How did the climate and vegetation change in the Great Plains of America through 200,000 years? Here is a new tool devised by a University of Washington researcher to make the study – it is the fossil teeth of ancient bison, which roamed North America from Alaska to Mexico during the last ice age until Europeans began to settle the continent
Collected in Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, the researchers pulverized the enamel from the tooth surfaces of bison to conduct the study.
The tooth enamel provided evidence of changes in carbon dioxide levels over time. It also provides a means for reconstructing temperature patterns for particular locations at particular times.
