TY - JOUR
T1 - Ancient DNA analyses exclude humans as the driving force behind late Pleistocene musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) population dynamics
AU - Campos, Paula
AU - Willerslev, Eske
AU - Sher, Andrei
AU - Orlando, Ludovic Antoine Alexandre
AU - Axelsson, Erik Gunnar
AU - Tikhonov, Alexei
AU - Aaris-Sørensen, Kim
AU - Greenwood, Alex D.
AU - Kahlke, Ralf-Dietrich
AU - Kosintsev, Pavel
AU - Krakhmalnaya, Tatiana
AU - Kuznetsova, Tatyana
AU - Lemey, Philippe
AU - MacPhee, Ross
AU - Norris, Christopher A.
AU - Shepherd, Kieran
AU - Suchard, Marc A.
AU - Zazula, Grant D.
AU - Shapiro, Beth
AU - Gilbert, Tom
PY - 2010/3/23
Y1 - 2010/3/23
N2 - The causes of the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions are poorly understood. Different lines of evidence point to climate change, the arrival of humans, or a combination of these events as the trigger. Although many species went extinct, others, such as caribou and bison, survived to the present. The musk ox has an intermediate story: relatively abundant during the Pleistocene, it is now restricted to Greenland and the Arctic Archipelago. In this study, we use ancient DNA sequences, temporally unbiased summary statistics, and Bayesian analytical techniques to infer musk ox population dynamics throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Our results reveal that musk ox genetic diversity was much higher during the Pleistocene than at present, and has undergone several expansions and contractions over the past 60,000 years. Northeast Siberia was of key importance, as it was the geographic origin of all samples studied and held a large diverse population until local extinction at approximately 45,000 radiocarbon years before present ((14)C YBP). Subsequently, musk ox genetic diversity reincreased at ca. 30,000 (14)C YBP, recontracted at ca. 18,000 (14)C YBP, and finally recovered in the middle Holocene. The arrival of humans into relevant areas of the musk ox range did not affect their mitochondrial diversity, and both musk ox and humans expanded into Greenland concomitantly. Thus, their population dynamics are better explained by a nonanthropogenic cause (for example, environmental change), a hypothesis supported by historic observations on the sensitivity of the species to both climatic warming and fluctuations.
AB - The causes of the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions are poorly understood. Different lines of evidence point to climate change, the arrival of humans, or a combination of these events as the trigger. Although many species went extinct, others, such as caribou and bison, survived to the present. The musk ox has an intermediate story: relatively abundant during the Pleistocene, it is now restricted to Greenland and the Arctic Archipelago. In this study, we use ancient DNA sequences, temporally unbiased summary statistics, and Bayesian analytical techniques to infer musk ox population dynamics throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Our results reveal that musk ox genetic diversity was much higher during the Pleistocene than at present, and has undergone several expansions and contractions over the past 60,000 years. Northeast Siberia was of key importance, as it was the geographic origin of all samples studied and held a large diverse population until local extinction at approximately 45,000 radiocarbon years before present ((14)C YBP). Subsequently, musk ox genetic diversity reincreased at ca. 30,000 (14)C YBP, recontracted at ca. 18,000 (14)C YBP, and finally recovered in the middle Holocene. The arrival of humans into relevant areas of the musk ox range did not affect their mitochondrial diversity, and both musk ox and humans expanded into Greenland concomitantly. Thus, their population dynamics are better explained by a nonanthropogenic cause (for example, environmental change), a hypothesis supported by historic observations on the sensitivity of the species to both climatic warming and fluctuations.
KW - Animals
KW - DNA
KW - DNA, Mitochondrial
KW - Extinction, Biological
KW - Fossils
KW - Genetic Variation
KW - History, Ancient
KW - Humans
KW - Molecular Sequence Data
KW - Phylogeny
KW - Population Dynamics
KW - Ruminants
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0907189107
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0907189107
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 20212118
VL - 107
SP - 5675
EP - 5680
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 12
ER -