Palaeo-environmental and dietary analysis of intestinal contents of a mammoth calf (Yamal Peninsula, northwest Siberia)

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General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms AbstractPollen, botanical macrofossils, chemical components and ancient DNA were studied in samples from the rumen of a frozen Yakutian bison (Bison priscus) that lived ca. 10,500 calendar years before present. The dialkyl glycerol ether lipid archaeol (2,3-di-O-phytanyl-sn-glycerol) was detected and is interpreted to have been derived from methanogenic Archaea in the rumen. This is the oldest reported occurrence of archaeol attributed to digestive tract Archaea. Remains of shrubs (Alnus, Betula, Salix) and Poaceae indicate that the animal probably lived in a landscape of predominantly dry soils, intermixed with wetlands containing herbaceous plant species as indicated by remains of Comarum palustre, Caltha palustris, Eriophorum, Sparganium, Menyanthes trifoliata and Utricularia. All recorded taxa still occur in the present day Yakutian tundra vegetation. We discuss the representativeness in space and time of the methods used. Both the botanical microfossil and macrofossil records may be biased because of differences in pollen production and dispersal between species, the food choice of the bison, and the season of death of the animal. Similarities and differences are discussed to highlight pitfalls of the individual analytical techniques. We highlight the power of data integration.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiproxy diet analysis of the last meal of an early Holocene Yakutian bison

Geel

Протопопов

Bull

et al. 2014

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“…van Geel et al . () showed that fast commercial and slower in‐house extraction methods of mammoth intestinal contents resulted in a different but complementary taxonomic coverage for plant species. In contrast to PalEnDNA, it is well known within the soil microbiological field that different DNA extraction methods can result in an over‐ or under‐representation of specific bacterial phyla, with extraction efficiency and taxonomic coverage forming important aspects of experimental design (e.g.…”

Section: Issues With Palendna‐based Researchmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…A key target of PalEnDNA research is an efficient DNA extraction method regarding DNA concentration, fragment size, purity (e.g. absence of humic acids and tannins that can inhibit the amplification of aDNA) and taxonomic coverage (see van Geel et al ., ), with reproducible differences between sites, deposits, and origin and form of DNA (Young et al ., ). Currently, PalEnDNA extraction methods are neither efficient nor consistent across these categories, and only limited testing of their efficacy and consistency has been performed (e.g.…”

Section: Recommendations For Future Palendna‐based Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Currently, PalEnDNA extraction methods are neither efficient nor consistent across these categories, and only limited testing of their efficacy and consistency has been performed (e.g. van Geel et al ., ; Wales et al ., ).…”

Section: Recommendations For Future Palendna‐based Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…PalEnDNA from coprolites and preserved gut contents has been used to reconstruct palaeodiets of extinct fauna, particularly woolly mammoth, bison and the moa, a large, flightless New Zealand ratite bird (van Geel et al ., , , ; Wood et al ., , , , , ). PalEnDNA from coprolites also contains information about parasite faunas, including those of extinct species.…”

Section: Progress In the Use Of Palendna In Quaternary And Archaeologmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Using palaeoenvironmental DNA to reconstruct past environments: progress and prospects

Rawlence

Lowe

Wood

et al. 2014

100

Palaeoenvironmental DNA (PalEnDNA) is defined as ancient DNA (aDNA) originating from disseminated genetic material within palaeoenvironmental samples. Sources of PalEnDNA include marine and lake sediments, peat, loess, till, ice, permafrost, palaeosols, coprolites, preserved gut contents, dental calculus, tephras, and soils as well as deposits in caves/rockshelters and at archaeological sites. PalEnDNA analysis provides a relatively new tool for Quaternary and archaeological sciences and its applications have included palaeoenvironmental and palaeodietary reconstructions, testing hypotheses regarding megafaunal extinctions, human-environment interactions, taxonomic studies, and studies of DNA damage. Because PalEnDNA samples comprise markedly different materials, and represent wide-ranging depositional and taphonomic contexts, various issues must be addressed to achieve robust, reproducible findings. Such issues include climatic and temporal limitations, the biological origin and state (free versus bound) of PalEnDNA, stratigraphic reliability, sterile sampling, ability to distinguish modern from aDNA signals, DNA damage and PCR amplification, DNA extraction methods, and taxonomic resolution. In this review, we provide a non-specialist introduction to the use of PalEnDNA for Quaternary and archaeological researchers, assess attributes and limitations of this palaeoenvironmental tool, and discuss future prospects of using PalEnDNA to reconstruct past environments.

Revisiting the palaeoenvironmental and climatic history of the Cherangani Hills using fungal spores

Cheruiyot

Gebregiorgis

Opiyo

et al. 2020

Fungi are highly sensitive to environmental and climatic changes. Palaeoecological reconstructions utilising tropical African fungal spores, however, are rare and patchy. Here, we show that fossil fungal spores preserved in core KAP‐01 from the Cherangani Hills in Kenya tracks critical environmental changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), largely synchronous with observations in the pollen record from the same site. Consistent with the pollen record, the presence of fungal taxa in the record, albeit meagre, during the LGM point to an intermittent wetter Cherangani that allowed for the presence of the observed taxa and the prevalence of cool, dry conditions during the last deglaciation. The elevated fungal spore activity during the Late Holocene is evidence for warm, moist environmental conditions and broadly consistent with the pollen record. These different fungal spore taxa, which can be employed to track distinct environmental conditions and processes, provide a dimension that can be overlooked if the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment were to rely solely on pollen. Thus the fungal spore record enables us to affirm the interpretation of the prevalence of warm, moist conditions evident from such as the Holocene pollen record.