Demographic reconstruction from ancient DNA supports rapid extinction of the great auk

Thomas, Jessica E., Carvalho, Gary R., Haile, James, Rawlence, Nicolas J., Martin, Michael D., Ho, Simon Y. W., Sigfusson, Arnór Þ., Josefsson, Vigfús A ., Frederiksen, Morten, Linnebjerg, Jannie F., Samaniego Castruita, Jose A., Niemann, Jonas, Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S., Sandoval-Velasco, Marcela, Soares, André E. R., Lacy, Robert, Barilaro, Christina, Best, Julia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8943-5427, Brandis, Dirk, Cavallo, Chiara, Elorza, Mikelo, Garrett, Kimball L., Groot, Maaike, Johansson, Friederike, Lifjeld, Jan T., Nilson, Göran, Serjeantson, Dale, Sweet, Paul, Fuller, Eeeol, Hufthammer, Anne Karin, Meldgaard, Morten, Fjeldsa, Jon, Shapiro, Beth, Hofreiter, Michael, Stewart, John R., Gilbert, M. Thomas P. and Knapp, Michael 2019. Demographic reconstruction from ancient DNA supports rapid extinction of the great auk. eLife 8 , e47509. 10.7554/eLife.47509

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Abstract

The great auk was once abundant and distributed across the North Atlantic. It is now extinct, having been heavily exploited for its eggs, meat, and feathers. We investigated the impact of human hunting on its demise by integrating genetic data, GPS-based ocean current data, and analyses of population viability. We sequenced complete mitochondrial genomes of 41 individuals from across the species’ deographic range and reconstructed population structure and population dynamics throughout the Holocene. Taken together, our data do not provide any evidence that great auks were at risk of extinction prior to the onset of intensive human hunting in the early 16th century. In addition, our population viability analyses reveal that even if the great auk had not been under threat by environmental change, human hunting alone could have been sufficient to cause its extinction. Our results emphasise the vulnerability of even abundant and widespread species to intense and localised exploitation.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Publisher:	eLife Sciences Publications
ISSN:	2050-084X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 October 2020
Date of Acceptance:	22 October 2019
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 06:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/135612

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