Journal article
Ancient biomolecules from deep ice cores reveal a forested southern Greenland
Science, Vol.317(5834), pp.111-114
2007
Abstract
It is difficult to obtain fossil data from the 10% of Earth's terrestrial surface that is covered by thick glaciers and ice sheets, and hence, knowledge of the paleoenvironments of these regions has remained limited. We show that DNA and amino acids from buried organisms can be recovered from the basal sections of deep ice cores, enabling reconstructions of past flora and fauna. We show that high-altitude southern Greenland, currently lying below more than 2 kilometers of ice, was inhabited by a diverse array of conifer trees and insects within the past million years. The results provide direct evidence in support of a forested southern Greenland and suggest that many deep ice cores may contain genetic records of paleoenvironments in their basal sections.
Details
- Title
- Ancient biomolecules from deep ice cores reveal a forested southern Greenland
- Authors/Creators
- E. Willerslev (Author/Creator)E. Cappellini (Author/Creator)W. Boomsma (Author/Creator)R. Nielsen (Author/Creator)M. B. Hebsgaard (Author/Creator)T. B. Brand (Author/Creator)M. Hofreiter (Author/Creator)M. Bunce (Author/Creator)H. N. Poinar (Author/Creator)D. Dahl-Jensen (Author/Creator)S. Johnsen (Author/Creator)J. P. Steffensen (Author/Creator)O. Bennike (Author/Creator)J.-L. Schwenninger (Author/Creator)R. Nathan (Author/Creator)S. Armitage (Author/Creator)C.-J. de Hoog (Author/Creator)V. Alfimov (Author/Creator)M. Christl (Author/Creator)J. Beer (Author/Creator)R. Muscheler (Author/Creator)J. Barker (Author/Creator)M. Sharp (Author/Creator)K. E. H. Penkman (Author/Creator)J. Haile (Author/Creator)P. Taberlet (Author/Creator)M. T. P. Gilbert (Author/Creator)A. Casoli (Author/Creator)E. Campani (Author/Creator)M. J. Collins (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Science, Vol.317(5834), pp.111-114
- Publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Identifiers
- 991005543797207891
- Copyright
- 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Metrics
486 File views/ downloads
187 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 8 Earth Sciences
- 8.93 Archaeology
- 8.93.8 Holocene
- Web Of Science research areas
- Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
- ESI research areas
- Geosciences