Aligned and curated mtDNA sequences from: Ancient DNA reveals interstadials as a driver of common vole population dynamics during the last glacial period ...

• Main Author: Baca, Mateusz
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2022
• Subjects: FOS Biological sciences; Common vole; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4j0zpc8d9; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.4j0zpc8d9

Aim: Many species experienced population turnover and local extinction during the Late Pleistocene. In the case of megafauna, it remains challenging to disentangle climate change and the activities of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers as the main cause. In contrast, the impact of humans on rodent populations is likely to be negligible. This study investigated which climatic and/or environmental factors affect the population dynamics of the common vole. This temperate rodent is widespread across Europe and was one of the most abundant small mammal species throughout the Late Pleistocene. Location: Europe Taxon: Common vole (Microtus arvalis) Methods: We generated a dataset comprised of a 4.2-kb-long fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 148 ancient and 51 modern specimens sampled from multiple localities across Europe and covering the last 60 thousand years (ka). We used Bayesian inference to reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships and to estimate the age of the specimens that were not directly dated. ... : This is a curated alignment of ca. 4.2 kb fragment of mtDNA of ancient and modern common voles (M.arvalis). Indels around polinucleotide tracts were removed. ...