Abstract:
A multidisciplinary approach has produced an exceptional chronological log of climatic patterns for the Upper Pleistocene sequence of Gigny Cave (Jura, France) covering the Pre-Eemian, Eemian Interglacial, Middle Glacial and Upper Pleniglacial, as well as a part of the Holocene. Multivariate analysis (correspondence and component analysis) of rodent associations from the sequence is used here to characterize the different climatic stages in terms of relative temperature, plant cover and moisture. Faunal analysis establishes: (1) positive and negative correlations among the variations of the different species; (2) the significance of axis 1 (component analysis) which, in terms of temperature, opposes cold environments with contrasted continental biotopes; (3a) the significance of axis 2 (component analysis), which reflects vegetation patterns ranging from open to closed habitats; (3b) the significance of axis 3 (component analysis), which expresses trends in moisture; (4) various correlations between faunal and climatic parameters (temperature, plant cover and moisture); (5) evaluation of faunal diversity (Shannon index ranging from 0.74 to 2.27) showing that diversity increases with temperature and the complexity of vegetation, but is not sensitive to moisture. Lastly, the comparison of multivariate methods with the weighted semi-quantitative Hokr method shows the complementarity of the two approaches, the first methods quantifying climatic parameters while the second seems to provide more precise evaluations of the main seasons of rainfall