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Science. 2007 Jul 6;317(5834):36-7.
Ancient biomolecules from deep ice cores reveal a forested southern Greenland.
Willerslev E,
Cappellini E,
Boomsma W,
Nielsen R,
Hebsgaard MB,
Brand TB,
Hofreiter M,
Bunce M,
Poinar HN,
Dahl-Jensen D,
Johnsen S,
Steffensen JP,
Bennike O,
Schwenninger JL,
Nathan R,
Armitage S,
de Hoog CJ,
Alfimov V,
Christl M,
Beer J,
Muscheler R,
Barker J,
Sharp M,
Penkman KE,
Haile J,
Taberlet P,
Gilbert MT,
Casoli A,
Campani E,
Collins MJ.
Centre for Ancient Genetics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillerslev@bi.ku.dk
It is difficult to obtain fossil data from the 10% of Earth's terrestrial surface that is covered by thick glaciers and ice sheets, and hence, knowledge of the paleoenvironments of these regions has remained limited. We show that DNA and amino acids from buried organisms can be recovered from the basal sections of deep ice cores, enabling reconstructions of past flora and fauna. We show that high-altitude southern Greenland, currently lying below more than 2 kilometers of ice, was inhabited by a diverse array of conifer trees and insects within the past million years. The results provide direct evidence in support of a forested southern Greenland and suggest that many deep ice cores may contain genetic records of paleoenvironments in their basal sections.
PMID: 17615355 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID: PMC2694912
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Cited by 3 PubMed Central articles
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Using classical population genetics tools with heterochroneous data: time matters!
Depaulis F, Orlando L, Hänni C.
PLoS One. 2009; 4(5):e5541. Epub 2009 May 14.
[PLoS One. 2009]
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Non-destructive sampling of ancient insect DNA.
Thomsen PF, Elias S, Gilbert MT, Haile J, Munch K, Kuzmina S, Froese DG, Sher A, Holdaway RN, Willerslev E.
PLoS One. 2009; 4(4):e5048. Epub 2009 Apr 1.
[PLoS One. 2009]
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Imprecise probability assessment of tipping points in the climate system.
Kriegler E, Hall JW, Held H, Dawson R, Schellnhuber HJ.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 31; 106(13):5041-6. Epub 2009 Mar 16.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009]