Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Willerslev, Eske, Davison, John, Moora, Mari, Zobel, Martin, Coissac, Eric, Edwards, Mary E., Lorenzen, Eline D., Vestergård, Mette, Gussarova, Galina, Haile, James, Craine, Joseph, Gielly, Ludovic, Boessenkool, Sanne, Epp, Laura S., Pearman, Peter B., Cheddadi, Rachid, Murray, David, Bråthen, Kari Anne, Yoccoz, Nigel, Binney, Heather, Cruaud, Corinne, Wincker, Patrick, Goslar, Tomasz, Alsos, Inger Greve, Bellemain, Eva, Brysting, Anne Krag, Elven, Reidar, Sønstebø, Jørn Henrik, Murton, Julian, Sher, Andrei, Rasmussen, Morten, Ronn, Regin, Mourier, Tobias, Cooper, Alan, Austin, Jeremy, Moller, Per, Froese, Duane, Zazula, Grant, Pompanon, Francois, Rioux, Delphine, Niderkorn, Vincent, Tikhonov, Alexei, Savvinov, Grigoriy, Roberts, Richard G., Macphee, Ross D. E., Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Kjær, Kurt H., Orlando, Ludovic, Brochmann, Christian, Taberlet, Pierre
• Other Authors: University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), University of Tartu, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California (UC), National Centre for Biosystematics (NCB), University of Oslo (UiO), Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU), Murdoch University, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Landscape Dynamics Unit, Swiss Federal Research Institute, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø, Norway (UiT), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu = Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM), Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Museum, University of Sussex, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), University of Adelaide, Department of Geology, Quaternary Sciences, Skane University Hospital Lund, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Edmonton, University of Alberta, Government of Yukon, Partenaires INRAE, Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 (UMRH), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS), Zoological Institute, North-Eastern Federal University, University of Wollongong Australia, American Museum of Natural History New York, USA = Musée américain d'histoire naturelle New York, USA (AMNH)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: [SDV.BV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology; Arctic; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02640450; https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12921

International audience Although it is generally agreed that the Arctic flora is among the youngest and least diverse on Earth, the processes that shaped it are poorly understood. Here we present 50 thousand years (kyr) of Arctic vegetation history, derived from the first large-scale ancient DNA metabarcoding study of circumpolar plant diversity. For this interval we also explore nematode diversity as a proxy for modelling vegetation cover and soil quality, and diets of herbivorous megafaunal mammals, many of which became extinct around 10 kyr bp (before present). For much of the period investigated, Arctic vegetation consisted of dry steppe-tundra dominated by forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous vascular plants). During the Last Glacial Maximum (25-15 kyr bp), diversity declined markedly, although forbs remained dominant. Much changed after 10 kyr bp, with the appearance of moist tundra dominated by woody plants and graminoids. Our analyses indicate that both graminoids and forbs would have featured in megafaunal diets. As such, our findings question the predominance of a Late Quaternary graminoid-dominated Arctic mammoth steppe.