Mode and causes for the Pleistocene turnovers in the mammalian fauna of Central Europe

The Pleistocene mammalian fauna of Central Europe is characterized by a repeated exchange of glacial and interglacial faunal assemblages. The climatic oscillations caused a severe change of the geographic conditions, especially in Central Europe. Due to the shift of shorelines caused by the changing sea level and the massive ice shield over Scandinavia, Central Europe shifts from a highly continental climate during glacial periods to a maritime climate during interglacial periods. With regard to the mammalian fauna, humidity was a more significant climatic factor than temperature. Most of the larger herbivores reacted with immigration when the climate improves and local extinction when it deteriorates. For these species Central Europe is an ‘area of temporal occurrence’. This repeated immigration was only possible due to ‘core areas’ nearby, where species survived continuously through the glacial cycles. The core area of the interglacial fauna is the Mediterranean and that of the fauna of the Mammoth steppe is situated in Eastern Europe and Siberia. Causes for final extinctions of particular taxa have to be sought in the core areas.