ALBERT

Description: The ability of species to track their ecological niche after climate change is a major source of uncertainty in predicting their future distribution. By analyzing DNA fingerprinting (amplified fragment-length polymorphism) of nine plant species, we show that long-distance colonization of a remote arctic archipelago, Svalbard, has occurred repeatedly and from several source regions. Propagules are likely carried by wind and drifting sea ice. The genetic effect of restricted colonization was strongly correlated with the temperature requirements of the species, indicating that establishment limits distribution more than dispersal. Thus, it may be appropriate to assume unlimited dispersal when predicting long-term range shifts in the Arctic.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Alsos, Inger Greve -- Eidesen, Pernille Bronken -- Ehrich, Dorothee -- Skrede, Inger -- Westergaard, Kristine -- Jacobsen, Gro Hilde -- Landvik, Jon Y -- Taberlet, Pierre -- Brochmann, Christian -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2007 Jun 15;316(5831):1606-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Post Office Box 1172 Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway. ingera@unis.no〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17569861" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: It is commonly believed that trees were absent in Scandinavia during the last glaciation and first recolonized the Scandinavian Peninsula with the retreat of its ice sheet some 9000 years ago. Here, we show the presence of a rare mitochondrial DNA haplotype of spruce that appears unique to Scandinavia and with its highest frequency to the west-an area believed to sustain ice-free refugia during most of the last ice age. We further show the survival of DNA from this haplotype in lake sediments and pollen of Trondelag in central Norway dating back ~10,300 years and chloroplast DNA of pine and spruce in lake sediments adjacent to the ice-free Andoya refugium in northwestern Norway as early as ~22,000 and 17,700 years ago, respectively. Our findings imply that conifer trees survived in ice-free refugia of Scandinavia during the last glaciation, challenging current views on survival and spread of trees as a response to climate changes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Parducci, Laura -- Jorgensen, Tina -- Tollefsrud, Mari Mette -- Elverland, Ellen -- Alm, Torbjorn -- Fontana, Sonia L -- Bennett, K D -- Haile, James -- Matetovici, Irina -- Suyama, Yoshihisa -- Edwards, Mary E -- Andersen, Kenneth -- Rasmussen, Morten -- Boessenkool, Sanne -- Coissac, Eric -- Brochmann, Christian -- Taberlet, Pierre -- Houmark-Nielsen, Michael -- Larsen, Nicolaj Krog -- Orlando, Ludovic -- Gilbert, M Thomas P -- Kjaer, Kurt H -- Alsos, Inger Greve -- Willerslev, Eske -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2012 Mar 2;335(6072):1083-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1216043.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22383845" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Although it is generally agreed that the Arctic flora is among the youngest and least diverse on Earth, the processes that shaped it are poorly understood. Here we present 50 thousand years (kyr) of Arctic vegetation history, derived from the first large-scale ancient DNA metabarcoding study of circumpolar plant diversity. For this interval we also explore nematode diversity as a proxy for modelling vegetation cover and soil quality, and diets of herbivorous megafaunal mammals, many of which became extinct around 10 kyr bp (before present). For much of the period investigated, Arctic vegetation consisted of dry steppe-tundra dominated by forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous vascular plants). During the Last Glacial Maximum (25-15 kyr bp), diversity declined markedly, although forbs remained dominant. Much changed after 10 kyr bp, with the appearance of moist tundra dominated by woody plants and graminoids. Our analyses indicate that both graminoids and forbs would have featured in megafaunal diets. As such, our findings question the predominance of a Late Quaternary graminoid-dominated Arctic mammoth steppe.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Willerslev, Eske -- Davison, John -- Moora, Mari -- Zobel, Martin -- Coissac, Eric -- Edwards, Mary E -- Lorenzen, Eline D -- Vestergard, Mette -- Gussarova, Galina -- Haile, James -- Craine, Joseph -- Gielly, Ludovic -- Boessenkool, Sanne -- Epp, Laura S -- Pearman, Peter B -- Cheddadi, Rachid -- Murray, David -- Brathen, Kari Anne -- Yoccoz, Nigel -- Binney, Heather -- Cruaud, Corinne -- Wincker, Patrick -- Goslar, Tomasz -- Alsos, Inger Greve -- Bellemain, Eva -- Brysting, Anne Krag -- Elven, Reidar -- Sonstebo, Jorn Henrik -- Murton, Julian -- Sher, Andrei -- Rasmussen, Morten -- Ronn, Regin -- Mourier, Tobias -- Cooper, Alan -- Austin, Jeremy -- Moller, Per -- Froese, Duane -- Zazula, Grant -- Pompanon, Francois -- Rioux, Delphine -- Niderkorn, Vincent -- Tikhonov, Alexei -- Savvinov, Grigoriy -- Roberts, Richard G -- MacPhee, Ross D E -- Gilbert, M Thomas P -- Kjaer, Kurt H -- Orlando, Ludovic -- Brochmann, Christian -- Taberlet, Pierre -- England -- Nature. 2014 Feb 6;506(7486):47-51. doi: 10.1038/nature12921.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2]. ; 1] Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia [2]. ; 1] Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France [2]. ; 1] Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK [2]. ; 1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, 1005 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, 94720 California, USA [3]. ; 1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2] Department of Botany, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia [3]. ; 1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Ancient DNA Laboratory, Veterinary and Life Sciences School, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Perth, 6150 Western Australia, Australia [3]. ; Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 66506-4901 Kansas, USA. ; Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France. ; 1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2] Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway (S.B.); Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany (L.S.E.); SpyGen, Savoie Technolac, 17 allee du lac Saint Andre, BP 274, 73375 Le Bourget-du-Lac Cedex, France (E.B.). ; Landscape Dynamics Unit, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zurcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland. ; Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554 Universite Montpellier 2, Bat.22, CC061, Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. ; University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks, 99775-6960 Alaska, USA. ; Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromso, Norway. ; Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK. ; Genoscope, Institut de Genomique du Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), 91000 Evry, France. ; 1] Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Physics, Umultowska 85, 61-614 Poznan, Poland [2] Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory, Poznan Science and Technology Park, Rubiez 46, 61-612 Poznan, Poland. ; Tromso University Museum, NO-9037 Tromso, Norway. ; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066, Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway. ; National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway. ; Permafrost Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK. ; 1] Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 33 Leninsky Prospect, 119071 Moscow, Russia [2]. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. ; Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology, Universitetsparken 15, DK- 2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark. ; Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005 South Australia, Australia. ; Department of Geology/Quaternary Sciences, Lund University Solvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden. ; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, T6G 2E3 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ; Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Palaeontology Program, PO Box 2703 L2A, Y1A 2C6 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. ; INRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genes-Champanelle, France. ; Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint-Petersburg, Russia. ; Institute of Applied Ecology of the North of North-Eastern Federal University, Belinskogo Street 58, 677000 Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. ; Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522 New South Wales, Australia. ; Division of Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 10024 New York, USA. ; 1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2].〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24499916" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The proposed age of the striking biogeographic disjunction between the Arctic and southernmost South America varies from more than 65 million to a few thousand years, but no estimates based on explicit models and molecular data are available. Here we address the origin of bipolarity in crowberries (Empetrum), which are heath-forming dwarf shrubs with animal-dispersed fruits. We apply a fossil-calibrated relaxed molecular clock to model sequence evolution in two nuclear low-copy and two plastid DNA regions from 41 individual plants (420 clones for the nuclear regions) representing the entire geographic distribution of crowberries. The plastid region matK and four fossil calibration points were used to infer the ages of the crowberry stem and crown groups. All analyses resolved three major crowberry clades (A–C). Clade A contained sequences from the eastern Canadian pink-fruited crowberry (E. eamesii) as sister to clades B and C, which both contained sequences from the black-fruited northern hemisphere crowberry (E. nigrum). Clade B also contained a subclade with all sequences from the red-fruited southern hemisphere crowberry, which is often referred to as a distinct species, E. rubrum. Its closest relatives were consistently identified as black-fruited plants from northwestern North America. The median time to the most recent common ancestor for northern and southern hemisphere crowberries was estimated to 0.56–0.93 Ma, and 0.26–0.59 Ma for the southern plants only. We conclude that a single dispersal by a bird from northwestern North America to southernmost South America, taking place in the Mid-Pleistocene, is sufficient to explain the disjunction in crowberries.