Lemmings
became "regionally extinct" five times due to rapid climate change
during the last Ice Age, scientists have found.
Each
extinction was followed by a re-colonisation of genetically different lemmings,
according to the study.
It
investigated how Europe's small mammals fared during the era when large numbers
of megafauna became extinct.
Previously,
experts believed that small mammals were largely unaffected during the Late
Pleistocene.
But
when the international research team analysed ancient DNA sequences from
fossilised remains of collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx torquarus) from
cave sites in Belgium, they were surprised by the results.
"What
we'd expected is that there'd be pretty much just a single population that was
there all the way through," said research team member Dr Ian Barnes from
the school of biological sciences at Royal Holloway University in Surrey.
Read
on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20468224
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