DOCSLIB.ORG

A Famous Visitor Teresamanera in 1832 Charles Darwin Came Here to Lessed with Fertile Soil and Known to Us Only by Their Fossils

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Famous Visitor Teresamanera in 1832 Charles Darwin Came Here to Lessed with Fertile Soil and Known to Us Only by Their Fossils Volume 29, Number 2 Center for the Study of the First Americans Department of Anthropology April, 2014 Texas A&M University, 4352 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4352 ISSN 8755-6898 World Wide Web site http://centerfirstamericans.org and http://anthropology.tamu.edu 6&7 Ancient DNA from bone proves ancestry of First Americans and Native Americans Child burials discovered decades ago on two continents had to wait for genome analysis to unlock their secrets. 16 Dating the earliest petroglyphs in North America in the Nevada desert Tufa deposits from Pyramid Lake and dry Winnemucca Lake give geochemist Benson and anthro- pologist Hattori a gauge for measuring the age of striking “pit and groove” rock carvings. these footprints adds a note of ur- gency to this story. Tracks of birds and footprints of Megatherium at the Pehuen Co site. A famous visitor TERESAMANERA In 1832 Charles Darwin came here to LESSED WITH FERTILE SOIL and known to us only by their fossils. At the investigate the legendary Monte Her- lush grasses, the Pampas of Argen- southern extremity of the Argentinean moso cliffs, whose sediments con- tina is perhaps best known for its Pampas plain lies a 30-km sector of the tain fossil remains of autochthonous cattle that supply beef to markets all over Atlantic coast whose soils have yielded South American fauna. His visit is re- the globe. The Pampas grasslands roll an extraordinary assemblage of fossils called by Teresa Manera, professor at southward from the Rio de la Plata to the that give us a snapshot of the changing the National University of the South banks of the Rio Negro, westward toward paleoenvironment at four significant mo- in Bahía Blanca and honorary direc- the Andes, and northward to the southern ments over the past 5 million years, from tor of the Charles Darwin Municipal parts of Córdoba and Santa Fe provinces, the upper Tertiary through the arrival of Natural Science Museum. “Darwin embracing the entire Buenos Aires and the first humans. went to Monte Hermoso with Cap- La Pampa provinces. For many millennia And not only the skeletal remains of tain Robert FitzRoy to survey the before man and cattle arrived, the Pampas extinct fauna are present. We also have area,” Dr. Manera tells us. “There, was the habitat for myriad herbivores great their footprints, fossilized and safe from he found some rodent bones that and small, most of them now extinct and harm . until now. The rush to preserve were important in the development 2 Volume 29 n Number 2 of his thought on the evolution of life.” ments accumulated, and with them the mammals with exotic names—Borhy- The bones, fossil remains of an extinct remains of creatures then extant. At the aenids, Hegetotheridae, Mesotheriidae, member of the cavy family, gave Darwin Farola Monte Hermoso site, entombed in Protherotheriidae, Macraucheniidae. So tangible evidence of an extinct ancestor marine cliffs 12 m high that stretch for rich and varied is the paleontological re- of a species living today. Here we witness 3 km are members of every significant cord, in fact, that the locale has given its the first stirrings of his volcanic theory family of animals from the Pliocene into name to a specific evolutionary age, the of evolution. “After Darwin,” Manera the Pleistocene, some that appear in Montehermosan Stage. continues, “many scientists performed popular literature—armadillos, glypto- At the beginning of the upper Pleis- research at Monte Hermoso cliffs—ar- dons, ground sloths, and fish, amphib- tocene eolian deposits consolidated into chaeologists, paleontologists, and geolo- ians, and reptiles—and now-vanished sandstone that capped the Monte Her- gists, which eventually led to an outcrop of sediments spanning from the Pliocene to Holocene,” says Manera. As a geologist working in paleon- tology, Manera studies vertebrate ta- phonomy at the Monte Hermoso site. Working with a Ph.D. student, she has found Pliocene vertebrate bones (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mam- mals) and some sloth footprints. “This work was important because it allowed us to define in a better way the stratig- The Mammoth Trumpet (ISSN 8755-6898) is published quarterly by the Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, raphy of the Pliocene formation (Monte College Station, TX 77843-4352. Phone (979) 845-4046; fax (979) 845-4070; e-mail Hermoso Formation), which was very [email protected]. Periodical postage paid at College Station, TX 77843-4352 and at ad- controversial.” ditional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: A wealth of material for paleon- Mammoth Trumpet tologists Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University You would be hard pressed to name an- 4352 TAMU other area anywhere in the world so rich College Station, TX 77843-4352 in evidence of past life as Monte Hermoso Copyright © 2014 Center for the Study of the First Americans. Permission is hereby and other sites in the vicinity of Bahía given to any non-profit or educational organization or institution toreproduce without cost any materials from the Mammoth Trumpet so long as they are then distributed at Blanca. Just to the north within a radius no more than actual cost. The Center further requests that notification of reproduction of 300 km lie such archaeological sites of materials under these conditions be sent to the Center. Address correspondence to the as Arroyo Seco, El Guanaco, Paso Otero, editor of Mammoth Trumpet, 2122 Scout Road, Lenoir, NC 28645. Cerro La China, Cerro El Sombrero, Michael R. Waters Director and General Editor sites that today are creating immense e-mail: [email protected] excitement—and great controversy—by Ted Goebel Associate Director demonstrating that humans occupied e-mail: [email protected] the South American continent far earlier James M. Chandler Editor, Mammoth Trumpet than was previously thought (MT 25-4, e-mail: [email protected] “Paleo South America: Long Time, No Christel Cooper Office Manager e-mail: [email protected] See”). C & C Wordsmiths Layout and Design Clustered in the immediate vicinity of AlphaGraphics Printing and mailing Bahía Blanca are a suite of sites that span Web site: www.alphagraphics.com many geological ages. Cristina Bayón, to- World Wide Web site http://centerfirstamericans.com gether with Silvia Aramayo, Manera, and The Center for the Study of the First Americans is a non-profit organization. Subscrip- Gustavo Politis, professor of archaeology tion to the Mammoth Trumpet is by membership in the Center. at the Universidad Nacional del Centro in Buenos Aires, describes how stratified Mammoth Trumpet, Statement of Our Policy sediments formed the sites. The setting Many years may pass between the time an important discovery is made and the acceptance of research results by the scientific community. To facilitate communication among all parties interested in staying originated, they explain, as a plain lying abreast of breaking news in First Americans studies, the Mammoth Trumpet, a science news magazine, between the hills of the Ventania range provides a forum for reporting and discussing new and potentially controversial information important to and the sea. Fine sediments were laid understanding the peopling of the Americas. We encourage submission of articles to the Managing Editor down in a fluvial environment by mean- and letters to the Editor. Views published in the Mammoth Trumpet are the views of contributors, and do not reflect the views of the editor or Center personnel. dering rivers laden with silt. Over many –Michael R. Waters, Director millennia meter upon meter of sedi- April n 2014 3 moso Formation. “On the shores of these temporary ponds of the Pampean Late This mantle, called Pleistocene,” say Bayón et al., “an exceptional record of ani- the Puerto Belgrano mal footprints and tracks crops out on platforms along 5,000 Formation, was itself meters of the modern coast. The process was repeated quite overlain with fluvial regularly, each after deposits that eventu- SIERRA DE LA a short period of time, ally formed the Sauce VENTANIA generating overlap- Grande River, which ini- ping layers.” tially flowed into the Atlan- More than a hun- S tic near the Monte Hermoso a dred trackways and u c cliffs. By the time of the e hundreds of random G late Pleistocene the ever- Bahía Blanca ra footprints record nd shifting terrain had altered e R. the passage of the the course of the river 11 most notable South km to the east, where the Monte Hermoso1– American Pleisto- Playa del Barco site today lies. Its sediments La Olla cene fauna. From the 050 Pehuen Co contain the remains of fauna of a later evolutionary km Playa del Barco tracks Manera, Ara- stage than those of the Farola Monte Hermosa site. Farola Monte Hermoso mayo, and other sci- Some are descendants of the same groups present in entists have identified the Montehermosan Stage, now evolved into different genera— Megatheridae, Mylodontidae, Glyptodontidae, Macrauchenia, giant ground sloths, and glyptodons and their close relatives, the Paleolama, Lama, Equidae, Stegomastodon, Carnivora (Ursi- Dasypodidade. Making their first appearance are also animals dae, Canidae, Felidae), and Caviidae. of North American origin, including camelids, pro- A lifetime of caring boscideans, cervids, and Manera has a deep attachment to carnivores. Preying on the the Pehuen Co site, which is evi- late-Pleistocene megaher- dent in the 2004 Rolex Award for bivores of the Pampas was Enterprise she received for her Smilodon, the saber-tooth work there. (To view an excellent tiger of Rancho la Brea reprise of her work, log on to http:// fame. www.rolexawards.com/gallery/vid- eos/2004.) When she was growing Setting the stage for up, her parents had a weekend house recording footprints in Pehuen Co.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Anzick Children Laid to Rest
    Volume 30, Number 2 ■ April, 2015 The Anzick Children laid to rest Tribal representatives witness Sarah Anzick bearing the casket containing the remains of two Early American Center for the Study of the First Americans children to a burial crypt on the Anzick farm in Montana Department of Anthropology where they were discovered in 1968. DNA analysis of Texas A&M University one child, found buried with Clovis artifacts, revealed 4352 TAMU that his extended family were ancestors of 80% of all College Station, TX 77843-4352 Native Americans. Dr. Anzick’s son Benjamin is to her www.centerfirstamericans.com right. See the story on page 11. Photo by Shawn Raecke he Center for the Study of the First Americans fosters research and public T interest in the Peopling of the Americas. The Center, an integral part of the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University, pro motes inter disciplinary scholarly dialogue among physical, geological, biological and social scientists. The Mammoth Trumpet, news magazine of the Center, seeks to involve you in the peopling of the Americas by report- ing on developments in all pertinent areas of knowledge. Join in the Search for the First Americans! Become a member of the Center for the Study of the First Americans on Center publications plus additional benefits according to the level of and explore the origin, lifeways, artifacts, and other aspects of the membership support you choose. Don’t miss out on the latest breaking earliest inhabitants of the Americas. As a Center member you will news and information about the Ice Age colonizers of the Americas while receive a 1-year subscription to Mammoth Trumpet and discounts playing a vital role in education and research pursued by the Center! Membership Levels To Join or Renew Core (regular) 1-year membership includes: Select a membership level: Core, Sustainer, or Impact.
    [Show full text]
  • Rapid Range Shifts and Megafaunal Extinctions Associated with Late Pleistocene Climate Change ✉ Frederik V
    ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16502-3 OPEN Rapid range shifts and megafaunal extinctions associated with late Pleistocene climate change ✉ Frederik V. Seersholm 1 , Daniel J. Werndly1, Alicia Grealy1,2, Taryn Johnson3, Erin M. Keenan Early 4, Ernest L. Lundelius Jr.5, Barbara Winsborough6,7, Grayal Earle Farr8, Rickard Toomey 9, Anders J. Hansen10, Beth Shapiro 11,12, Michael R. Waters 13, Gregory McDonald14, Anna Linderholm3, ✉ Thomas W. Stafford Jr. 15 & Michael Bunce 1 1234567890():,; Large-scale changes in global climate at the end of the Pleistocene significantly impacted ecosystems across North America. However, the pace and scale of biotic turnover in response to both the Younger Dryas cold period and subsequent Holocene rapid warming have been challenging to assess because of the scarcity of well dated fossil and pollen records that covers this period. Here we present an ancient DNA record from Hall’s Cave, Texas, that documents 100 vertebrate and 45 plant taxa from bulk fossils and sediment. We show that local plant and animal diversity dropped markedly during Younger Dryas cooling, but while plant diversity recovered in the early Holocene, animal diversity did not. Instead, five extant and nine extinct large bodied animals disappeared from the region at the end of the Pleistocene. Our findings suggest that climate change affected the local ecosystem in Texas over the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, but climate change on its own may not explain the disappearance of the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene. 1 Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient DNA Reveals That Bowhead Whale Lineages Survived Late Pleistocene Climate Change and Habitat Shifts
    ARTICLE Received 17 Oct 2012 | Accepted 7 Mar 2013 | Published 9 Apr 2013 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2714 Ancient DNA reveals that bowhead whale lineages survived Late Pleistocene climate change and habitat shifts Andrew D. Foote1,*, Kristin Kaschner2,*, Sebastian E. Schultze1, Cristina Garilao3, Simon Y.W. Ho4, Klaas Post5, Thomas F.G. Higham6, Catherine Stokowska1, Henry van der Es5, Clare B. Embling7, Kristian Gregersen1, Friederike Johansson8, Eske Willerslev1 & M. Thomas P. Gilbert1,9 The climatic changes of the glacial cycles are thought to have been a major driver of population declines and species extinctions. However, studies to date have focused on terrestrial fauna and there is little understanding of how marine species responded to past climate change. Here we show that a true Arctic species, the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), shifted its range and tracked its core suitable habitat northwards during the rapid climate change of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Late Pleistocene lineages survived into the Holocene and effective female population size increased rapidly, concurrent with a threefold increase in core suitable habitat. This study highlights that responses to climate change are likely to be species specific and difficult to predict. We estimate that the core suitable habitat of bowhead whales will be almost halved by the end of this century, potentially influencing future population dynamics. 1 Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5–7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. 2 Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Lab, Institute of Biology I (Zoology), Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. 3 GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum fu¨r Ozeanforschung Kiel Du¨sternbrooker Weg 2, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Curriculum Vitae Ripan S. Malhi Department of Anthropology
    Curriculum Vitae Ripan S. Malhi Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 209E Davenport Hall, 607 Matthews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801. [email protected]. Education Ph.D. Anthropology, University of California, Davis, 2001. Dissertation: Investigating prehistoric population movements in North America using ancient and modern mtDNA. M.A. Anthropology, University of California, Davis, 1998. B.S. Anthropology, Minor in Biological Science, University of California, Davis, 1994. Current Appointments (Academic and Service) August 2017 to present - Full Professor in Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. August 2018 to present – Chair, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology Committee on Diversity. August 2015 to present – Co-Director of the Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences (IDEAS) program. American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA). January 2015 to present – Associate Editor of American Journal of Physical Anthropology. September 2013 to present – Executive Editor of Human Biology. August 2011 to present – Director of Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) U.S.A. Program. Summer program to train indigenous students in genomic research. Past Appointments and Research January 2015-2017 – Co-Chair Committee on Diversity (COD). American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA). August 2011-2017 Associate Professor in Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. August 2006 – 2011 Assistant Professor in Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. June 2005-June 2006 - Research Director, Trace Genetics, Inc (A DNAPrint Genomics Company). Job duties included develop new products and services, manage scientific 1 and customer service staff, create and manage budgets, perform scientific research and publish in peer-review journals. November 2002-June 2005 – Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Trace Genetics, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan Genome Reveals First Founding Population of Native Americans J
    LETTER doi:10.1038/nature25173 Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar1*, Ben A. Potter2*, Lasse Vinner1*, Matthias Steinrücken3,4, Simon Rasmussen5, Jonathan Terhorst6,7, John A. Kamm6,8, Anders Albrechtsen9, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas1,10,11, Martin Sikora1, Joshua D. Reuther2, Joel D. Irish12, Ripan S. Malhi13,14, Ludovic Orlando1, Yun S. Song6,15,16, Rasmus Nielsen1,6,17, David J. Meltzer1,18 & Eske Willerslev1,8,19 Despite broad agreement that the Americas were initially populated Native American ancestors were isolated from Asian groups in Beringia via Beringia, the land bridge that connected far northeast Asia before entering the Americas2,9,13; whether one or more early migra- with northwestern North America during the Pleistocene epoch, tions gave rise to the founding population of Native Americans1–4,7,14 when and how the peopling of the Americas occurred remains (it is commonly agreed that the Palaeo-Eskimos and Inuit populations unresolved1–5. Analyses of human remains from Late Pleistocene represent separate and later migrations1,15,16); and when and where Alaska are important to resolving the timing and dispersal of these the basal split between southern and northern Native American (SNA populations. The remains of two infants were recovered at Upward and NNA, respectively) branches occurred. It also remains unresolved Sun River (USR), and have been dated to around 11.5 thousand whether the genetic affinity between some SNA groups and indigenous years ago (ka)6. Here, by sequencing the USR1 genome to an average Australasians2,3 reflects migration by non-Native Americans3,4,14, early coverage of approximately 17 times, we show that USR1 is most population structure within the first Americans3 or later gene flow2.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Wolves Trace Their Origin to a Late Pleistocene Expansion from Beringia
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/370122; this version posted July 18, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 Modern wolves trace their origin to a late Pleistocene expansion from Beringia 2 Liisa Loog1,2,3*, Olaf Thalmann4†, Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding5,6,7†, Verena J. Schuenemann8,9†, 3 Angela Perri10, Mietje Germonpré11, Herve Bocherens9,12, Kelsey E. Witt13, Jose A. 4 Samaniego Castruita5, Marcela S. Velasco5, Inge K. C. Lundstrøm5, Nathan Wales5, Gontran 5 Sonet15, Laurent Frantz2, Hannes Schroeder5,15, Jane Budd16, Elodie-Laure Jimenez 11, Sergey 6 Fedorov17, Boris Gasparyan18, Andrew W. Kandel19, Martina Lázničková-Galetová20,21,22, 7 Hannes Napierala23, Hans-Peter Uerpmann8, Pavel A. Nikolskiy24,25, Elena Y. Pavlova26,25, 8 Vladimir V. Pitulko25, Karl-Heinz Herzig4,27, Ripan S. Malhi26, Eske Willerslev2,5,29, Anders J. 9 Hansen5,7, Keith Dobney30,31,32, M. Thomas P. Gilbert5,33, Johannes Krause8,34, Greger 10 Larson1*, Anders Eriksson35,2*, Andrea Manica2* 11 12 *Corresponding Authors: L.L. ([email protected]), G.L. ([email protected]), 13 A.E. ([email protected]), A.M. ([email protected]) 14 15 †These authors contributed equally to this work 16 17 1 Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network Research Laboratory for 18 Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building,
    [Show full text]
  • Sanger Whistle-Blowers Dispute Inquiry Findings
    NEWS IN FOCUS despite the great geographical distances between them, Willerslev says, pointing to a rapid popu- lation expansion from Alaska. “As soon as they get south of the continental ice caps, they’re exploding and occupying the land,” he says. An independent team led by David Reich, a population geneticist at Harvard Medi- cal School in Boston, Massachusetts, also found evidence1 for a rapid expansion into South America, through analysing 49 ancient genomes from Central and South Americans. Both teams documented multiple later human migrations into South America. Reich’s group found, for instance, that the genetic signal CAROLINA BIOLOGICAL SUPPLY CO./VISUALS UNLIMITED/SPL CO./VISUALS SUPPLY CAROLINA BIOLOGICAL of the earliest inhabitants — closely related to the Anzick boy — had largely vanished from later South Americans, suggesting that different An arrowhead that belonged to people associated with the Clovis culture, early settlers in the Americas. groups had by then moved in from the north. Potter says that the main conclusions of the carrying artefacts, such as sophisticated pro- the common ancestor of those two groups split two papers are broadly consistent. “Complex jectile points, from a culture known as Clovis from East Asians some 25,000 years ago, as sci- and realistic are the two adjectives I would use,” began to populate the interior of North America entists established earlier this year by sequenc- he says. about 13,000 years ago. For decades, scientists ing the genome of 11,500-year-old human Even with dozens more newly discovered thought that people associated with this culture remains from Alaska5.
    [Show full text]
  • Genomic Study of the Ket: a Paleo-Eskimo-Related Ethnic Group with Significant Ancient North Eurasian Ancestry
    Genomic study of the Ket: a Paleo-Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry Pavel Flegontov1,2,3*, Piya Changmai1,§, Anastassiya Zidkova1,§, Maria D. Logacheva2,4, Olga Flegontova3, Mikhail S. Gelfand2,4, Evgeny S. Gerasimov2,4, Ekaterina E. Khrameeva5,2, Olga P. Konovalova4, Tatiana Neretina4, Yuri V. Nikolsky6,11, George Starostin7,8, Vita V. Stepanova5,2, Igor V. Travinsky#, Martin Tříska9, Petr Tříska10, Tatiana V. Tatarinova2,9,12* 1 Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic 2 A.A.Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation 3 Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budĕjovice, Czech Republic 4 Department of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation 5 Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Skolkovo, Russian Federation 6 Biomedical Cluster, Skolkovo Foundation, Skolkovo, Russian Federation 7 Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russian Federation 8 Russian Presidential Academy (RANEPA), Moscow, Russian Federation 9 Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA 10 Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal 11 George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA 12 Spatial Science Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA *corresponding authors: P.F., email [email protected]; T.V.T., email [email protected] § the authors contributed equally # retired, former affiliation: Central Siberian National Nature Reserve, Bor, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. Abstract The Kets, an ethnic group in the Yenisei River basin, Russia, are considered the last nomadic hunter-gatherers of Siberia, and Ket language has no transparent affiliation with any language family.
    [Show full text]
  • The Population History of Northeastern Siberia Since the Pleistocene
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/448829; this version posted October 22, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. The population history of northeastern Siberia since the Pleistocene Martin Sikora1,*, Vladimir V. Pitulko2,*, Vitor C. Sousa3,4,5,*, Morten E. Allentoft1,*, Lasse Vinner1, Simon Rasmussen6, Ashot Margaryan1, Peter de Barros Damgaard1, Constanza de la Fuente Castro1, Gabriel Renaud1, Melinda Yang7, Qiaomei Fu7, Isabelle Dupanloup8, Konstantinos Giampoudakis9, David Bravo Nogues9, Carsten Rahbek9, Guus Kroonen10,11, Michäel Peyrot11, Hugh McColl1, Sergey V. Vasilyev12, Elizaveta Veselovskaya12,13, Margarita Gerasimova12, Elena Y. Pavlova2,14, Vyacheslav G. Chasnyk15, Pavel A. Nikolskiy2,16, Pavel S. Grebenyuk17,18, Alexander Yu. Fedorchenko19, Alexander I. Lebedintsev17, Sergey B. Slobodin17, Boris A. Malyarchuk20, Rui Martiniano21,22, Morten Meldgaard1,23, Laura Arppe24, Jukka U. Palo25,26, Tarja Sundell27,28, Kristiina Mannermaa27, Mikko Putkonen25, Verner Alexandersen29, Charlotte Primeau29, Ripan Mahli30,31, Karl- Göran Sjögren32, Kristian Kristiansen32, Anna Wessman27, Antti Sajantila25, Marta Mirazon Lahr1,33, Richard Durbin21,22, Rasmus Nielsen1,34, David J. Meltzer1,35, Laurent Excoffier4,5, Eske Willerslev1,22,36** 1 - Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5–7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. 2 - Palaeolithic Department, Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS, 18 Dvortsovaya nab., 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia. 3 - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
    [Show full text]
  • Biological Sciences: Genetics Extinct New Zealand Megafauna Were Not in Decline Before Human Colonization
    Biological Sciences: Genetics Extinct New Zealand megafauna were not in decline before human colonization Morten E. Allentoft1,2,3*, Rasmus Heller4,5, Charlotte L. Oskam2, Eline D. Lorenzen6,1, Marie L. Hale3, M. Thomas P. Gilbert1, Chris Jacomb7, Richard N. Holdaway3,8, Michael Bunce2,9* 1) Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. 2) Ancient DNA Laboratory, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Perth, Western Australia 6150, Australia. 3) School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. 4) Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK- 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. 5) Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6 P-2780-156 Oeiras Portugal. 6) Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. 7) Southern Pacific Archaeological Research, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. 8) Palaecol Research Ltd, 167 Springs Road, Hornby, Christchurch 8042, New Zealand. 9) Trace and Environmental DNA laboratory, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, 6845, Australia * Correspondence: Morten E. Allentoft Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected] +45 29824634 Michael Bunce Trace and Environmental DNA laboratory, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, 6845, Australia [email protected] +61 406998025 Abstract The extinction of New Zealand's moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) followed the arrival of humans in the late 13th century and was the final event of the prehistoric late Quaternary megafauna extinctions.
    [Show full text]
  • Bacteria Recycle Broken DNA 18 November 2013
    Bacteria recycle broken DNA 18 November 2013 Bacteria recycle broken DNA that bacteria can take bacteria's genomes even after thousands of years. up small as well as large pieces of old DNA from This is the first time a process has been described this scrapheap and include it in their own genome. which allows cells to acquire genetic sequences This discovery may have major consequences – from a long gone past. We call this phenomenon both in connection with resistance to antibiotics in Anachronistic Evolution – or Second-hand hospitals and in our perception of the evolution of Evolution. Professor Eske Willerslev from the life itself. Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark is the leader of the project. He Our surroundings contain large amounts of says: strongly fragmented and damaged DNA, which is being degraded. Some of it may be thousands of That DNA from dead organisms drives the years old. Laboratory experiments with microbes evolution of living cells is in contradiction with and various kinds of DNA have shown that bacteria common belief of what drives the evolution of life take up very short and damaged DNA from the itself. environment and passively integrate it in their own genome. Furthermore this mechanism has also Furthermore old DNA is not limited to only returning been shown to work with a modern bacteria's microbes to earlier states. Damaged DNA can also uptake of 43.000 years old mammoth DNA. The create new combinations of already functional results are published now in the scientific journal sequences. You can compare it to a bunch of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences bacteria which poke around a trash pile looking for (PNAS).
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolutionary Origin and Genetic Makeup of Domestic Horses
    | REVIEW The Evolutionary Origin and Genetic Makeup of Domestic Horses Pablo Librado,* Antoine Fages,*,† Charleen Gaunitz,* Michela Leonardi,* Stefanie Wagner,*,‡,§ Naveed Khan,*,** Kristian Hanghøj,*,† Saleh A. Alquraishi,†† Ahmed H. Alfarhan,†† Khaled A. Al-Rasheid,†† Clio Der Sarkissian,* Mikkel Schubert,* and Ludovic Orlando*,†,1 *Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 1350K, Denmark, †Laboratoire d’Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d’Imagerie de Synthèse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III), 31000 Toulouse, France, ‡UMR1202 Biodiversité Gènes et Communautés, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Université de Bordeaux, F-33610 Cestas, §Biodiversité Gènes et Communautés UMR1202, Université de Bordeaux, F-33170 Talence, France, **Department of Biotechnology, Abdul Wali Khan University, 23200 Mardan, Pakistan, and ††Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia ABSTRACT The horse was domesticated only 5.5 KYA, thousands of years after dogs, cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. The horse nonetheless represents the domestic animal that most impacted human history; providing us with rapid transportation, which has considerably changed the speed and magnitude of the circulation of goods and people, as well as their cultures and diseases. By revolutionizing warfare and agriculture, horses also deeply influenced the politico-economic trajectory of human societies. Reciprocally, human activities have circled back on the recent evolution of the horse, by creating hundreds of domestic breeds through selective programs, while leading all wild populations to near extinction. Despite being tightly associated with humans, several aspects in the evolution of the domestic horse remain controversial. Here, we review recent advances in comparative genomics and paleogenomics that helped advance our understanding of the genetic foundation of domestic horses.
    [Show full text]