Genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia reveal colonization routes and high-latitude adaptation

AbstractScandinavia was one of the last geographic areas in Europe to become habitable for humans after the last glaciation. However, the origin(s) of the first colonizers and their migration routes remain unclear. We sequenced the genomes, up to 57x coverage, of seven hunter-gatherers excavated across Scandinavia and dated to 9,500-6,000 years before present. Surprisingly, among the Scandinavian Mesolithic individuals, the genetic data display an east-west genetic gradient that opposes the pattern seen in other parts of Mesolithic Europe. This result suggests that Scandinavia was initially colonized following two different routes: one from the south, the other from the northeast. The latter followed the ice-free Norwegian north Atlantic coast, along which novel and advanced pressure-blade stone-tool techniques may have spread. These two groups met and mixed in Scandinavia, creating a genetically diverse population, which shows patterns of genetic adaptation to high latitude environments. These adaptations include high frequencies of low pigmentation variants and a gene-region associated with physical performance, which shows strong continuity into modern-day northern Europeans.

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Rapid Ice-Sheet Growth and Initiation of the Last Glaciation

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(79)90093-0 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 119-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

R.G. Johnson ◽

J.T. Andrews

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Circulation ◽

North Atlantic ◽

High Latitude ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Barents Sea ◽

Ice Sheet ◽

Winter Precipitation ◽

Local Regression ◽

The North ◽

Last Glaciation

Calculations based on temperature-corrected oxygen-isotope ratios from deep-sea cores yield a glacioeustatic sea-level fall in excess of 50 m during the first 10,000 yr of the last glaciation, and generally support the local regression of about 70 m inferred from tectonically rising New Guinea beaches. We propose that this rapid glacial buildup depended on high-latitude cooling, and large increases of high-latitude regional winter precipitation in the Laurentide and the Fennoscandian-Barents Sea areas, and that these factors were caused by a critical alteration of North Atlantic Drift currents and their associated subpolar atmospheric circulation. In support of this, faunal data from northeast North Atlantic deep-sea cores show that the glacial buildup was accompanied by a sudden loss of most of the North Atlantic Drift from the Greenland-Norwegian Sea, a factor favoring reduced heat input into the higher latitudes. Subpolar mollusk and foraminifera fauna from elevated marine deposits on the Baffin Island coast, and northwest North Atlantic core data suggest a continuation or an associated restoration of subpolar water west of Greenland as far north as Baffin Bay, a factor favoring precipitation in the northeast Canadian region. Heat transport and atmospheric circulation considerations suggest that the loss of the northeast North Atlantic Drift was itself a major instrument of high-latitude climate change, and probably marked the initiation of major new ice-sheet growth.

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Stream-gaging stations and publications relating to water sources, 1885-1913 ; Part I: North Atlantic coast drainage basins

10.3133/wsp340a ◽

1916 ◽

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

Atlantic Coast ◽

Water Sources ◽

Drainage Basins

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Trends in cyclones in the high‐latitude North Atlantic during 1979–2016

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society ◽

10.1002/qj.3707 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 146 (727) ◽

pp. 762-779 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

S. Wickström ◽

M. O. Jonassen ◽

T. Vihma ◽

P. Uotila

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

High Latitude

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A review of cephalopods (Phylum: Mollusca) of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (Central-East Atlantic, African coast)

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom ◽

10.1017/s0025315420001356 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-25

Author(s):

Amanda Luna ◽

Francisco Rocha ◽

Catalina Perales-Raya

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

Atlantic Coast ◽

Marine Ecosystem ◽

Western Sahara ◽

Guinea Bissau ◽

Distribution Ranges ◽

Large Marine Ecosystem ◽

Sepiola Atlantica ◽

First Time ◽

Subsequent Identification

Abstract An extensive review of cephalopod fauna in the Central and North Atlantic coast of Africa was performed based on material collected during 10 research cruises in these waters. In the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) area, a total of 378,377 cephalopod specimens was collected from 1247 bottom trawl stations. Of those specimens, 300 were sampled for subsequent identification in the laboratory and found to belong to 65 different species and 23 families. After an exhaustive review of the existing literature on the cephalopods and new data obtained from the surveys, an updated checklist of 138 species was generated for the CCLME area. Our knowledge of the known geographic distribution ranges of several species has been expanded: Muusoctopus januarii has been sighted from Guinea–Bissau waters, passing through Western Sahara, to Morocco waters for the first time; Lepidoteuthis grimaldii and Octopus salutii have been sighted off Morocco waters for the first time; Austrorossia mastigophora, Abralia (Heterabralia) siedleckyi, Abralia (Pygmabralia) redfieldi and Sepiola atlantica have been cited off Western Sahara waters for the first time; Magnoteuthis magna, Abralia (Asteroteuthis) veranyi and Octopoteuthis megaptera have been sighted off Moroccan and Western Sahara waters for the first time; Ancistroteuthis lichtensteinii, Opisthoteuthis grimaldii, Onykia robsoni, Muusoctopus levis and Bathypolypus valdiviae have been cited in the Guinea–Bissau coast for the first time; the northern geographic limit of Bathypolypus ergasticus has been expanded to Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania and southward to Guinea–Bissau waters. The presence of Muusoctopus johnsonianus in Senegalese waters has been reported for the first time. A Chtenopteryx sicula specimen was reported in Western Sahara waters. A specimen belonging to the poorly known Cirrothauma murrayi species was found in South Moroccan waters. Amphitretus pelagicus, a probably cosmopolitan species, has been reported in the Western Sahara and Guinea–Bissau waters. Some species that were previously recorded in the area, Sepia angulata, Sepia hieronis, Heteroteuthis dagamensis, Helicocranchia joubini and Tremoctopus gelatus, were removed from the final checklist and considered to be not present in the CCLME area. Cycloteuthis akimushkini was substituted with Cycloteuthis sirventi, its senior synonym, in the final checklist. Similarly, Mastigoteuthis flammea and Mastigoteuthis grimaldii were substituted with Mastigoteuthis agassizii.

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Enhanced iceberg discharge in the western North Atlantic during all Heinrich events of the last glaciation

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ◽

10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116910 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 564 ◽

pp. 116910

Author(s):

Yuxin Zhou ◽

Jerry F. McManus ◽

Allison W. Jacobel ◽

Kassandra M. Costa ◽

Shouyi Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

Heinrich Events ◽

Last Glaciation

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Develop Beach Plum as a New Multipurpose Crop for Coastal Beach in China

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.524-527.2118 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 524-527 ◽

pp. 2118-2121

Author(s):

Xiao Min Wang ◽

Wen Long Wu ◽

Wei Lin Li ◽

Chun Hong Zhang ◽

Shu Ying Hu

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Stress Tolerance ◽

North Atlantic ◽

Atlantic Coast ◽

Sandy Soils ◽

Old Field ◽

The Future ◽

Coastal Beach ◽

Beach Plum ◽

Saline Land

The beach plum, Prunus maritima Marsh is native to the sandy North Atlantic coast, from Newfoundland to North Carolina. It can grow well without irrigation, even on low-nutrient sandy soils, saline land, old-field and coastal beach where many other plants cannot survive. It is fine rootstock to improve stress tolerance of cion. The fruits of beach plum can be made into delicious jams, jellies and wine. This paper is aimed to introduce beach plum to people, and hope it can become an important multipurpose crop in Chinese coastal beach in the future.

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Distributions of Arctic and Northwest Atlantic killer whales inferred from oxygen isotopes

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-86272-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Cory J. D. Matthews ◽

Fred J. Longstaffe ◽

Jack W. Lawson ◽

Steven H. Ferguson

Keyword(s):

Oxygen Isotopes ◽

North Atlantic ◽

High Latitude ◽

Newfoundland And Labrador ◽

Killer Whales ◽

Low Latitude ◽

Northwest Atlantic ◽

Oxygen And Carbon Isotope ◽

Stable Oxygen ◽

Morphological Differences

AbstractKiller whales (Orcinus orca) are distributed widely in all oceans, although they are most common in coastal waters of temperate and high-latitude regions. The species’ distribution has not been fully described in the northwest Atlantic (NWA), where killer whales move into seasonally ice-free waters of the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and occur year-round off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador farther south. We measured stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in dentine phosphate (δ18OP) and structural carbonate (δ18OSC, δ13CSC) of whole teeth and annual growth layers from killer whales that stranded in the ECA (n = 11) and NWA (n = 7). Source δ18O of marine water (δ18Omarine) at location of origin was estimated from dentine δ18OPvalues, and then compared with predicted isoscape values to assign individual distributions. Dentine δ18OPvalues were also assessed against those of other known-origin North Atlantic odontocetes for spatial reference. Most ECA and NWA killer whales had mean δ18OPand estimated δ18Omarinevalues consistent with18O-depleted, high-latitude waters north of the Gulf Stream, above which a marked decrease in baseline δ18O values occurs. Several individuals, however, had relatively high values that reflected origins in18O-enriched, low-latitude waters below this boundary. Within-tooth δ18OSCranges on the order of 1–2‰ indicated interannual variation in distribution. Different distributions inferred from oxygen isotopes suggest there is not a single killer whale population distributed across the northwest Atlantic, and corroborate dietary and morphological differences of purported ecotypes in the region.

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