Rise and fall of the Beringian steppe bison.

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0404511 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-9203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00368075 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Science Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: : Washington, DC : American Association for the Advancement of Science
Original Publication: New York, N.Y. : [s.n.] 1880-

Bison*/classification ; Bison*/genetics ; Climate* ; Fossils*; Alaska ; Animals ; Bayes Theorem ; Canada ; China ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics ; Environment ; Genetic Variation ; Genetics, Population ; Human Activities ; Humans ; North America ; Phylogeny ; Population Dynamics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Time

The widespread extinctions of large mammals at the end of the Pleistocene epoch have often been attributed to the depredations of humans; here we present genetic evidence that questions this assumption. We used ancient DNA and Bayesian techniques to reconstruct a detailed genetic history of bison throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Our analyses depict a large diverse population living throughout Beringia until around 37,000 years before the present, when the population's genetic diversity began to decline dramatically. The timing of this decline correlates with environmental changes associated with the onset of the last glacial cycle, whereas archaeological evidence does not support the presence of large populations of humans in Eastern Beringia until more than 15,000 years later.

Comment in: Science. 2004 Nov 26;306(5701):1454. (PMID: 15567821)

0 (DNA, Mitochondrial)

Date Created: 20041130 Date Completed: 20041221 Latest Revision: 20090209

20221213

10.1126/science.1101074

15567864