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 -