Reply to: When did mammoths go extinct?

Yucheng Wang^{1

2

3}, Ana Prohaska², Haoran Dong⁴, Adriana Alberti^{5

6}, Inger Greve Alsos⁷, David W Beilman⁸, Anders A Bjørk⁹, Jialu Cao², Anna A Cherezova^{10

11}, Eric Coissac^{7

12}, Bianca De Sanctis^{1

13}, France Denoeud⁵, Christoph Dockter¹⁴, Richard Durbin¹³, Mary E Edwards^{15

16}, Neil R Edwards¹⁷, Julie Esdale¹⁸, Grigory B Fedorov^{10

11}, Antonio Fernandez-Guerra², Duane G Froese¹⁹, Galina Gusarova^{7

20}, James Haile², Philip B Holden¹⁷, Kristian K Kjeldsen²¹, Kurt H Kjær², Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen², Youri Lammers⁷, Nicolaj Krog Larsen², Ruairidh Macleod^{1

2}, Jan Mangerud^{22

23}, Hugh McColl², Marie Kristine Føreid Merkel⁷, Daniel Money¹, Per Möller²⁴, David Nogués-Bravo²⁵, Ludovic Orlando²⁶, Hannah Lois Owens^{25

27}, Mikkel Winther Pedersen², Fernando Racimo², Carsten Rahbek^{25

27}, Jeffrey T Rasic²⁸, Alexandra Rouillard^{2

29}, Anthony H Ruter², Birgitte Skadhauge¹⁴, John Inge Svendsen^{22

23}, Alexei Tikhonov³⁰, Lasse Vinner², Patrick Wincker⁵, Yingchun Xing³¹, Yubin Zhang³², David J Meltzer^{2

33}, Eske Willerslev^{34

35

36

37}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
² Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
³ ALPHA, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITPCAS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
⁵ Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, Evry, France.
⁶ Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
⁷ The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
⁸ Department of Geography and Environment, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA.
⁹ Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁰ Institute of Earth Sciences, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia.
¹¹ Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St Petersburg, Russia.
¹² Université Grenoble-Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France.
¹³ Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁴ Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen V, Denmark.
¹⁵ School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹⁶ Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
¹⁷ School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
¹⁸ Center for the Environmental Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
²⁰ Faculty of Biology, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia.
²¹ Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
²² Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
²³ Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway.
²⁴ Department of Geology, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
²⁵ Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
²⁶ Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Faculté de Médecine Purpane, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
²⁷ Center for Global Mountain Biodiversity, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²⁸ Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, US National Park Service, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
²⁹ Department of Geosciences, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
³⁰ Zoological Institute, Russian academy of sciences, St Petersburg, Russia.
³¹ Resource and Environmental Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Beijing, China.
³² College of Plant Science, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
³³ Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA.
³⁴ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. ew482@cam.ac.uk.
³⁵ Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. ew482@cam.ac.uk.
³⁶ Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK. ew482@cam.ac.uk.
³⁷ MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany. ew482@cam.ac.uk.

PMID: 36450908
PMCID: PMC9712097
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05417-2

Comment

Reply to: When did mammoths go extinct?

Yucheng Wang et al. Nature. 2022 Dec.

. 2022 Dec;612(7938):E4-E6.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05417-2.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
² Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
³ ALPHA, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITPCAS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
⁵ Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, Evry, France.
⁶ Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
⁷ The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
⁸ Department of Geography and Environment, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA.
⁹ Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁰ Institute of Earth Sciences, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia.
¹¹ Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St Petersburg, Russia.
¹² Université Grenoble-Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France.
¹³ Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁴ Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen V, Denmark.
¹⁵ School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹⁶ Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
¹⁷ School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
¹⁸ Center for the Environmental Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
²⁰ Faculty of Biology, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia.
²¹ Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
²² Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
²³ Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway.
²⁴ Department of Geology, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
²⁵ Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
²⁶ Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Faculté de Médecine Purpane, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
²⁷ Center for Global Mountain Biodiversity, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²⁸ Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, US National Park Service, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
²⁹ Department of Geosciences, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
³⁰ Zoological Institute, Russian academy of sciences, St Petersburg, Russia.
³¹ Resource and Environmental Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Beijing, China.
³² College of Plant Science, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
³³ Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA.
³⁴ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. ew482@cam.ac.uk.
³⁵ Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. ew482@cam.ac.uk.
³⁶ Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK. ew482@cam.ac.uk.
³⁷ MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany. ew482@cam.ac.uk.

PMID: 36450908
PMCID: PMC9712097
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05417-2

No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1. The geographical distribution of late-surviving mammoths, and the vertical distribution of eDNA samples and the identified mammoths in sediment profiles.**
a, Mammoth eDNAs were identified in 23 out of 192 Holocene samples, from 14 out of 32 sites covering the Holocene, and originated from 3 different sediment contexts. The 3 coloured regions show the shrinking distribution of mammoth in the Holocene: green, blue and red correspond to 11.2, 8.2 and 6.6 kyr bp, respectively. b, Sites (n = 12) where mammoth eDNA was detected in at least one sample and with available sampling depths. For sites with only height available (marked with an ending asterisk in the site name), the sampling heights have been converted to relative depths. The number next to each eDNA sample indicates the age (in kyr bp) of that sample. More details can be found in ref. .

See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

When did mammoths go extinct?
Miller JH, Simpson C. Miller JH, et al. Nature. 2022 Dec;612(7938):E1-E3. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05416-3. Epub 2022 Nov 30. Nature. 2022. PMID: 36450914 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

1. Haile J, et al. Ancient DNA chronology within sediment deposits: are paleobiological reconstructions possible and is DNA leaching a factor? Mol. Biol. Evol. 2007;24:982–989. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msm016. - DOI - PubMed
1. Miller, J. H. & Simpson, C. When did mammoths go extinct? Nature 10.1038/s41586-022-05416-3 (2022). - PMC - PubMed
1. Wang Y, et al. Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics. Nature. 2021;600:86–92. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04016-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Vartanyan SL, Arslanov KA, Karhu JA, Possnert G, Sulerzhitsky LD. Collection of radiocarbon dates on the mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) and other genera of Wrangel Island, northeast Siberia, Russia. Quat. Res. 2017;70:51–59. doi: 10.1016/j.yqres.2008.03.005. - DOI
1. Conard NJ, Walker SJ, Kandel AW. How heating and cooling and wetting and drying can destroy dense faunal elements and lead to differential preservation. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2008;266:236–245. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.03.036. - DOI

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Reply to: When did mammoths go extinct?

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Reply to: When did mammoths go extinct?

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