Keywords :
habitat; Late Pleistocene; Microtus sp.; mitochondrial DNA; paleoclimate; small mammals; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Ecology
Abstract :
[en] Aim: Many species experienced population turnover and local extinction during the Late Pleistocene. In the case of megafauna, it remains challenging to disentangle climate change and the activities of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers as the main cause. In contrast, the impact of humans on rodent populations is likely to be negligible. This study investigated which climatic and/or environmental factors affect the population dynamics of the common vole. This temperate rodent is widespread across Europe and was one of the most abundant small mammal species throughout the Late Pleistocene. Location: Europe. Taxon: Common vole (Microtus arvalis). Methods: We generated a dataset comprised of 4.2 kb long fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 148 ancient and 51 modern specimens sampled from multiple localities across Europe and covering the last 60 thousand years (ka). We used Bayesian inference to reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships and to estimate the age of the specimens that were not directly dated. Results: We estimated the time to the most recent common ancestor of all last glacial and extant common vole lineages to be 90 ka ago and the divergence of the main mtDNA lineages present in extant populations to between 55 and 40 ka ago, which is earlier than most previous estimates. We detected several lineage turnovers in Europe during the period of high climate variability at the end of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; 57–29 ka ago) in addition to those found previously around the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. In contrast, data from the Western Carpathians suggest continuity throughout the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) even at high latitudes. Main Conclusions: The main factor affecting the common vole populations during the last glacial period was the decrease in open habitat during the interstadials, whereas climate deterioration during the LGM had little impact on population dynamics. This suggests that the rapid environmental change rather than other factors was the major force shaping the histories of the Late Pleistocene faunas.
Funding text :
This research was supported by the Polish National Science Centre grants no.: 2015/19/D/NZ8/03878 to Mateusz Baca and 2017/25/B/NZ8/02005 to Adam Nadachowski. Partial funding came from grant 31003A_176209 from the Swiss National Science Foundation to Gerald Heckel. Xabier Murelaga was supported by the IT1602‐22 grant from Basque Science System. Fieldwork at Roc‐en‐Pail (France) was granted by the French Ministry of Culture through the Pays‐de‐la‐Loire Regional Archaeology Service and in 2016 by the Mécène & Loire Fundation. Juan Manuel López‐García was supported by a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC‐2016‐19386) with financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Elisa Luzi was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation with a Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers (ESP1209403HFST‐P) Analysis of modern Spanish specimens was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness & European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, EU), projects CGL2011‐30274 and CGL2015‐71255‐P (MINECO‐FEDER, EU). Sahra Talamo received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 803147 RESOLUTION, https://site.unibo.it/resolution‐erc/en ). Alexandru Petculescu acknowledges funding by the Romanian Research Authority through grants PCCF 16/2016, PCE 2282/2020, and EEA Grant 126/2018. We also acknowledge the late Rebbeca Miller, the director of Trou Al′Wesse excavations and the “AWaP—Agence Wallonne du Patrimoine” as the main funding institution of the work at the site. No modern specimens were sampled as part of this project. Refer to Table S2 for the articles where the studied specimens were first published and appropriate permits are described. No permits were required to sample subfossil materials.This research was supported by the Polish National Science Centre grants no.: 2015/19/D/NZ8/03878 to Mateusz Baca and 2017/25/B/NZ8/02005 to Adam Nadachowski. Partial funding came from grant 31003A_176209 from the Swiss National Science Foundation to Gerald Heckel. Xabier Murelaga was supported by the IT1602-22 grant from Basque Science System. Fieldwork at Roc-en-Pail (France) was granted by the French Ministry of Culture through the Pays-de-la-Loire Regional Archaeology Service and in 2016 by the Mécène & Loire Fundation. Juan Manuel López-García was supported by a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2016-19386) with financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Elisa Luzi was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation with a Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers (ESP1209403HFST-P) Analysis of modern Spanish specimens was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness & European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, EU), projects CGL2011-30274 and CGL2015-71255-P (MINECO-FEDER, EU). Sahra Talamo received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 803147 RESOLUTION, https://site.unibo.it/resolution-erc/en). Alexandru Petculescu acknowledges funding by the Romanian Research Authority through grants PCCF 16/2016, PCE 2282/2020, and EEA Grant 126/2018. We also acknowledge the late Rebbeca Miller, the director of Trou Al′Wesse excavations and the “AWaP—Agence Wallonne du Patrimoine” as the main funding institution of the work at the site. No modern specimens were sampled as part of this project. Refer to Table S2 for the articles where the studied specimens were first published and appropriate permits are described. No permits were required to sample subfossil materials.
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