View Item 

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

Access Status
Open access
Authors
Antonosyan, M.
Seersholm, Frederik
Grealy, Alicia
Barham, Milo
Werndly, Daniel
Margaryan, A.
Cieślik, A.
Stafford, T.W.
Allentoft, M.E.
Bunce, Michael
Yepiskoposyan, L.
Date
2019
Type
Journal Article

Metadata
Show full item record
Citation
Antonosyan, M. and Seersholm, F.V. and Grealy, A.C. and Barham, M. and Werndly, D. and Margaryan, A. and Cieślik, A. et al. 2019. Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews. 219: pp. 102-111.
Source Title
Quaternary Science Reviews
DOI
ISSN
Faculty
Faculty of Science and Engineering
School
School of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS)
School of Molecular and Life Sciences (MLS)
Rights
URI
Collection
Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd 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).

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/