7 Dec 2022
The breakthrough in ancient DNA analysis pushes back the DNA record by 1m years to a time when the Arctic region was 11-19C warmer than the present day. The analysis reveals that the northern peninsula of Greenland, now a polar desert, once featured boreal forests of poplar and birch trees teeming with wildlife...
The authors say it is encouraging that these species were able to thrive so far north in a region that would still have been cast into darkness for much of the winter, despite warmer temperatures...
The ancient DNA samples were found buried deep in the Kap København Formation, a sediment deposit almost 100 metres thick that built up over 20,000 years. The sediment, tucked in the mouth of a fjord in the Arctic Ocean in Greenland’s northernmost point, was eventually preserved in ice or permafrost and lay undisturbed by humans for 2m years...
However, the speed of global heating today means that many species will not have enough time to adapt, meaning that the climate emergency remains a huge threat...
“It is possible that genetic engineering could mimic the strategy developed by plants and trees 2m years ago to survive in a climate characterised by rising temperatures and prevent the extinction of some species, plants and trees,” said Prof Kurt Kjærr, of Copenhagen University and a co-author. “This is one of the reasons this scientific advance is so significant because it could reveal how to attempt to counteract the devastating impact of global warming.”
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Originally Posted by ziero0
