Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies?
Ancient DNA (aDNA) is a useful tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies. Paleosols formed in Arctic environments constitute a potential archive of aDNA from terrestrial organisms living in past environments, given that the cold and dry climate prevailing at high latitudes favors DNA preserv...
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Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap
2018
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ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-149161 2023-10-09T21:48:36+02:00 Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? Kumpula, Kimmo 2018 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-149161 eng eng Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-149161 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Ancient DNA paleosol paleoenvironment Greenland Arctic Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Student thesis info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis text 2018 ftumeauniv 2023-09-22T13:50:12Z Ancient DNA (aDNA) is a useful tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies. Paleosols formed in Arctic environments constitute a potential archive of aDNA from terrestrial organisms living in past environments, given that the cold and dry climate prevailing at high latitudes favors DNA preservation and hamper post-depositional mobility of deposited fragments. However, to what extent aDNA is preserved in old buried soil layers (paleosol layers) are not well known. This study asses to what extent DNA older than 100 years is present in a paleosol profile from southwest Greenland. My main hypothesis was that aDNA from both plants and animals could be extracted from old buried soil layers. I found that oldest studied soil layers were more than 800 B.P. yr old. These old layers contained DNA from both plants and animals. The clean sampling protocol used showed no signs of contamination, suggesting that the DNA was from soil layers and not from modern contaminants. I conclude that my hypothesis seems valid and that a majority of the analyzed plant and animal DNA is ancient. Indeed, aDNA could be used to infer species presence in past paleoenvironments and widen our knowledge regarding how Arctic organism coped with climatic perturbations and thus, improve our understanding how they will respond to future climatic change. Bachelor Thesis Arctic Greenland Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Greenland |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Ancient DNA paleosol paleoenvironment Greenland Arctic Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
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Ancient DNA paleosol paleoenvironment Greenland Arctic Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Kumpula, Kimmo Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
topic_facet |
Ancient DNA paleosol paleoenvironment Greenland Arctic Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
description |
Ancient DNA (aDNA) is a useful tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies. Paleosols formed in Arctic environments constitute a potential archive of aDNA from terrestrial organisms living in past environments, given that the cold and dry climate prevailing at high latitudes favors DNA preservation and hamper post-depositional mobility of deposited fragments. However, to what extent aDNA is preserved in old buried soil layers (paleosol layers) are not well known. This study asses to what extent DNA older than 100 years is present in a paleosol profile from southwest Greenland. My main hypothesis was that aDNA from both plants and animals could be extracted from old buried soil layers. I found that oldest studied soil layers were more than 800 B.P. yr old. These old layers contained DNA from both plants and animals. The clean sampling protocol used showed no signs of contamination, suggesting that the DNA was from soil layers and not from modern contaminants. I conclude that my hypothesis seems valid and that a majority of the analyzed plant and animal DNA is ancient. Indeed, aDNA could be used to infer species presence in past paleoenvironments and widen our knowledge regarding how Arctic organism coped with climatic perturbations and thus, improve our understanding how they will respond to future climatic change. |
format |
Bachelor Thesis |
author |
Kumpula, Kimmo |
author_facet |
Kumpula, Kimmo |
author_sort |
Kumpula, Kimmo |
title |
Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
title_short |
Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
title_full |
Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
title_fullStr |
Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ancient DNA in paleosols, SW Greenland : A tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
title_sort |
ancient dna in paleosols, sw greenland : a tool for retrospective paleoenvironmental studies? |
publisher |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-149161 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
op_relation |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-149161 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1779311676986753024 |