TY - JOUR

T1 - Ancient DNA from bulk bone reveals past genetic diversity of vertebrate fauna on Kangaroo Island, Australia

AU - Seersholm, Frederik V.

AU - Grealy, Alicia

AU - McDowell, Matthew C.

AU - Cole, Theresa L.

AU - Arnold, Lee J.

AU - Prideaux, Gavin J.

AU - Bunce, Michael

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (Discovery Projects DP120104435 and DP160104473 , and Future Fellowship FT130100195 ), Forrest Research Foundation (to F.V.S.) and the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre . Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - It is indisputable that much of Australia's modern biodiversity decline was triggered by European settlement. However, the driver(s) of pre-European extinctions and extirpations are more challenging to identify, particularly on islands where animals are faced with the additional pressures imposed by isolation. Kangaroo Island, South Australia, has been identified as a potential haven for the reintroduction of endangered animals, but the genetic relationship between reintroduction candidates on the mainland and their extinct relatives on Kangaroo Island is poorly understood. Here, we present a late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene genetic record from Kangaroo Island based on bulk bone metabarcoding of two thousand bone fragments excavated from Kelly Hill Cave. We detect 33 species of bird, reptile, fish and mammal and report additional intra-specific genetic diversity in Kangaroo Island's now extinct population of spotted-tailed quoll. Furthermore, we provide genetic evidence that the Eastern grey kangaroo formerly inhabited Kangaroo Island. Taken together, these data establish a more complete baseline of local biodiversity against which reintroduction programmes and bushfire recovery measures can be evaluated, which is more important than ever in light of the recent fires that devastated much of Kangaroo Island's flora and fauna.

AB - It is indisputable that much of Australia's modern biodiversity decline was triggered by European settlement. However, the driver(s) of pre-European extinctions and extirpations are more challenging to identify, particularly on islands where animals are faced with the additional pressures imposed by isolation. Kangaroo Island, South Australia, has been identified as a potential haven for the reintroduction of endangered animals, but the genetic relationship between reintroduction candidates on the mainland and their extinct relatives on Kangaroo Island is poorly understood. Here, we present a late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene genetic record from Kangaroo Island based on bulk bone metabarcoding of two thousand bone fragments excavated from Kelly Hill Cave. We detect 33 species of bird, reptile, fish and mammal and report additional intra-specific genetic diversity in Kangaroo Island's now extinct population of spotted-tailed quoll. Furthermore, we provide genetic evidence that the Eastern grey kangaroo formerly inhabited Kangaroo Island. Taken together, these data establish a more complete baseline of local biodiversity against which reintroduction programmes and bushfire recovery measures can be evaluated, which is more important than ever in light of the recent fires that devastated much of Kangaroo Island's flora and fauna.

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Bulk bone

KW - Environmental DNA

KW - Kangaroo island

KW - Metabarcoding

KW - Palaeontology

KW - Paleoenvironmental reconstruction

U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106962

DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106962

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85105732980

VL - 262

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

SN - 0277-3791

M1 - 106962

ER -