MAY 20, 2019
Historic
climate change events can have a lasting impact on the genetic diversity of a
species, reveals a new study published in Current Biology. This unexpected
finding emerged from an analysis of the alpine marmot's genome.
An iconic
animal known to tourists and mountaineers, the alpine marmot is a large rodent
exquisitely adapted to cold climates. Since the disappearance of its ice-age
habitat, the alpine marmot has resided in high-altitude meadows in the Alps.
In this
new study co-led by the Francis Crick Institute, an international team of
scientists sequenced the genomes of alpine marmots living in three sites in the
French and Italian Alps, and found that the animal's genetic diversity is
among the lowest of wild mammals. By reconstructing the marmot's genetic past with the help of
fossil records, they discovered that it lost its genetic diversity during
the last ice age as a consequence of multiple climate related adaptations.
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