Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene

Mariya Antonosyan; Frederik V. Seersholm; Alicia C. Grealy; Milo Barham; Daniel Werndly; Ashot Margaryan; Agata Cieślik; Thomas W. Stafford; Morten E. Allentoft; Michael Bunce; Levon Yepiskoposyan

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012

Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene

Mariya Antonosyan^*, Frederik V. Seersholm, Alicia C. Grealy, Milo Barham, Daniel Werndly, Ashot Margaryan, Agata Cieślik, Thomas W. Stafford, Morten E. Allentoft, Michael Bunce, Levon Yepiskoposyan

^*Corresponding author for this work

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, we explore the Late Pleistocene (LP) vertebrate faunal diversity in south-eastern Lesser Caucasus based on morphological and genetic identification of fossil bones from Karin Tak cave. For the first time in this under-studied region, we used a bulk bone metabarcoding genetic approach to complement traditional morphology-based taxonomic identifications that are hampered by highly fragmented fossil bones. Excellent ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation allowed for a successful species identification of many bone remains and improved paleoenvironmental interpretations for the region. The aDNA identification of fossil bones revealed a high diversity of animal taxa inhabiting the region between ca. > 42,000 and 25,683–24,803 calibrated years before present (cal. BP).

Original language	English
Journal	Quaternary Science Reviews
Volume	219
Pages (from-to)	102-111
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0277-3791
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012
Publication status	Published - 2019

Keywords

Ancient DNA
Biodiversity
Bulk bone metabarcoding
Karin tak cave
Late pleistocene
Lesser Caucasus
Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

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10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012

Cite this

@article{b0088d0c545c4b3d9c5ad22c21169881,

title = "Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene",

abstract = "In this study, we explore the Late Pleistocene (LP) vertebrate faunal diversity in south-eastern Lesser Caucasus based on morphological and genetic identification of fossil bones from Karin Tak cave. For the first time in this under-studied region, we used a bulk bone metabarcoding genetic approach to complement traditional morphology-based taxonomic identifications that are hampered by highly fragmented fossil bones. Excellent ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation allowed for a successful species identification of many bone remains and improved paleoenvironmental interpretations for the region. The aDNA identification of fossil bones revealed a high diversity of animal taxa inhabiting the region between ca. > 42,000 and 25,683–24,803 calibrated years before present (cal. BP).",

keywords = "Ancient DNA, Biodiversity, Bulk bone metabarcoding, Karin tak cave, Late pleistocene, Lesser Caucasus, Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction",

author = "Mariya Antonosyan and Seersholm, {Frederik V.} and Grealy, {Alicia C.} and Milo Barham and Daniel Werndly and Ashot Margaryan and Agata Cie{\'s}lik and Stafford, {Thomas W.} and Allentoft, {Morten E.} and Michael Bunce and Levon Yepiskoposyan",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012",

language = "English",

volume = "219",

pages = "102--111",

journal = "Quaternary Science Reviews",

issn = "0277-3791",

publisher = "Pergamon Press",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene

AU - Antonosyan, Mariya

AU - Seersholm, Frederik V.

AU - Grealy, Alicia C.

AU - Barham, Milo

AU - Werndly, Daniel

AU - Margaryan, Ashot

AU - Cieślik, Agata

AU - Stafford, Thomas W.

AU - Allentoft, Morten E.

AU - Bunce, Michael

AU - Yepiskoposyan, Levon

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - In this study, we explore the Late Pleistocene (LP) vertebrate faunal diversity in south-eastern Lesser Caucasus based on morphological and genetic identification of fossil bones from Karin Tak cave. For the first time in this under-studied region, we used a bulk bone metabarcoding genetic approach to complement traditional morphology-based taxonomic identifications that are hampered by highly fragmented fossil bones. Excellent ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation allowed for a successful species identification of many bone remains and improved paleoenvironmental interpretations for the region. The aDNA identification of fossil bones revealed a high diversity of animal taxa inhabiting the region between ca. > 42,000 and 25,683–24,803 calibrated years before present (cal. BP).

AB - In this study, we explore the Late Pleistocene (LP) vertebrate faunal diversity in south-eastern Lesser Caucasus based on morphological and genetic identification of fossil bones from Karin Tak cave. For the first time in this under-studied region, we used a bulk bone metabarcoding genetic approach to complement traditional morphology-based taxonomic identifications that are hampered by highly fragmented fossil bones. Excellent ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation allowed for a successful species identification of many bone remains and improved paleoenvironmental interpretations for the region. The aDNA identification of fossil bones revealed a high diversity of animal taxa inhabiting the region between ca. > 42,000 and 25,683–24,803 calibrated years before present (cal. BP).

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Bulk bone metabarcoding

KW - Karin tak cave

KW - Late pleistocene

KW - Lesser Caucasus

KW - Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012

DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85069444524

SN - 0277-3791

VL - 219

SP - 102

EP - 111

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

ER -

Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene

Abstract

Keywords

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