Home
Deutsch
Advanced Search
Browse by ...
Publication overview
Contact persons
Help
Publ. Version/Full Text Volltext
DOI
PMC
 |
Open Access Gold |
as soon as is submitted to ZB.
Late quaternary loss of genetic diversity in muskox (Ovibos).
BMC Evol. Biol. 5:49 (2005)
BACKGROUND: The modern wildherd of the tundra muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is native only to the New World (northern North America and Greenland), and its genetic diversity is notably low. However, like several other megafaunal mammals, muskoxen enjoyed a holarctic distribution during the late Pleistocene. To investigate whether collapse in range and loss of diversity might be correlated, we collected mitochondrial sequence data (hypervariable region and cytochrome b) from muskox fossil material recovered from localities in northeastern Asia and the Arctic Archipelago of northern North America, dating from late Pleistocene to late Holocene, and compared our results to existing databases for modern muskoxen. RESULTS: Two classes of haplotypes were detected in the fossil material. "Surviving haplotypes" (SHs), closely similar or identical to haplotypes found in modern muskoxen and ranging in age from approximately 22,000 to approximately 160 yrbp, were found in all New World samples as well as some samples from northeastern Asia. "Extinct haplotypes" (EHs), dating between approximately 44,000 and ~18,000 yrbp, were found only in material from the Taimyr Peninsula and New Siberian Islands in northeastern Asia. EHs were not found in the Holocene muskoxen specimens available for this study, nor have they been found in other studies of extant muskox populations. CONCLUSION: We provisionally interpret this evidence as showing that genetic variability was reduced in muskoxen after the Last Glacial Maximum but before the mid-Holocene, or roughly within the interval 18,000-4,000 yrbp. Narrowing this gap further will require the recovery of more fossils and additional genetic information from this interval.
Altmetric
Additional Metrics?
Edit extra informations
Login
Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Keywords
MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA; ANCIENT DNA; POPULATION-GENETICS; EXTINCTION DYNAMICS; LEMMINGS LEMMUS; WOOLLY MAMMOTH; SEQUENCES; EVOLUTION; PLEISTOCENE; MEGAFAUNA
e-ISSN
1471-2148
Journal
BMC Evolutionary Biology
Quellenangaben
Volume: 5,
Article Number: 49
Publisher
BioMed Central
Non-patent literature
Publications
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
Institute of Virology (VIRO)