A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA

Kjær, Kurt H.; Pedersen, Mikkel Winther; Sanctis, Bianca De; Cahsan, Binia De; Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand; Michelsen, Christian; Sand, Karina K.; Jelavić, Stanislav; Ruter, Anthony; Schmidt, Astrid M. A.; Kjeldsen, Kristian K.; Тесаков, А. С.; Snowball, Ian; Gosse, John; Alsos, Inger Greve; Wang, Yucheng; Dockter, Christoph; Rasmussen, Magnus Wohlfahrt; Jørgensen, Morten Egevang; Skadhauge, Birgitte; Prohaska, Ana; Kristensen, J. A.; Bjerager, Morten; Allentoft, Morten E.; Coissac, Éric; Alsos, Inger Greve; Coissac, Éric; Rouillard, Alexandra; Simakova, A. P.; Fernàndez-Guerra, Antonio; Bowler, Chris; Macias‐Fauria, Marc; Vinner, Lasse; Welch, John J.; Hidy, Alan J.; Sikora, Martin; Collins, Matthew J.; Durbin, Richard; Larsen, Nicolaj K.; Willerslev, Eske

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y

articleNatureDec 7, 2022HYBRID OA

A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA

KHKurt H. Kjær MWMikkel Winther Pedersen BDBianca De Sanctis BDBinia De Cahsan TSThorfinn Sand Korneliussen

Lundbeck Foundation · University of Copenhagen · +27 more institutions

PubMed

Indexed incrossrefdatacitepubmed

Abstract

Abstract Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs 3.6 to 0.8 million years ago 1 had climates resembling those forecasted under future warming 2 . Palaeoclimatic records show strong polar amplification with mean annual temperatures of 11–19 °C above contemporary values 3,4 . The biological communities inhabiting the Arctic during this time remain poorly known because fossils are rare 5 . Here we report an ancient environmental DNA 6 (eDNA) record describing the rich plant and animal assemblages of the Kap København Formation in North Greenland, dated to around two million years ago. The record shows an open boreal forest ecosystem with mixed vegetation of poplar, birch and thuja trees, as well as a variety…

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Topics & keywords

Topics

Keywords

Ecosystem
Environmental DNA
Ancient DNA
Geography
Ecology
Biodiversity
Biology
Medicine

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Life below water

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