Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet
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 circ...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10072/172200 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12921 |
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ftgriffithuniv:oai:research-repository.griffith.edu.au:10072/172200 2023-05-15T14:37:42+02:00 Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet Willerslev, Eske Davison, John Moora, Mari Zobel, Martin Coissac, Eric Edwards, Mary E. Lorenzen, Eline D. Vestergard, Mette Gussarova, Galina L. Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S. Pearman, Peter B. Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari Anne Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrick Murton, Julian 2014 http://hdl.handle.net/10072/172200 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12921 English eng Nature Publishing Nature Population Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics Journal article 2014 ftgriffithuniv https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12921 2018-07-30T10:59:24Z 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. No Full Text Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra Griffith University: Griffith Research Online Arctic Nature 506 7486 47 51 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Griffith University: Griffith Research Online |
op_collection_id |
ftgriffithuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Population Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics |
spellingShingle |
Population Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics Willerslev, Eske Davison, John Moora, Mari Zobel, Martin Coissac, Eric Edwards, Mary E. Lorenzen, Eline D. Vestergard, Mette Gussarova, Galina L. Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S. Pearman, Peter B. Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari Anne Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrick Murton, Julian Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
topic_facet |
Population Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics |
description |
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. No Full Text |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Willerslev, Eske Davison, John Moora, Mari Zobel, Martin Coissac, Eric Edwards, Mary E. Lorenzen, Eline D. Vestergard, Mette Gussarova, Galina L. Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S. Pearman, Peter B. Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari Anne Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrick Murton, Julian |
author_facet |
Willerslev, Eske Davison, John Moora, Mari Zobel, Martin Coissac, Eric Edwards, Mary E. Lorenzen, Eline D. Vestergard, Mette Gussarova, Galina L. Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S. Pearman, Peter B. Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari Anne Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrick Murton, Julian |
author_sort |
Willerslev, Eske |
title |
Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
title_short |
Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
title_full |
Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
title_fullStr |
Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
title_sort |
fifty thousand years of arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
publisher |
Nature Publishing |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10072/172200 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12921 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_relation |
Nature |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12921 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
506 |
container_issue |
7486 |
container_start_page |
47 |
op_container_end_page |
51 |
_version_ |
1766309904373514240 |