Bat guano in caves: a hig-resolution paleoenvironmental archive of climate change and anthropization - Inrap - Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

Bat guano in caves: a hig-resolution paleoenvironmental archive of climate change and anthropization

Résumé

In recent years, with the development of research around biocorrosion in caves, the accumulations of bat guanos have appeared to constitute a new archive, both for documenting paleoenvironments and for identifying anthropogenic impacts on landscapes. To date, more than fifty cores have been taken in the southern half of France. Some of them concern piles of recent guano, only a few decades old, taken with the aim of evaluating the environmental archive that they represent by comparing them with climatic chronicles and the environmental context of the cavity and its surroundings. Other cores intersect fossil guanos which document variable periods : the beginning of the Holocene, some periods of the Upper Pleistocene and even the Middle Pleistocene. This dual approach makes it possible to offer the most relevant interpretations possible, taking into account the bias that the entire trophic chain may introduce or the impact of guano mineralization. Various analyzes are carried out on these cores. The very rich pollen information is coupled with isotopic analyzes and the search for molecular biomarkers in particular. The first results show that the paleoenvironmental signal is not only well transmitted to the guano but that it is also perfectly preserved. Indeed, sheltered from external weather conditions, in a stable environment with few modifications such as bioturbation for example, information is preserved in very good conditions for several thousand to several tens of thousands of years at least. The first results are encouraging and make it possible to clearly read some paleoenvironmental modifications or the main anthropogenic impacts. Concerning the latter, the opening of the Holocene oak forest and the introduction of cereals at the end of the Neolithic, the appearance of copper metallurgy in the Bronze Age but also the introduction of “exotic” species in the gardens in the contemporary period are clearly legible. Bat guanos therefore present enormous potential which is still largely underexploited. Karst regions, often quite poor in paleoenvironmental recorders, potentially contain, in each cavity that has hosted colonies, a proxy documenting, in an unprecedented way, a more or less long period of paleoenvironmental evolution. In addition, the information extracted from guanos is applicable to a geographical area of only a few tens of kilometers in radius while covering, at high resolution, several thousand years. We can therefore imagine what the study of these guanos will bring in the years to come and the resolution they can provide on a regional scale. In return, this information can provide a better understanding of the dynamics of bat populations over the long term as well as for the recent period. Studies on their DNA can in particular make it possible to monitor the replacement of species and correlate them with climatic variations or anthropogenic pressure. For recent periods, it will even be possible to identify chemical markers which could be directly or indirectly responsible for their rarefaction and therefore contribute to the safeguarding of biodiversity of which bats are an emblem.

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hal-04876455 , version 1 (09-01-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04876455 , version 1

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Laurent Bruxelles, Lionel Barriquand, Johan Etourneau, Caroline Gauthier, Jérémy Jacob, et al.. Bat guano in caves: a hig-resolution paleoenvironmental archive of climate change and anthropization. FUMIERS, BOUSES ET GUANO : ORDURES OU OR BRUN ? Statut, usage et gestion des déjections animales depuis la Préhistoire Potentiel archéologique et environnemental, Claire Delhon, Lionel Gourichon et Lucie Martin, Oct 2024, Nice, France. ⟨hal-04876455⟩
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