Did the Late Pleistocene climatic changes influence evolutionary trends in body size of the red deer? The study case of the Italian Peninsula

摘要: Variations in the body size of red deer (Cervus elaphus) have been reported by several authors from European fossiliferous localities for Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Recently, contributions focused on variation populations Italian Peninsula. Evolutionary trends phenotypic traits may follow distinct tempos modes evolution such as Brownian, Ornstein–Uhlenbeck, stasis or random walk. Here, we investigated which evolutionary model better explained temporal trend C. elaphus ssp. Peninsula using modern statistical tools. We also tested potential relationships between climate change geographical through Pleistocene. Our sample includes 1090 specimens peninsular localities. For each specimen, extracted Size Variation Index calculated postcranial elements. found that was explaining elaphus. a nonsignificant interaction climate, whereas detected significant relationship with geography. hypothesized phenotypical plasticity able to mitigate selective constraints driven climatic changes variability Holocene, therefore returning no neat size.