Mammals as Paleoenvironmental Proxies

Mammals can be defined as the least inclusive clade containing Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw in Nat Miscellany 10(118):7, 1799) and Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758. Mexico is the third country with the highest mammalian species richness in the world. Their fossil record in this megadiverse country spans from the Early Jurassic to the Late Pleistocene. Research of fossil mammals have been centered on taxonomy and until recently, some paleoecological and paleoenvironmental reconstructions have been published. In this chapter, some of the techniques of paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on fossil mammals are described (microwear, mesowear, stable isotope analysis, bioclimatic models, ecometric analyses, and mutual ecogeographic range) and some examples of their use with the Mexican record are provided. The extensive fossil record available for some geological epochs makes the Mexican mammals a rich source of paleoenvironmental data that needs to be further explored.