A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA
Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs 3.6 to 0.8 million years ago had climates resembling those forecasted under future warming. Palaeoclimatic records show strong polar amplification with mean annual temperatures of 11–19 °C above contemporary values. The biological communities inhabiting the...
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Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1902598 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1902598 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1902598 2023-07-30T04:01:31+02:00 A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA Kjær, Kurt H. Winther Pedersen, Mikkel De Sanctis, Bianca De Cahsan, Binia Korneliussen, Thorfinn S. Michelsen, Christian S. Sand, Karina K. Jelavić, Stanislav Ruter, Anthony H. Schmidt, Astrid A. Kjeldsen, Kristian K. Tesakov, Alexey S. Snowball, Ian Gosse, John C. Alsos, Inger G. Wang, Yucheng Dockter, Christoph Rasmussen, Magnus Jørgensen, Morten E. Skadhauge, Birgitte Prohaska, Ana Kristensen, Jeppe Å. Bjerager, Morten Allentoft, Morten E. Coissac, Eric Alsos, Inger Greve Rouillard, Alexandra Simakova, Alexandra Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio Bowler, Chris Macias-Fauria, Marc Vinner, Lasse Welch, John J. Hidy, Alan J. Sikora, Martin Collins, Matthew J. Durbin, Richard Larsen, Nicolaj K. Willerslev, Eske 2022-12-14 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1902598 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1902598 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1902598 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1902598 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y 58 GEOSCIENCES 2022 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y 2023-07-11T10:16:38Z Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs 3.6 to 0.8 million years ago had climates resembling those forecasted under future warming. Palaeoclimatic records show strong polar amplification with mean annual temperatures of 11–19 °C above contemporary values. The biological communities inhabiting the Arctic during this time remain poorly known because fossils are rare. Here we report an ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) record describing the rich plant and animal assemblages of the Kap København Formation in North Greenland, dated to around two million years ago. The record shows an open boreal forest ecosystem with mixed vegetation of poplar, birch and thuja trees, as well as a variety of Arctic and boreal shrubs and herbs, many of which had not previously been detected at the site from macrofossil and pollen records. The DNA record confirms the presence of hare and mitochondrial DNA from animals including mastodons, reindeer, rodents and geese, all ancestral to their present-day and late Pleistocene relatives. The presence of marine species including horseshoe crab and green algae support a warmer climate than today. The reconstructed ecosystem has no modern analogue. The survival of such ancient eDNA probably relates to its binding to mineral surfaces. Our findings open new areas of genetic research, demonstrating that it is possible to track the ecology and evolution of biological communities from two million years ago using ancient eDNA. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Greenland Kap København North Greenland SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Greenland Kap ENVELOPE(23.567,23.567,65.533,65.533) Kap København ENVELOPE(-22.200,-22.200,82.400,82.400) Nature 612 7939 283 291 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
58 GEOSCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
58 GEOSCIENCES Kjær, Kurt H. Winther Pedersen, Mikkel De Sanctis, Bianca De Cahsan, Binia Korneliussen, Thorfinn S. Michelsen, Christian S. Sand, Karina K. Jelavić, Stanislav Ruter, Anthony H. Schmidt, Astrid A. Kjeldsen, Kristian K. Tesakov, Alexey S. Snowball, Ian Gosse, John C. Alsos, Inger G. Wang, Yucheng Dockter, Christoph Rasmussen, Magnus Jørgensen, Morten E. Skadhauge, Birgitte Prohaska, Ana Kristensen, Jeppe Å. Bjerager, Morten Allentoft, Morten E. Coissac, Eric Alsos, Inger Greve Rouillard, Alexandra Simakova, Alexandra Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio Bowler, Chris Macias-Fauria, Marc Vinner, Lasse Welch, John J. Hidy, Alan J. Sikora, Martin Collins, Matthew J. Durbin, Richard Larsen, Nicolaj K. Willerslev, Eske A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA |
topic_facet |
58 GEOSCIENCES |
description |
Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs 3.6 to 0.8 million years ago had climates resembling those forecasted under future warming. Palaeoclimatic records show strong polar amplification with mean annual temperatures of 11–19 °C above contemporary values. The biological communities inhabiting the Arctic during this time remain poorly known because fossils are rare. Here we report an ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) record describing the rich plant and animal assemblages of the Kap København Formation in North Greenland, dated to around two million years ago. The record shows an open boreal forest ecosystem with mixed vegetation of poplar, birch and thuja trees, as well as a variety of Arctic and boreal shrubs and herbs, many of which had not previously been detected at the site from macrofossil and pollen records. The DNA record confirms the presence of hare and mitochondrial DNA from animals including mastodons, reindeer, rodents and geese, all ancestral to their present-day and late Pleistocene relatives. The presence of marine species including horseshoe crab and green algae support a warmer climate than today. The reconstructed ecosystem has no modern analogue. The survival of such ancient eDNA probably relates to its binding to mineral surfaces. Our findings open new areas of genetic research, demonstrating that it is possible to track the ecology and evolution of biological communities from two million years ago using ancient eDNA. |
author |
Kjær, Kurt H. Winther Pedersen, Mikkel De Sanctis, Bianca De Cahsan, Binia Korneliussen, Thorfinn S. Michelsen, Christian S. Sand, Karina K. Jelavić, Stanislav Ruter, Anthony H. Schmidt, Astrid A. Kjeldsen, Kristian K. Tesakov, Alexey S. Snowball, Ian Gosse, John C. Alsos, Inger G. Wang, Yucheng Dockter, Christoph Rasmussen, Magnus Jørgensen, Morten E. Skadhauge, Birgitte Prohaska, Ana Kristensen, Jeppe Å. Bjerager, Morten Allentoft, Morten E. Coissac, Eric Alsos, Inger Greve Rouillard, Alexandra Simakova, Alexandra Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio Bowler, Chris Macias-Fauria, Marc Vinner, Lasse Welch, John J. Hidy, Alan J. Sikora, Martin Collins, Matthew J. Durbin, Richard Larsen, Nicolaj K. Willerslev, Eske |
author_facet |
Kjær, Kurt H. Winther Pedersen, Mikkel De Sanctis, Bianca De Cahsan, Binia Korneliussen, Thorfinn S. Michelsen, Christian S. Sand, Karina K. Jelavić, Stanislav Ruter, Anthony H. Schmidt, Astrid A. Kjeldsen, Kristian K. Tesakov, Alexey S. Snowball, Ian Gosse, John C. Alsos, Inger G. Wang, Yucheng Dockter, Christoph Rasmussen, Magnus Jørgensen, Morten E. Skadhauge, Birgitte Prohaska, Ana Kristensen, Jeppe Å. Bjerager, Morten Allentoft, Morten E. Coissac, Eric Alsos, Inger Greve Rouillard, Alexandra Simakova, Alexandra Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio Bowler, Chris Macias-Fauria, Marc Vinner, Lasse Welch, John J. Hidy, Alan J. Sikora, Martin Collins, Matthew J. Durbin, Richard Larsen, Nicolaj K. Willerslev, Eske |
author_sort |
Kjær, Kurt H. |
title |
A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA |
title_short |
A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA |
title_full |
A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA |
title_fullStr |
A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA |
title_full_unstemmed |
A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA |
title_sort |
2-million-year-old ecosystem in greenland uncovered by environmental dna |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1902598 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1902598 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(23.567,23.567,65.533,65.533) ENVELOPE(-22.200,-22.200,82.400,82.400) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Kap Kap København |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Kap Kap København |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Kap København North Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Kap København North Greenland |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1902598 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1902598 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
612 |
container_issue |
7939 |
container_start_page |
283 |
op_container_end_page |
291 |
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1772812292062183424 |