Publications
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Garcia, Lourdes Martinez; Cuevas, Angelica; Ferrari, Giada; Hufthammer, Anne Karin; Vedeler, Marianne & Hirons, Alex
[Show all 9 contributors for this article]
(2024).
Tracing 600 years of long-distance Atlantic cod trade in medieval and post-medieval Oslo using stable isotopes and ancient DNA.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
ISSN 0962-8452.
291(2035).
doi:
10.1098/rspb.2024.2019.
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Marine resources have been important for the survival and economic development of coastal human communities across northern Europe for millennia. Knowledge of the origin of such historic resources can provide key insights into fishing practices and the spatial extent of trade networks. Here, we combine ancient DNA and stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N, non-exchangeable δ2H and δ34S) to investigate the geographical origin of archaeological cod remains in Oslo from the eleventh to seventeenth centuries CE. Our findings provide genetic evidence that Atlantic cod was obtained from different geographical populations, including a variety of distant-water populations like northern Norway and possibly Iceland. Evidence for such long-distance cod trade is already observed from the eleventh century, contrasting with archaeological and historical evidence from Britain and other areas of Continental Europe around the North and Baltic Seas, where such trade increased during the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries. The genomic assignments of specimens to different populations coincide with significantly different δ13C values between those same specimens, indicating that multiple Atlantic cod populations living in different environments were exploited. This research provides novel information about the exploitation timeline of specific Atlantic cod stocks and highlights the utility of combining ancient DNA (aDNA) methods and stable isotope analysis to describe the development of medieval and post-medieval marine fisheries.
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Garcia, Lourdes Martinez; Ferrari, Giada; Cuevas, Angelica; Atmore, Lane Margaret; López-Arias, Begoña & Culling, Mark
[Show all 18 contributors for this article]
(2022).
Ancient DNA evidence for the ecological globalization of cod fishing in medieval and post-medieval Europe.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
ISSN 0962-8452.
289(1985).
doi:
10.1098/rspb.2022.1107.
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Understanding the historical emergence and growth of long-range fisheries can provide fundamental insights into the timing of ecological impacts and the development of coastal communities during the last millennium. Whole-genome sequencing approaches can improve such understanding by determining the origin of archaeological fish specimens that may have been obtained from historic trade or distant water. Here, we used genome-wide data to individually infer the biological source of 37 ancient Atlantic cod specimens (ca 1050–1950 CE) from England and Spain. Our findings provide novel genetic evidence that eleventh- to twelfth-century specimens from London were predominantly obtained from nearby populations, while thirteenth- to fourteenth-century specimens were derived from distant sources. Our results further suggest that Icelandic cod was indeed exported to London earlier than previously reported. Our observations confirm the chronology and geography of the trans-Atlantic cod trade from Newfoundland to Spain starting by the early sixteenth century. Our findings demonstrate the utility of whole-genome sequencing and ancient DNA approaches to describe the globalization of marine fisheries and increase our understanding regarding the extent of the North Atlantic fish trade and long-range fisheries in medieval and early modern times.
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Cuevas, Angelica; Patrelle, Cécile; Ciavatti, François; Gendre, Thomas; Sourrouille, Patricia & Geniez, Philippe
[Show all 8 contributors for this article]
(2022).
A new PCR-RFLP method for the identification of parental and hybridogenetic western European Water Frogs, including the Pelophylax perezi-grafi system.
Salamandra (Frankfurt).
ISSN 0036-3375.
58(3),
p. 218–230.
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Cuevas, Angelica; Eroukhmanoff, Fabrice; Ravinet, Mark; Sætre, Glenn-Peter & Runemark, Anna
(2022).
Predictors of genomic differentiation within a hybrid taxon.
PLoS Genetics.
ISSN 1553-7390.
18(2).
doi:
10.1371/journal.pgen.1010027.
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Hybridization is increasingly recognized as an important evolutionary force. Novel genetic methods now enable us to address how the genomes of parental species are combined in hybrid lineages. However, we still do not know the relative importance of admixed proportions, genome architecture and local selection in shaping hybrid genomes. Here, we take advantage of the genetically divergent island populations of Italian sparrow on Crete, Corsica and Sicily to investigate the predictors of genomic variation within a hybrid taxon. We test if differentiation is affected by recombination rate, selection, or variation in ancestry proportions. We find that the relationship between recombination rate and differentiation is less pronounced within hybrid lineages than between the parent species, as expected if purging of minor parent ancestry in low recombination regions reduces the variation available for differentiation. In addition, we find that differentiation between islands is correlated with differences in signatures of selection in two out of three comparisons. Signatures of selection within islands are correlated across all islands, suggesting that shared selection may mould genomic differentiation. The best predictor of strong differentiation within islands is the degree of differentiation from house sparrow, and hence loci with Spanish sparrow ancestry may vary more freely. Jointly, this suggests that constraints and selection interact in shaping the genomic landscape of differentiation in this hybrid species.
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Barrett, James; Khamaiko, Natalia; Ferrari, Giada; Cuevas, Angelica; Kneale, Catherine & Hufthammer, Anne Karin
[Show all 8 contributors for this article]
(2022).
Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
ISSN 0962-8452.
289(1972),
p. 1–9.
doi:
10.1098/rspb.2021.2773.
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Mediaeval walrus hunting in Iceland and Greenland—driven by Western European demand for ivory and walrus hide ropes—has been identified as an important pre-modern example of ecological globalization. By contrast, the main origin of walrus ivory destined for eastern European markets, and then onward trade to Asia, is assumed to have been Arctic Russia. Here, we investigate the geographical origin of nine twelfth-century CE walrus specimens discovered in Kyiv, Ukraine—combining archaeological typology (based on chaîne opératoire assessment), ancient DNA (aDNA) and stable isotope analysis. We show that five of seven specimens tested using aDNA can be genetically assigned to a western Greenland origin. Moreover, six of the Kyiv rostra had been sculpted in a way typical of Greenlandic imports to Western Europe, and seven are tentatively consistent with a Greenland origin based on stable isotope analysis. Our results suggest that demand for the products of Norse Greenland's walrus hunt stretched not only to Western Europe but included Ukraine and, by implication given linked trade routes, also Russia, Byzantium and Asia. These observations illuminate the surprising scale of mediaeval ecological globalization and help explain the pressure this process exerted on distant wildlife populations and those who harvested them.
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Ferrari, Giada; Cuevas, Angelica; Wyrozemska, Agata Teresa; Ballantyne, Rachel; Kersten, Oliver & Palsdottir, Albina Hulda
[Show all 18 contributors for this article]
(2021).
The preservation of ancient DNA in archaeological fish bone.
Journal of Archaeological Science.
ISSN 0305-4403.
126(105317).
doi:
10.1016/j.jas.2020.105317.
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The field of ancient DNA is dominated by studies focusing on terrestrial vertebrates. This taxonomic bias limits our understanding of endogenous DNA preservation for species with different bone physiology, such as teleost fish. Teleost bone is typically brittle, porous, lightweight, and is characterized by a lack of bone remodeling during growth. All of these factors potentially affect DNA preservation. Using high-throughput shotgun sequencing, we here investigate the preservation of DNA in a range of different bone elements from over 200 archaeological Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) specimens from 38 sites in northern Europe, dating up to 8000 years before present. We observe that the majority of archaeological sites (79%) yield endogenous DNA, with 40% of sites providing samples containing high levels (>20%). Library preparation success and levels of endogenous DNA depend mainly on excavation site and pre-extraction laboratory treatment. The use of pre-extraction treatments lowers the rate of libraries that can be sequenced, although — if successful — the fraction of endogenous DNA can be improved by several orders of magnitude. This trade-off between library preparation success and levels of endogenous DNA allows for alternative extraction strategies depending on the requirements of down-stream analyses and research questions. Finally, we do not find particular bone elements to yield higher levels of endogenous DNA, as is the case for denser bones in mammals. Our results highlight the potential of archaeological fish bone as a source for ancient DNA and suggest a possible role of bone remodeling in the preservation of endogenous DNA.
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Cuevas, Angelica; Ravinet, Mark; Sætre, Glenn-Peter & Eroukhmanoff, Fabrice
(2020).
Intraspecific genomic variation and local adaptation in a young hybrid species.
Molecular Ecology.
ISSN 0962-1083.
00,
p. 791–809.
doi:
10.1111/mec.15760.
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Hybridization increases genetic variation, hence hybrid species may have greater evolutionary potential once their admixed genomes have stabilized and incompatibilities have been purged. Yet, little is known about how such hybrid lineages evolve at the genomic level following their formation, in particular their adaptive potential. Here we investigate how the Italian sparrow (Passer italiae), a homoploid hybrid species, has evolved and locally adapted to its variable environment. Using restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing (RAD‐seq) on several populations across the Italian peninsula, we evaluate how genomic constraints and novel genetic variation have influenced population divergence and adaptation. We show that population divergence within this hybrid species has evolved in response to climatic variation, suggesting ongoing local adaptation. As found previously in other nonhybrid species, climatic differences appear to increase population differentiation. We also report strong population divergence in a gene known to affect beak morphology. Most of the strongly divergent loci among Italian sparrow populations do not seem to be differentiated between its parent species, the house and Spanish sparrows. Unlike in the hybrid, population divergence within each of the parental taxa has occurred mostly at loci with high allele frequency difference between the parental species, suggesting that novel combinations of parental alleles in the hybrid have not necessarily enhanced its evolutionary potential. Rather, our study suggests that constraints linked to incompatibilities may have restricted the evolution of this admixed genome, both during and after hybrid species formation.
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Sætre, Glenn-Peter; Pulido, Angelica Maria Cuevas; Hermansen, Jo Skeie; Elgvin, Tore Oldeide; Fernández, Laura Piñeiro & Sæther, Stein Are
[Show all 8 contributors for this article]
(2017).
Rapid polygenic response to secondary contact in a hybrid species.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
ISSN 0962-8452.
284(1853).
doi:
10.1098/rspb.2017.0365.
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Secondary contact between closely related species can have genetic consequences.
Competition for essential resources may lead to divergence in
heritable traits that reduces interspecific competition leading to increased rate of genetic divergence. Conversely, hybridization and backcrossing can lead to genetic convergence. Here, we study a population of a hybrid
species, the Italian sparrow (Passer italiae), before and after it came into secondary contact with one of its parent species, the Spanish sparrow (P. hispaniolensis), in 2013. We demonstrate strong consequences of interspecific
competition: Italian sparrows were kept away from a popular
feeding site by its parent species, resulting in poorer body condition and a significant drop in population size. Although no significant morphological change could be detected, after only 3 years of sympatry, the Italian sparrows had diverged significantly from the Spanish sparrows across a set of 81 protein-coding genes. These temporal genetic changes are mirrored by genetic divergence observed in older sympatric Italian sparrow populations
within the same area of contact. Compared with microallopatric birds, sympatric ones are genetically more diverged from Spanish sparrows. Six significant outlier genes in the temporal and spatial comparison (i.e. showing
the greatest displacement) have all been found to be associated with learning and neural development in other bird species.
character displacement, interspecific
competition, Passer, hybrid species,
cognition, learning
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Published
Feb. 18, 2021 3:01 PM
- Last modified
Feb. 18, 2021 3:01 PM