Ask the Scientists

Join The Discussion

What is the context of this research?

The main research question is: Were there bison on the Colorado Plateau after the last Ice Age, between 22,000 years ago and when the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition traveled near the Grand Canyon in 1776? Some goals of the project include obtaining accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on bison bones from archaeological and paleontological sites across the Colorado Plateau and the Grand Canyon. These dates will then be imported into a data set that includes previously recorded fossil bison, and packrat middens. The packrat middens are important because they preserve climatic and environmental indicators that have been easily and accurately radiocarbon dated. The above factors, when combined, can be used in a geographic information system (GIS) to model where bison could have lived at certain times in the past. The importance of the dates is to make multiple ranges of ages in the past to create several models. Using GIS is the only means to really model the landscape of the Grand Canyon area and Colorado Plateau to see where bison could live sustainably based on packrat middens, and fossil sites containing bison.

What is the significance of this project?

Bison are a keystone species for many ecosystems and their conservation is important to sustain the ecology of the Grand Canyon. There is currently a herd of approximately 300 bison owned by the State of Arizona that have migrated into the Grand Canyon National Park's property. The herd was first introduced to the area in 1906 by Charles "Buffalo" Jones, to preserve and conserve the bison, but in doing so, crossing bison with cattle, resulting in a hybrid species. Thus, the Grand Canyon National Park view these and all bison as a non-native, invasive, man-introduced species based on a previous report based on the lack of fossil remains of bison younger than 22,000 years ago. However, there was never a lack of bison, the problem lies in the collections where the specimens are curated. Many paleontological and archaeological sites have "large artiodactyls" recorded, but are not identified to the generic or specific level. Some of the published records claim having cattle at the sites, but the dates given for the particular site are too old, long before cattle were introduced to North America, let alone the Southwest.

What are the goals of the project?

The funds will allow me to obtain 1 AMS radiocarbon dates on fossil bison bones from the Grand Canyon area and travel to and from the Grand Canyon.