title: Landscape distribution and ecology of Plio-Pleistocene avifaunal communities from Lowermost Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
abstract: Plio-Pleistocene avifaunal communities are used to reconstruct Lowermost Bed II landscapes at the early hominin site of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. These deposits are laterally extensive, have strong chronostratigraphic control, and were excavated using a landscape archaeological approach. Such factors allow for horizontal spatial-correlation of avian communities across the paleolandscape over a geologically short time frame (approximately 65,000 years). Lowermost Bed II avifaunal communities point to an extensive freshwater wetland system across the extent of paleo-Lake Olduvai's eastern margin.
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University, 131 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. Electronic address: kari_prassack@nps.gov.
authors.forename: Kari A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Prassack
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005580:Fossils; D013636:Tanzania
keywords: Birds; Community ecology; East Africa; Environments; Hominin land use; Plio-Pleistocene; Taphonomy