Authors: Jane Damstedt, Kasey Cole
Mentors: Kasey Cole
Insitution: University of Utah
In this project, we are analyzing faunal remains recovered from Utah’s House Mountain Range in the Tubafore cave system to create a paleoecological baseline of life in that location over the past 1000 years. All animals have relatively consistent ecological tolerances and preferences, so comparing the data from the information obtained in this study with contemporary accounts of mammalian ecology in the same area will be useful in evaluating the role of anthropogenic climate change in mammalian ecosystems. In this project, I am identifying the animal remains to the lowest level of taxonomic classification possible to determine what kinds of species richness and environment were present at the time in which the animal was alive. Creating an accurate record of the animals found in this cave assemblage is critical because very little is known about the species richness of the Great Basin area. This data will then be stored and compared to modern zoological data, which came from online databases Actos and Vertnet. The information gathered from this project can be used to inform conservation and sustainability efforts aiming at preserving biodiversity in Central Utah’s Mountain Ranges.