A comparative study of ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen and macrofossils from permafrost sediments of northern Siberia reveals long-term vegetational stability
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A comparative study of ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen and macrofossils from permafrost sediments of northern Siberia reveals long-term vegetational stability. / Jørgensen, Tina; Haile, James Seymour; Möller, Per; Andreev, Andrei; Boessenkool, Sanne; Rasmussen, Morten; Kienast, Frank; Coissac, Eric; Taberlet, Pierre; Brochmann, Christian; Bigelow, Nancy H.; Andersen, Kenneth; Orlando, Ludovic Antoine Alexandre; Gilbert, Tom; Willerslev, Eske.
In: Molecular Ecology, Vol. 21, No. 8, 2012, p. 1989-2003.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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T1 - A comparative study of ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen and macrofossils from permafrost sediments of northern Siberia reveals long-term vegetational stability
AU - Jørgensen, Tina
AU - Haile, James Seymour
AU - Möller, Per
AU - Andreev, Andrei
AU - Boessenkool, Sanne
AU - Rasmussen, Morten
AU - Kienast, Frank
AU - Coissac, Eric
AU - Taberlet, Pierre
AU - Brochmann, Christian
AU - Bigelow, Nancy H.
AU - Andersen, Kenneth
AU - Orlando, Ludovic Antoine Alexandre
AU - Gilbert, Tom
AU - Willerslev, Eske
N1 - Special Issue: ENVIRONMENTAL DNA
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Although ancient DNA from sediments (sedaDNA) has been used to investigate past ecosystems, the approach has never been directly compared with the traditional methods of pollen and macrofossil analysis. We conducted a comparative survey of 18 ancient permafrost samples spanning the Late Pleistocene (46-12.5 thousand years ago), from the Taymyr Peninsula in northern Siberia. The results show that pollen, macrofossils and sedaDNA are complementary rather than overlapping and, in combination, reveal more detailed information on plant palaeocommunities than can be achieved by each individual approach. SedaDNA and macrofossils share greater overlap in plant identifications than with pollen, suggesting that sedaDNA is local in origin. These two proxies also permit identification to lower taxonomic levels than pollen, enabling investigation into temporal changes in species composition and the determination of indicator species to describe environmental changes. Combining data from all three proxies reveals an area continually dominated by a mosaic vegetation of tundra-steppe, pioneer and wet-indicator plants. Such vegetational stability is unexpected, given the severe climate changes taking place in the Northern Hemisphere during this time, with changes in average annual temperatures of >22 °C. This may explain the abundance of ice-age mammals such as horse and bison in Taymyr Peninsula during the Pleistocene and why it acted as a refugium for the last mainland woolly mammoth. Our finding reveals the benefits of combining sedaDNA, pollen and macrofossil for palaeovegetational reconstruction and adds to the increasing evidence suggesting large areas of the Northern Hemisphere remained ecologically stable during the Late Pleistocene.
AB - Although ancient DNA from sediments (sedaDNA) has been used to investigate past ecosystems, the approach has never been directly compared with the traditional methods of pollen and macrofossil analysis. We conducted a comparative survey of 18 ancient permafrost samples spanning the Late Pleistocene (46-12.5 thousand years ago), from the Taymyr Peninsula in northern Siberia. The results show that pollen, macrofossils and sedaDNA are complementary rather than overlapping and, in combination, reveal more detailed information on plant palaeocommunities than can be achieved by each individual approach. SedaDNA and macrofossils share greater overlap in plant identifications than with pollen, suggesting that sedaDNA is local in origin. These two proxies also permit identification to lower taxonomic levels than pollen, enabling investigation into temporal changes in species composition and the determination of indicator species to describe environmental changes. Combining data from all three proxies reveals an area continually dominated by a mosaic vegetation of tundra-steppe, pioneer and wet-indicator plants. Such vegetational stability is unexpected, given the severe climate changes taking place in the Northern Hemisphere during this time, with changes in average annual temperatures of >22 °C. This may explain the abundance of ice-age mammals such as horse and bison in Taymyr Peninsula during the Pleistocene and why it acted as a refugium for the last mainland woolly mammoth. Our finding reveals the benefits of combining sedaDNA, pollen and macrofossil for palaeovegetational reconstruction and adds to the increasing evidence suggesting large areas of the Northern Hemisphere remained ecologically stable during the Late Pleistocene.
KW - DNA, Plant
KW - Ecosystem
KW - Fossils
KW - Geologic Sediments
KW - History, Ancient
KW - Ice
KW - Plants
KW - Pollen
KW - Siberia
U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05287.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05287.x
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 22590727
VL - 21
SP - 1989
EP - 2003
JO - Molecular Ecology
JF - Molecular Ecology
SN - 0962-1083
IS - 8
ER -
ID: 48870066