Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of large predators in Iberia: Diversity, home range and climatic change

• We analyze the carnivore diversity during Miocene–Pleistocene in Spain.
• We investigated the patterns of change in home range-size of carnivores.
• The shifts in evolutionary rates of carnivores were linked to dispersal phases.
• The data shows three peaks in diversity that can be correlated with global changes.
• The recent home range-size structure traces back to latest Middle Pleistocene.

We investigated the patterns of change in diversity and home range-size structure of the latest Miocene–Pleistocene Iberian carnivores to recognize the tempo and mode of the major shifts, and place them in the context of late Cenozoic climatic changes. The database consists of 36 selected and taxonomically revised faunal lists. A general pattern of carnivore diversity from Iberia shows three maxima in diversity that can be correlated with major global changes. The first coincides with the glacial trend during Pliocene, starting at 2.7–2.6 Ma, with the onset of glacial cycles of 41 ka; second maximum happened at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene and can be correlated with the switch at 1 Ma; third maximum in diversity occurs at the end of Middle Pleistocene, when the amplitude of interglacials shifted from cooler to warmer interglacials. The most significant shifts in Carnivora diversity and home range-size patterns were linked to dispersal phases that were tracked by a renovation of the carnivore guild. From the patterns in home range-size structure it seems that some multifaceted, and not always straight, interactions exist between ecological and climatic change and shifts in home range-size. The onset of the Holocene home range-size structure in Iberian carnivores traces back to a high diversity pulse at the end of the Middle Pleistocene.

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