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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ftunivwollongong:oai:ro.uow.edu.au:smhpapers-2508 2023-05-15T14:37:43+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 Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S Pearman, Peter B Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari A Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrik Murton, Julian Sher, Andrei Rasmussen, Morten Ronn, Regin Mourier, Tobias Cooper, Alan Austin, Jeremy Moller, Per Froese, Duane G Zazula, Grant Pompanon, Francois Rioux, Delphine Niderkorn, Vincent Tikhonov, Alexei Savvinov, Grigoriy Roberts, Richard G MacPhee, Ross D. E Gilbert, M. Thomas P K, Kurt H Orlando, Ludovic Brochmann, Christian Taberlet, Pierre 2014-01-01T08:00:00Z https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1490 unknown Research Online https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1490 Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A Medicine and Health Sciences Social and Behavioral Sciences article 2014 ftunivwollongong 2020-02-25T10:59:48Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra University of Wollongong, Australia: Research Online Arctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Wollongong, Australia: Research Online |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwollongong |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Medicine and Health Sciences Social and Behavioral Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Medicine and Health Sciences Social and Behavioral Sciences Willerslev, Eske Davison, John Moora, Mari Zobel, Martin Coissac, Eric Edwards, Mary E Lorenzen, Eline D Vestergard, Mette Gussarova, Galina Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S Pearman, Peter B Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari A Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrik Murton, Julian Sher, Andrei Rasmussen, Morten Ronn, Regin Mourier, Tobias Cooper, Alan Austin, Jeremy Moller, Per Froese, Duane G Zazula, Grant Pompanon, Francois Rioux, Delphine Niderkorn, Vincent Tikhonov, Alexei Savvinov, Grigoriy Roberts, Richard G MacPhee, Ross D. E Gilbert, M. Thomas P K, Kurt H Orlando, Ludovic Brochmann, Christian Taberlet, Pierre Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet |
topic_facet |
Medicine and Health Sciences Social and Behavioral Sciences |
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. |
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 Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S Pearman, Peter B Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari A Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrik Murton, Julian Sher, Andrei Rasmussen, Morten Ronn, Regin Mourier, Tobias Cooper, Alan Austin, Jeremy Moller, Per Froese, Duane G Zazula, Grant Pompanon, Francois Rioux, Delphine Niderkorn, Vincent Tikhonov, Alexei Savvinov, Grigoriy Roberts, Richard G MacPhee, Ross D. E Gilbert, M. Thomas P K, Kurt H Orlando, Ludovic Brochmann, Christian Taberlet, Pierre |
author_facet |
Willerslev, Eske Davison, John Moora, Mari Zobel, Martin Coissac, Eric Edwards, Mary E Lorenzen, Eline D Vestergard, Mette Gussarova, Galina Haile, James Craine, Joseph Gielly, Ludovic Boessenkool, Sanne Epp, Laura S Pearman, Peter B Cheddadi, Rachid Murray, David Brathen, Kari A Yoccoz, Nigel Binney, Heather Cruaud, Corinne Wincker, Patrick Goslar, Tomasz Alsos, Inger Greve Bellemain, Eva Brysting, Anne Krag Elven, Reidar Sonstebo, Jorn Henrik Murton, Julian Sher, Andrei Rasmussen, Morten Ronn, Regin Mourier, Tobias Cooper, Alan Austin, Jeremy Moller, Per Froese, Duane G Zazula, Grant Pompanon, Francois Rioux, Delphine Niderkorn, Vincent Tikhonov, Alexei Savvinov, Grigoriy Roberts, Richard G MacPhee, Ross D. E Gilbert, M. Thomas P K, Kurt H Orlando, Ludovic Brochmann, Christian Taberlet, Pierre |
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 |
Research Online |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1490 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A |
op_relation |
https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1490 |
_version_ |
1766309920213303296 |