Bison phylogeography constrains dispersal and viability of the Ice Free Corridor in western Canada.
The Ice Free Corridor has been invoked as a route for Pleistocene human and animal dispersals between eastern Beringia and more southerly areas of North America. Despite the significance of the corridor, there are limited data for when and how this corridor was used. Hypothetical uses of the corridor include: the first expansion of humans from Beringia into the Americas, northward postglacial expansions of fluted point technologies into Beringia, and continued use of the corridor as a contact route between the north and south. Here, we use radiocarbon dates and ancient mitochondrial DNA from late Pleistocene bison fossils to determine the chronology for when the corridor was open and viable for biotic dispersals. The corridor was closed after ∼23,000 until 13,400 calendar years ago (cal y BP), after which we find the first evidence, to our knowledge, that bison used this route to disperse from the south, and by 13,000 y from the north. Our chronology supports a habitable and traversable corridor by at least 13,000 cal y BP, just before the first appearance of Clovis technology in interior North America, and indicates that the corridor would not have been available for significantly earlier southward human dispersal. Following the opening of the corridor, multiple dispersals of human groups between Beringia and interior North America may have continued throughout the latest Pleistocene and early Holocene. Our results highlight the utility of phylogeographic analyses to test hypotheses about paleoecological history and the viability of dispersal routes over time.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064;
Peter D
0000-0002-6449-0219
PD
Heintzman
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada; duane.froese@ualberta.ca bashapir@ucsc.edu.
Duane
D
Froese
Institute of Prairie Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H4, Canada;
John W
JW
Ives
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064;
André E R
0000-0002-7768-2199
AE
Soares
Yukon Palaeontology Program, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2C6, Canada;
Grant D
GD
Zazula
Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802;
Brandon
B
Letts
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Government of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9, Canada;
Thomas D
TD
Andrews
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada;
Jonathan C
JC
Driver
Yukon Palaeontology Program, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2C6, Canada;
Elizabeth
E
Hall
Yukon Archaeology Program, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2C6, Canada;
P Gregory
PG
Hare
Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, AB T5N 0M6, Canada;
Christopher N
CN
Jass
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Government of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9, Canada;
Glen
G
MacKay
Keck-CCAMS Group, Earth System Science Department, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697;
John R
JR
Southon
Department of Translational Skin Cancer Research, German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research, D-45141 Essen, Germany;
Mathias
M
Stiller
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada;
Robin
R
Woywitka
Department of Biomathematics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; Department of Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095;
Marc A
MA
Suchard
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064; University of California Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 duane.froese@ualberta.ca bashapir@ucsc.edu.
Beth
0000-0002-2733-7776
B
Shapiro
D000818:Animals; D016164:Bison / Q000235:genetics*; D002170:Canada; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005580:Fossils; D058974:Phylogeography
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
Clovis; Pleistocene; bison; ice free corridor; phylogeography