Potential plant extinctions with the loss of the Pleistocene mammoth steppe

Nature Communications, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 16(1)

Published: Jan. 14, 2025

Abstract During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, dominant mammoth steppe ecosystem across northern Eurasia vanished, in parallel with megafauna extinctions. However, plant extinction patterns are rarely detected due to lack of identifiable fossil records. Here, we introduce a method for detection taxa loss at regional (extirpation) potentially global scale (extinction) and their causes, as determined from ancient DNA metabarcoding sediment cores ( sed aDNA) lakes Siberia Alaska over past 28,000 years. Overall, potential extinctions track changes temperature, vegetation, transition. Estimated rates were 1.7–5.9 per million species years (E/MSY), above background but below modern estimates. Major events around 17,000 9000 ago which lag maximum vegetation turnover. Our results indicate that herbaceous contributing less beta diversity more vulnerable extinction. While robustness estimates will increase reference libraries aDNA data expand, available support plants resilient environmental than mammals.

Language: Английский

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A 9600-year pollen record reveals a vegetation transformation at 2.2 ka on the central Tibetan Plateau

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: unknown, P. 112731 - 112731

Published: Jan. 1, 2025

Language: Английский

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Functional annotation of eukaryotic genes from sedimentary ancient DNA

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 13

Published: Feb. 19, 2025

Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) provides valuable insights into past ecosystems, yet its functional diversity has remained unexplored due to potential limitations in gene annotation for short-read data. Eukaryotes, especially, are typically underrepresented and have low coverage complex metagenomic datasets from sediments. In this study, we evaluate the of eukaryotic sedimentary time-series data covering last 23,000 years. We compared four pipelines (GAPs) that apply Prodigal (ProkGAP) MetaEuk (EukGAP) with without taxonomic pre-classification. identify ProkGAP as pipeline which recovers largest catalog 6,568,483 genes highest number (5,895 unique KEGG orthologs). Our findings show ProkGAP, originally invented prokaryotic prediction, yields share among all GAPs tested. At same time, it allows analysis functions parallel predicts most diversity. Interestingly, our size an increasing trend towards recent times indicating a more community during Holocene. However, limited by incomplete reference databases, hamper link between taxonomic-functional relationships when considering lower levels. Future research on prediction short read sedaDNA should focus expanding databases sequencing depth explore composition ecosystems their environmental change.

Language: Английский

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Introduction to the special issue: Pollen diversity, vegetation history and range shift in the (sub)tropics through the Cenozoic

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Journal Year: 2024, Volume and Issue: unknown, P. 105277 - 105277

Published: Dec. 1, 2024

Language: Английский

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