Abstract
Over 60% of the modern distribution range of brown bears falls within Russia, yet palaeoecological data from the region remain scarce. Complete modern Russian brown bear mitogenomes are abundant in the published literature, yet examples of their ancient counterparts are absent. Similarly, there is only limited stable isotopic data of prehistoric brown bears from the region. We used ancient DNA and stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes retrieved from five Pleistocene Yakutian brown bears (one Middle Pleistocene and four Late Pleistocene), to elucidate the evolutionary history and palaeoecology of the species in the region. We were able to reconstruct the complete mitogenome of one of the Late Pleistocene specimens, but we were unable to assign it to any of the previously published brown bear mitogenome clades. A subsequent analysis of published mtDNA control region sequences, which included sequences of extinct clades from other geographic regions, assigned the ancient Yakutian bear to the extinct clade 3c; a clade previously identified from Late Quaternary specimens from Eastern Beringia and Northern Spain. Our analyses of stable isotopes showed relatively high δ15N values in the Pleistocene Yakutian brown bears, suggesting a more carnivorous diet than contemporary brown bears from Eastern Beringia.
Highlights
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) has a broad Holarctic distribution, spanning Eurasia and North America[1]
We investigated five Pleistocene subfossil brown bears from Yakutia, one with an infinite 14C age (CGG_1_0200005) and the other four undated (CGG_1_0200006, CGG_1_0200007, DGI-1, and DGI-4)
This study presents the first combined ancient DNA and stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) investigation of Pleistocene brown bears from Yakutia
Summary
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) has a broad Holarctic distribution, spanning Eurasia and North America[1]. Anthropogenic encroachment over the past century has resulted in reduced and fragmented brown bear populations[4] Due to their extensive distribution, brown bears have become a model organism for studying biogeographic patterns across Eurasia and North America. Other less widely distributed brown bear clades (not included in our analyses and not shown in Fig. 1) have been found in North Africa, the Middle East[15,16], and the Himalayas[17]. Ancient DNA analyses have documented shifting patterns of genetic diversity and structure, including the loss of genetic lineages during the Late Quaternary (such as clade 3c10,19,20) Such findings are indicative of more complex phylogeographic scenarios than initially suggested for the species by Taberlet and Bouvet[7] (e.g. refs.[10,12,19,21]). To further elucidate the relationship between our Yakutian sequence and contemporary and extirpated brown bear populations, we included an analysis of the mtDNA CR, which included a larger temporal range of modern and ancient sequences
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