{
  "abstract": "Pollen and nutrient analyses of the faeces of the Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana) were made to understand its preferred dietary plants and ecology. Pollen preserved in the faeces accurately reflected its diet as a mixed feeder including Artemisia, Caryophyllaceae, Asteroideae, and Ephedra, characteristic plants of the Alpine steppe vegetation under a cold and arid climate in the higher Himalaya. Pollen ratio values between Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia/Cyperaceae, and Artemisia/Ephedra are identified from the Pensilla Pass and Rimkhim regions, as useful tools that characterize the Alpine steppe vegetation and climate in the higher Himalaya. Principal Component Analysis of the pollen taxa indicated only a slight difference in the relative abundance between the two localities sampled, Pensila Pass and Rimkhim areas. Coprophilous fungal spores, Sporormiella and Saccobolus, were abundant and considered useful for understanding the interrelationship between vegetation and the marmot’s preferred habitat. Fifteen nutritional elements were recorded, and the high concentration of carbon, nitrogen, calcium, silicon, and, phosphorous is considered significant with a direct dietary relationship with the preferred plants consumed. This study provides a modern analogue and a baseline for coprolite and palaeoecological analyses in marmot inhabited regions and to observe the species future response to vegetation and climate change resulting shifts in altitude in the higher Himalaya.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.",
    "Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India.",
    "Department of Earth Science, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, United States of America.",
    "School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.",
    "Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India."
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sadhan K Basumatary",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3057-553X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hukam Singh"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Manish Mehta"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Swati Tripathi",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9202-4346"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mahesh G Thakkar",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2911-4784"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "H Gregory McDonald"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Eline N van Asperen",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2329-6831"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Vinit Kumar"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a95sktxb920tm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0358642",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13716175",
  "id": "a95sktxb920tm",
  "issns": [
    "1932-6203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358642",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Atmospheric Science"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Biology and Life Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Climatology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Community Ecology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Diet"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Earth Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Ecology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Ecology and Environmental Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Fungal Reproduction"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Fungal Spores"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Herbivory"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Medicine and Health Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Mycology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Nutrition"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Paleobiology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Paleobotany"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Paleoclimatology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Paleoecology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Paleontology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Plant Anatomy"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Plant Ecology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Plant Science"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Plant-Animal Interactions"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Pollen"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Research Article"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Trophic Interactions"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1911|Archaeology and ancient environmental studies"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Ecology/Community ecology/Trophic interactions"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Ecology/Community ecology/Trophic interactions/Herbivory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Ecology/Paleoecology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Ecology/Plant ecology/Plant-animal interactions/Herbivory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Mycology/Fungal reproduction/Fungal spores"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Nutrition/Diet"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Paleontology/Paleobiology/Paleobotany"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Paleontology/Paleobiology/Paleoecology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Paleontology/Paleobotany"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Paleontology/Paleoclimatology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Plant science/Plant anatomy/Pollen"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Plant science/Plant ecology/Plant-animal interactions/Herbivory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Earth sciences/Atmospheric science/Climatology/Paleoclimatology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Earth sciences/Paleontology/Paleobiology/Paleobotany"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Earth sciences/Paleontology/Paleobiology/Paleoecology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Earth sciences/Paleontology/Paleobotany"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Earth sciences/Paleontology/Paleoclimatology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Ecology and environmental sciences/Ecology/Community ecology/Trophic interactions"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Ecology and environmental sciences/Ecology/Community ecology/Trophic interactions/Herbivory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Ecology and environmental sciences/Ecology/Paleoecology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Ecology and environmental sciences/Ecology/Plant ecology/Plant-animal interactions/Herbivory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Nutrition/Diet"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224110488",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13716175?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13716175",
  "pmid": "42949864",
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a95sktxb920tm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0358642",
      "source": "plos",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358642"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T00:20:33Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42949864",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42949864"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:23:13Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13716175",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358642"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:ecology",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    },
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:paleobiology",
      "subfield": "evolutionary-biology"
    },
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "heading:Mycology",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "heading:Atmospheric Science",
      "subfield": "atmospheric"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "heading:Climatology",
      "subfield": "climate"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Modern Himalayan marmot faeces analyses: Implications for palaeodietary, palaeoecological, and palaeoclimate analysis",
  "title_text": "Modern Himalayan marmot faeces analyses: Implications for palaeodietary, palaeoecological, and palaeoclimate analysis",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:23:13Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a95sktxb920tm",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}