Dec 7, 2022 06:15 PM
Oldest-ever DNA shows mastodons roamed Greenland 2 million years ago (Nature.com): The northeastern tip of Greenland is a lonely, barren place, home to the odd hare and musk ox, and few plants. Two-million-year-old DNA sequences — the oldest ever obtained — recovered from frozen soil suggest that the region was once home to mastodons and reindeer that roamed a forested ecosystem unlike any now found on Earth.
“No one would have predicted this ecosystem in northern Greenland at this time,” says Eske Willerslev, a palaeogeneticist at the University of Copenhagen who co-led a study published on 7 December in Nature describing the ancient-DNA findings1.
“It’s pretty awesome,” adds Love Dalén, a palaeogeneticist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm who was not involved in the study. “Not in a million years would you expect a mastodon up there.”
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World's oldest DNA reveals secrets of lost Arctic ecosystem from 2 million years ago (LiveScience.com): As well as a variety of animals, the DNA also revealed the presence of several species of trees, bacteria and fungi. Not all of the DNA samples could be matched with known species, suggesting that some could be new to science. However, almost all were identified to at least the correct genus.
The sediment layer excavated by the researchers accumulated during a 20,000-year period around 2 million years ago. During this time, the area was between 18 and 31 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 17 degrees Celsius) warmer than Greenland is today, the researchers wrote in the statement. This shows that entire ecosystems can rise and fall because of climatic changes, they added.
“No one would have predicted this ecosystem in northern Greenland at this time,” says Eske Willerslev, a palaeogeneticist at the University of Copenhagen who co-led a study published on 7 December in Nature describing the ancient-DNA findings1.
“It’s pretty awesome,” adds Love Dalén, a palaeogeneticist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm who was not involved in the study. “Not in a million years would you expect a mastodon up there.”
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World's oldest DNA reveals secrets of lost Arctic ecosystem from 2 million years ago (LiveScience.com): As well as a variety of animals, the DNA also revealed the presence of several species of trees, bacteria and fungi. Not all of the DNA samples could be matched with known species, suggesting that some could be new to science. However, almost all were identified to at least the correct genus.
The sediment layer excavated by the researchers accumulated during a 20,000-year period around 2 million years ago. During this time, the area was between 18 and 31 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 17 degrees Celsius) warmer than Greenland is today, the researchers wrote in the statement. This shows that entire ecosystems can rise and fall because of climatic changes, they added.