Ecometric analyses use the relationships between functional traits and the environment at the community level to quantitatively estimate past climatic and environmental variables at fossil sites. Hypsodonty (tooth crown height) in North American rodent and lagomorph (Glires) communities is correlated with mean annual temperature and annual precipitation. Here, we examine the community hypsodonty of African Glires to test if this relationship translates to a continent with more extreme climates and to quantify paleoprecipitation at important fossil sites. Categorical hypsodonty values were gathered from the literature and museum collections for 94 modern African taxa (88%). We used maximum likelihood to model the ecometric relationship between hypsodonty and annual precipitation. We then produced trait-based estimates of paleoprecipitation for 26 well-sampled fossil localities from eastern Africa over the last 5.7 Ma. We confirmed other regional studies by identifying increasing aridity and decreasing annual precipitation (824 mm to 480 mm) in the Late Miocene of Kenya. From the Ethiopian Shungura Formation, we estimated temporal fluctuations in precipitation that correspond with the presence or absence of paleolakes and rivers. Small mammal community hypsodonty illustrates that east African communities have converged towards mesodont means and high standard deviations in response to climate change.

中文翻译：

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小型哺乳动物高齿动物的生态计量模型可以估计整个东非的古降水量

生态计量分析利用群落层面的功能特征与环境之间的关系来定量估计化石遗址过去的气候和环境变量。北美啮齿类动物和兔类动物 (Glires) 群落的牙齿缺失（牙冠高度）与年平均气温和年降水量相关。在这里，我们研究了非洲 Glires 的群落结构，以测试这种关系是否适用于气候更极端的大陆，并量化重要化石地点的古降水。从文献和博物馆藏品中收集了 94 个现代非洲分类群 (88%) 的分类性齿形值。我们使用最大似然来模拟低齿性和年降水量之间的生态计量关系。然后，我们对过去 5.7 Ma 中东非 26 个采样良好的化石地点的古降水进行了基于性状的估计。我们通过确定肯尼亚晚中新世干旱增加和年降水量减少（824 毫米至 480 毫米）证实了其他区域研究。根据埃塞俄比亚的顺古拉地层，我们估计了与古湖泊和河流是否存在相对应的降水时间波动。小型哺乳动物群落的多齿性表明，为了应对气候变化，东非群落已向中齿性手段和高标准差靠拢。