ArticleNature2014
Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet.
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Article in Nature, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 137 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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137citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
35.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
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Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 574 citations in OpenAlex.
- Herbivore diversity effects on Arctic tundra ecosystems: a systematic review.Environmental evidence · 2024Pooled it
- Environmental palaeogenomic reconstruction of an Ice Age algal population.Communications biology · 2021Pooled it
- Sedimentary Ancient DNA Tracks Multi-Kingdom Ecosystem Reorganizations Following Sequential Human Land Use at Crawford Lake.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Reconstructing Anthropocene dynamics of subtropical vegetation and plant diversity by combining sedimentary ancient DNA and pollen: A high-resolution comparative analysis from China's Yangtze floodplain.Fundamental research · 2026Article
- Impacts of large herbivores on savanna plant communities: Predictive models of herbivore selectivity and plant response.Ecology · 2026Article
- Ground squirrel coprolites preserve complex archives of ancient environmental DNA over 700,000 years.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Mechanism of Dietary Variation of Grazing Yaks on Tibetan Plateau: The Role of Seasonal Heterogeneity of Resources.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Quantitative Accuracy and Application of DNA Metabarcoding for Dietary Reconstruction in Ruminants.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Bamdam: a post-mapping authentication toolkit for ancient metagenomics.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Metabarcoding Reveals Fine Scale Patterns of Trophic Resource Use and Partitioning Along Gradients of Land Use and Deer Density in a Multi-Species Ungulate Community.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- A 75,000-y-old Scandinavian Arctic cave deposit reveals past faunal diversity and paleoenvironment.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Article
- The apportionment of dietary diversity in wildlife.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Wild and domesticated animal abundance is associated with greater late-Holocene alpine plant diversity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Pasture Composition: DNA Metabarcoding Versus Quadrat-Based Botanical Surveys in Experimental Grassland Plots.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Plant interactions associated with a directional shift in the richness range size relationship during the Glacial-Holocene transition in the Arctic.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Potential plant extinctions with the loss of the Pleistocene mammoth steppe.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The Jarman-Bell principle revisited: Gut microbiota facilitate body size-dependent nutritional strategies in herbivores.Current research in microbial sciences · 2025Article
- Post-Glacial Vegetation Trajectories on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau Reflect Millennial-Scale Migration Lags in Complex Mountain Terrain Based on Sedimentary Ancient DNA and Dynamic Dispersal Modeling.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Was the steppe bison a grazing beast in Pleistocene landscapes?Royal Society open science · 2024Article
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
50 authors at 20 institutions in 10 countries.
Eske Willerslev1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2].
John Davison1] Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia [2].
Mari Moora1] Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia [2].
Martin Zobel1] Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia [2].
Eric Coissac1] Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France [2].
Mary E Edwards1] Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK [2].
Eline D Lorenzen1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, 1005 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, 94720 California, USA [3].
Mette Vestergård1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2].
Galina Gussarova1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2] Department of Botany, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia [3].
James Haile1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Ancient DNA Laboratory, Veterinary and Life Sciences School, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Perth, 6150 Western Australia, Australia [3].
Joseph CraineDivision of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 66506-4901 Kansas, USA.
Ludovic GiellyLaboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Sanne Boessenkool1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2] Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway (S.B.); Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany (L.S.E.); SpyGen, Savoie Technolac, 17 allée du lac Saint André, BP 274, 73375 Le Bourget-du-Lac Cedex, France (E.B.).
Laura S Epp1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2] Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway (S.B.); Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany (L.S.E.); SpyGen, Savoie Technolac, 17 allée du lac Saint André, BP 274, 73375 Le Bourget-du-Lac Cedex, France (E.B.).
Peter B PearmanLandscape Dynamics Unit, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Rachid CheddadiInstitut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554 Université Montpellier 2, Bat.22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
David MurrayUniversity of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks, 99775-6960 Alaska, USA.
Kari Anne BråthenDepartment of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
Nigel YoccozDepartment of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
Heather BinneyGeography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
Corinne CruaudGenoscope, Institut de Genomique du Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), 91000 Evry, France.
Patrick WinckerGenoscope, Institut de Genomique du Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), 91000 Evry, France.
Tomasz Goslar1] Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Physics, Umultowska 85, 61-614 Poznań, Poland [2] Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Poznań Science and Technology Park, Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland.
Inger Greve AlsosTromsø University Museum, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
Eva Bellemain1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2] Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway (S.B.); Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany (L.S.E.); SpyGen, Savoie Technolac, 17 allée du lac Saint André, BP 274, 73375 Le Bourget-du-Lac Cedex, France (E.B.).
Anne Krag BrystingCentre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066, Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway.
Reidar ElvenNational Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway.
Jørn Henrik SønstebøNational Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway.
Julian MurtonPermafrost Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK.
Andrei Sher1] Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 33 Leninsky Prospect, 119071 Moscow, Russia [2].
Morten RasmussenCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Regin RønnDepartment of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology, Universitetsparken 15, DK- 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
Tobias MourierCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Alan CooperAustralian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005 South Australia, Australia.
Jeremy AustinAustralian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005 South Australia, Australia.
Per MöllerDepartment of Geology/Quaternary Sciences, Lund University Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden.
Duane FroeseDepartment of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, T6G 2E3 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Grant ZazulaGovernment of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Palaeontology Program, PO Box 2703 L2A, Y1A 2C6 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada.
François PompanonLaboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Delphine RiouxLaboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Vincent NiderkornINRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France.
Alexei TikhonovZoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Grigoriy SavvinovInstitute of Applied Ecology of the North of North-Eastern Federal University, Belinskogo Street 58, 677000 Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia.
Richard G RobertsCentre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522 New South Wales, Australia.
Ross D E MacPheeDivision of Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 10024 New York, USA.
M Thomas P GilbertCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Kurt H KjærCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Ludovic OrlandoCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Christian Brochmann1] National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway [2].
Pierre Taberlet1] Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA) CNRS UMR 5553, University Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France [2].
University of Copenhagen · DKLaboratoire d'Écologie Alpine · FRUniversity of Oslo · NOUniversity of Tartu · EEThe University of Adelaide · AUUiT The Arctic University of Norway · NOAdam Mickiewicz University in Poznań · PLAmerican Museum of Natural History · USCEA Cadarache · FRCommissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · FRGovernment of YukonInstitut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier · FRNorth-Eastern Federal University · RUSevertsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution · RUSoil Science Research Unit · FRSt Petersburg University · RUTromsø research foundation · NOUnité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores · FRUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks · USUniversity of Alberta · CA
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although it is generally agreed that the Arctic flora is among the youngest and least diverse on Earth, the processes that shaped it are poorly understood. Here we present 50 thousand years (kyr) of Arctic vegetation history, derived from the first large-scale ancient DNA metabarcoding study of circumpolar plant diversity. For this interval we also explore nematode diversity as a proxy for modelling vegetation cover and soil quality, and diets of herbivorous megafaunal mammals, many of which became extinct around 10 kyr bp (before present). For much of the period investigated, Arctic vegetation consisted of dry steppe-tundra dominated by forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous vascular plants). During the Last Glacial Maximum (25-15 kyr bp), diversity declined markedly, although forbs remained dominant. Much changed after 10 kyr bp, with the appearance of moist tundra dominated by woody plants and graminoids. Our analyses indicate that both graminoids and forbs would have featured in megafaunal diets. As such, our findings question the predominance of a Late Quaternary graminoid-dominated Arctic mammoth steppe.
Indexed as
BiodiversityDietHerbivoryNematodaPlantsAnimalsArctic RegionsBisonCold ClimateFreezingHigh-Throughput Nucleotide SequencingHorsesMammothsPoaceaeSoilTime FactorsSoil
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