The utility of alpine cave fossil assemblages for zoological census: an example from northern Utah, United States.

This article focuses on the analysis of a Holocene mammalian skeletal assemblage from Boomerang Cave in the Bear River Range of northern Utah, United States, to establish a zoological baseline for a montane ecosystem at the interface of the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain biogeographic provinces. The study identified a minimum of 22 mammalian taxa from 1,228 specimens, capturing most of the expected mammalian diversity in the area, including a notably high representation of carnivorans and the first regional record of Merriam's Shrew (Sorex merriami). Radiocarbon dating places the assemblage within the late Holocene (approximately 3,450 to 26 calibrated years before present), and comparisons with recent trapping data and historical museum records indicate no significant faunal turnover over recent centuries. The findings demonstrate that cave skeletal assemblages provide a rapid and effective method for censusing terrestrial mammalian communities and establishing baselines critical for monitoring future ecological changes, particularly in high-elevation environments sensitive to climate change.