Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial
Summer warming is driving a greening trend across the Arctic, with the potential for large-scale amplification of climate change due to vegetation-related feedbacks [Pearson et al., Nat. Clim. Chang. (3), 673-677 (2013)]. Because observational records are sparse and temporally limited, past episodes...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt1m631598 2023-09-05T13:16:05+02:00 Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial Crump, Sarah E Fréchette, Bianca Power, Matthew Cutler, Sam de Wet, Gregory Raynolds, Martha K Raberg, Jonathan H Briner, Jason P Thomas, Elizabeth K Sepúlveda, Julio Shapiro, Beth Bunce, Michael Miller, Gifford H e2019069118 2021-03-30 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1m631598 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt1m631598 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1m631598 public Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 118, iss 13 Climate Action Arctic Regions Climate Change DNA Ancient Plant Fossils Geologic Sediments Lakes Paleontology Plant Dispersal Pollen paleoecology Arctic greening sedimentary ancient DNA Last Interglacial article 2021 ftcdlib 2023-08-21T18:04:56Z Summer warming is driving a greening trend across the Arctic, with the potential for large-scale amplification of climate change due to vegetation-related feedbacks [Pearson et al., Nat. Clim. Chang. (3), 673-677 (2013)]. Because observational records are sparse and temporally limited, past episodes of Arctic warming can help elucidate the magnitude of vegetation response to temperature change. The Last Interglacial ([LIG], 129,000 to 116,000 y ago) was the most recent episode of Arctic warming on par with predicted 21st century temperature change [Otto-Bliesner et al., Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. (371), 20130097 (2013) and Post et al., SciAdv (5), eaaw9883 (2019)]. However, high-latitude terrestrial records from this period are rare, so LIG vegetation distributions are incompletely known. Pollen-based vegetation reconstructions can be biased by long-distance pollen transport, further obscuring the paleoenvironmental record. Here, we present a LIG vegetation record based on ancient DNA in lake sediment and compare it with fossil pollen. Comprehensive plant community reconstructions through the last and current interglacial (the Holocene) on Baffin Island, Arctic Canada, reveal coherent climate-driven community shifts across both interglacials. Peak LIG warmth featured a ∼400-km northward range shift of dwarf birch, a key woody shrub that is again expanding northward. Greening of the High Arctic-documented here by multiple proxies-likely represented a strong positive feedback on high-latitude LIG warming. Authenticated ancient DNA from this lake sediment also extends the useful preservation window for the technique and highlights the utility of combining traditional and molecular approaches for gleaning paleoenvironmental insights to better anticipate a warmer future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greening Arctic Baffin Island Baffin Climate change Dwarf birch University of California: eScholarship Arctic Baffin Island Canada |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Climate Action Arctic Regions Climate Change DNA Ancient Plant Fossils Geologic Sediments Lakes Paleontology Plant Dispersal Pollen paleoecology Arctic greening sedimentary ancient DNA Last Interglacial |
spellingShingle |
Climate Action Arctic Regions Climate Change DNA Ancient Plant Fossils Geologic Sediments Lakes Paleontology Plant Dispersal Pollen paleoecology Arctic greening sedimentary ancient DNA Last Interglacial Crump, Sarah E Fréchette, Bianca Power, Matthew Cutler, Sam de Wet, Gregory Raynolds, Martha K Raberg, Jonathan H Briner, Jason P Thomas, Elizabeth K Sepúlveda, Julio Shapiro, Beth Bunce, Michael Miller, Gifford H Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial |
topic_facet |
Climate Action Arctic Regions Climate Change DNA Ancient Plant Fossils Geologic Sediments Lakes Paleontology Plant Dispersal Pollen paleoecology Arctic greening sedimentary ancient DNA Last Interglacial |
description |
Summer warming is driving a greening trend across the Arctic, with the potential for large-scale amplification of climate change due to vegetation-related feedbacks [Pearson et al., Nat. Clim. Chang. (3), 673-677 (2013)]. Because observational records are sparse and temporally limited, past episodes of Arctic warming can help elucidate the magnitude of vegetation response to temperature change. The Last Interglacial ([LIG], 129,000 to 116,000 y ago) was the most recent episode of Arctic warming on par with predicted 21st century temperature change [Otto-Bliesner et al., Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. (371), 20130097 (2013) and Post et al., SciAdv (5), eaaw9883 (2019)]. However, high-latitude terrestrial records from this period are rare, so LIG vegetation distributions are incompletely known. Pollen-based vegetation reconstructions can be biased by long-distance pollen transport, further obscuring the paleoenvironmental record. Here, we present a LIG vegetation record based on ancient DNA in lake sediment and compare it with fossil pollen. Comprehensive plant community reconstructions through the last and current interglacial (the Holocene) on Baffin Island, Arctic Canada, reveal coherent climate-driven community shifts across both interglacials. Peak LIG warmth featured a ∼400-km northward range shift of dwarf birch, a key woody shrub that is again expanding northward. Greening of the High Arctic-documented here by multiple proxies-likely represented a strong positive feedback on high-latitude LIG warming. Authenticated ancient DNA from this lake sediment also extends the useful preservation window for the technique and highlights the utility of combining traditional and molecular approaches for gleaning paleoenvironmental insights to better anticipate a warmer future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Crump, Sarah E Fréchette, Bianca Power, Matthew Cutler, Sam de Wet, Gregory Raynolds, Martha K Raberg, Jonathan H Briner, Jason P Thomas, Elizabeth K Sepúlveda, Julio Shapiro, Beth Bunce, Michael Miller, Gifford H |
author_facet |
Crump, Sarah E Fréchette, Bianca Power, Matthew Cutler, Sam de Wet, Gregory Raynolds, Martha K Raberg, Jonathan H Briner, Jason P Thomas, Elizabeth K Sepúlveda, Julio Shapiro, Beth Bunce, Michael Miller, Gifford H |
author_sort |
Crump, Sarah E |
title |
Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial |
title_short |
Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial |
title_full |
Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial |
title_fullStr |
Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial |
title_sort |
ancient plant dna reveals high arctic greening during the last interglacial |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1m631598 |
op_coverage |
e2019069118 |
geographic |
Arctic Baffin Island Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Baffin Island Canada |
genre |
Arctic Greening Arctic Baffin Island Baffin Climate change Dwarf birch |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greening Arctic Baffin Island Baffin Climate change Dwarf birch |
op_source |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 118, iss 13 |
op_relation |
qt1m631598 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1m631598 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1776197802983948288 |