Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
2d ago

Ancient DNA Reveals Deep Mastodon Splits and Repeated Climate-Driven Migrations

Next steps center on nuclear genomes to test interbreeding.

(Credit: Jeremy Thompson/CC 2.0/Wikimedia)
Image
An adult mastodon (Mammut sp.) consuming a spruce branch set against a backdrop illustrating their cyclical continental migrations linked to climate fluctuations. At least two species of mastodons roamed North America during the Middle and Late Pleistocene: the American mastodon, stretching from the eastern seaboard to central parts of the continent, and the Pacific mastodon from central Alberta through California. Image credit: Kathryn Killackey.

Overview

  • Peer-reviewed findings published September 12 in Science Advances reconstruct mitochondrial genomes from North American mastodons.
  • The dataset includes five Atlantic specimens, a possible ~500,000-year-old sample, a Pacific mastodon from Tualatin, Oregon, and a partial genome from northern Ontario.
  • Pacific mastodons form a deeply divergent maternal lineage with a range reaching the Pacific Northwest and Alberta, possibly extending to Mexico.
  • Eastern populations arrived in at least three northward waves linked to warming intervals, and two new clades occupied the same regions at different times.
  • Alberta appears to have been a recurring migratory corridor with potential interbreeding, and a distinct Mexican lineage remains unresolved pending broader sampling and nuclear DNA.