity of individual
taxa and of micromammalian communities. Such baseline information
is, in turn, important for accurately characterizing the natural
biodiversity of the region and identifying endemic species.
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