Ancient DNA and osteological analyses of a unique paleo-archive reveal Early Holocene faunal expansion into the Scandinavian Arctic

• Published in: Science Advances
• Main Authors: Boilard, Aurélie, Walker, Samuel James, Lødøen, Trond, Henriksen, Mona, Takken-Beijersbergen, Liselotte M., Star, Bastian, Robu, Marius, Tøssebo, Christine, Albrektsen, Cornelia Marie, Soleng, Yvonne, Aksnes, Sverre S, Jørgensen, Roger, Hufthammer, Anne Karin, Kolfschoten, Thijs van, Lauritzen, Stein Erik, Boessenkool, Sanne
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2024
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/111804; https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adk3032

Paleo-archives are essential for our understanding of species responses to climate warming, yet such archives are extremely rare in the Arctic. Here, we combine morphological analyses and bulk-bone metabarcoding to investigate a unique chronology of bone deposits sealed in the high-latitude Storsteinhola cave system (68°50′ N 16°22′ E) in Norway. This deposit dates to a period of climate warming from the end of the Late Glacial [~13 thousand calibrated years before the present (ka cal B.P.)] to the Holocene thermal maximum (~5.6 ka cal B.P.). Paleogenetic analyses allow us to exploit the 1000s of morphologically unidentifiable bone fragments resulting in a high-resolution sequence with 40 different taxa, including species not previously found here. Our record reveals borealization in both the marine and terrestrial environments above the Arctic Circle as a naturally recurring phenomenon in past periods of warming, providing fundamental insights into the ecosystem-wide responses that are ongoing today.