TY - JOUR

T1 - Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics

AU - Wang, Yucheng

AU - Pedersen, Mikkel Winther

AU - Alsos, Inger Greve

AU - De Sanctis, Bianca

AU - Racimo, Fernando

AU - Prohaska, Ana

AU - Coissac, Eric

AU - Owens, Hannah Lois

AU - Merkel, Marie Kristine Føreid

AU - Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio

AU - Rouillard, Alexandra

AU - Lammers, Youri

AU - Alberti, Adriana

AU - Denoeud, France

AU - Money, Daniel

AU - Ruter, Anthony H.

AU - McColl, Hugh

AU - Larsen, Nicolaj Krog

AU - Черезова, Анна Алексеевна

AU - Edwards, Mary E.

AU - Федоров, Григорий Борисович

AU - Haile, James

AU - Orlando, Ludovic

AU - Vinner, Lasse

AU - Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand

AU - Beilman, David W.

AU - Bjørk, Anders A.

AU - Cao, Jialu

AU - Dockter, Christoph

AU - Esdale, Julie

AU - Gusarova, Galina

AU - Kjeldsen, Kristian K.

AU - Mangerud, Jan

AU - Rasic, Jeffrey T.

AU - Skadhauge, Birgitte

AU - Svendsen, John Inge

AU - Tikhonov, Alexei

AU - Wincker, Patrick

AU - Xing, Yingchun

AU - Zhang, Yubin

AU - Froese, Duane G.

AU - Rahbek, Carsten

AU - Nogues, David Bravo

AU - Holden, Philip B.

AU - Edwards, Neil R.

AU - Durbin, Richard

AU - Meltzer, David J.

AU - Kjær, Kurt H.

AU - Möller, Per

AU - Willerslev, Eske

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2021/10/20

Y1 - 2021/10/20

N2 - During the last glacial–interglacial cycle, Arctic biotas experienced substantial climatic changes, yet the nature, extent and rate of their responses are not fully understood 1–8. Here we report a large-scale environmental DNA metagenomic study of ancient plant and mammal communities, analysing 535 permafrost and lake sediment samples from across the Arctic spanning the past 50,000 years. Furthermore, we present 1,541 contemporary plant genome assemblies that were generated as reference sequences. Our study provides several insights into the long-term dynamics of the Arctic biota at the circumpolar and regional scales. Our key findings include: (1) a relatively homogeneous steppe–tundra flora dominated the Arctic during the Last Glacial Maximum, followed by regional divergence of vegetation during the Holocene epoch; (2) certain grazing animals consistently co-occurred in space and time; (3) humans appear to have been a minor factor in driving animal distributions; (4) higher effective precipitation, as well as an increase in the proportion of wetland plants, show negative effects on animal diversity; (5) the persistence of the steppe–tundra vegetation in northern Siberia enabled the late survival of several now-extinct megafauna species, including the woolly mammoth until 3.9 ± 0.2 thousand years ago (ka) and the woolly rhinoceros until 9.8 ± 0.2 ka; and (6) phylogenetic analysis of mammoth environmental DNA reveals a previously unsampled mitochondrial lineage. Our findings highlight the power of ancient environmental metagenomics analyses to advance understanding of population histories and long-term ecological dynamics.

AB - During the last glacial–interglacial cycle, Arctic biotas experienced substantial climatic changes, yet the nature, extent and rate of their responses are not fully understood 1–8. Here we report a large-scale environmental DNA metagenomic study of ancient plant and mammal communities, analysing 535 permafrost and lake sediment samples from across the Arctic spanning the past 50,000 years. Furthermore, we present 1,541 contemporary plant genome assemblies that were generated as reference sequences. Our study provides several insights into the long-term dynamics of the Arctic biota at the circumpolar and regional scales. Our key findings include: (1) a relatively homogeneous steppe–tundra flora dominated the Arctic during the Last Glacial Maximum, followed by regional divergence of vegetation during the Holocene epoch; (2) certain grazing animals consistently co-occurred in space and time; (3) humans appear to have been a minor factor in driving animal distributions; (4) higher effective precipitation, as well as an increase in the proportion of wetland plants, show negative effects on animal diversity; (5) the persistence of the steppe–tundra vegetation in northern Siberia enabled the late survival of several now-extinct megafauna species, including the woolly mammoth until 3.9 ± 0.2 thousand years ago (ka) and the woolly rhinoceros until 9.8 ± 0.2 ka; and (6) phylogenetic analysis of mammoth environmental DNA reveals a previously unsampled mitochondrial lineage. Our findings highlight the power of ancient environmental metagenomics analyses to advance understanding of population histories and long-term ecological dynamics.

KW - DIVERSITY

KW - DNA

KW - EURASIA

KW - EXTINCTION

KW - GREENLAND SNOW

KW - ICE CORE

KW - LANDSCAPE

KW - LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM

KW - MAMMOTH STEPPE

KW - VEGETATION

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117398172&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/ff9d7410-fcbf-31e3-afcb-fc3141317561/

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-021-04016-x

DO - 10.1038/s41586-021-04016-x

M3 - Article

C2 - 34671161

VL - 600

SP - 86

EP - 92

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

SN - 0028-0836

IS - 7887

ER -