DNA
; article
; biodiversity
; ecosystem
; environmental change
; Europe
; genetic variability
; lemming
; nonhuman
; prey
; priority journal
; radiometric dating
; small mammal
; Upper Pleistocene
; Animals
; Arvicolinae
; Biodiversity
; Climate Change
; DNA, Mitochondrial
; Ecosystem
; Europe
; Evolution, Molecular
; Extinction, Biological
; Fossils
; Molecular Sequence Data
; Paleontology
; Phylogeny
; Population Dynamics
英文摘要:
The Late Pleistocene global extinction of many terrestrial mammal species has been a subject of intensive scientific study for over a century, yet the relative contributions of environmental changes and the global expansion of humans remain unresolved. A defining component of these extinctions is a bias toward large species, with the majority of small-mammal taxa apparently surviving into the present. Here, we investigate the population-level history of a key tundra-specialist small mammal, the collared lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus), to explore whether events during the Late Pleistocene had a discernible effect beyond the large mammal fauna. Using ancient DNA techniques to sample across three sites in North-West Europe, we observe a dramatic reduction in genetic diversity in this species over the last 50,000 y. We further identify a series of extinction-recolonization events, indicating a previously unrecognized instability in Late Pleistocene small-mammal populations, which we link with climatic fluctuations. Our results reveal climate-associated, repeated regional extinctions in a keystone prey species across the Late Pleistocene, a pattern likely to have had an impact on the wider steppe-tundra community, and one that is concordant with environmental change as a major force in structuring Late Pleistocene biodiversity.
Brace, S., School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom; Palkopoulou, E., Department of Molecular Systematics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; Dalén, L., Department of Molecular Systematics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden; Lister, A.M., Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom; Miller, R., Service of Prehistory, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium; Otte, M., Service of Prehistory, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium; Germonpré, M., Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom; Blockley, S.P.E., Department of Palaeontology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000 Brussels, Belgium; Stewart, J.R., School of Applied Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, United Kingdom; Barnes, I., School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
Recommended Citation:
Brace S.,Palkopoulou E.,Dalén L.,et al. Serial population extinctions in a small mammal indicate Late Pleistocene ecosystem instability[J]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,2012-01-01,109(50)