Ancient biomolecules from deep ice cores reveal a forested southern Greenland.
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.
Willerslev
Eske
E
Centre for Ancient Genetics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillerslev@bi.ku.dk
Cappellini
Enrico
E
Boomsma
Wouter
W
Nielsen
Rasmus
R
Hebsgaard
Martin B
MB
Brand
Tina B
TB
Hofreiter
Michael
M
Bunce
Michael
M
Poinar
Hendrik N
HN
Dahl-Jensen
Dorthe
D
Johnsen
Sigfus
S
Steffensen
Jørgen Peder
JP
Bennike
Ole
O
Schwenninger
Jean-Luc
JL
Nathan
Roger
R
Armitage
Simon
S
de Hoog
Cees-Jan
CJ
Alfimov
Vasily
V
Christl
Marcus
M
Beer
Juerg
J
Muscheler
Raimund
R
Barker
Joel
J
Sharp
Martin
M
Penkman
Kirsty E H
KE
Haile
James
J
Taberlet
Pierre
P
Gilbert
M Thomas P
MT
Casoli
Antonella
A
Campani
Elisa
E
Collins
Matthew J
MJ
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002980:Climate; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017753:Ecosystem; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D006116:Greenland; D049690:History, Ancient; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000737:chemistry*; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013995:Time; D014197:Trees
D000596:Amino Acids; D004247:DNA