Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Holocene Migration and Population Dynamics of Eastern Arctic Muskox (Ovibos moschatus)  (Ancient Muskox Population Dynamics)

Outline
As late as 15,000 years ago the muskox still roamed the vast Mammoth Steppe from Britain and France across Eurasia and the Bering Land Bridge to Alaska and Yukon. For still unknown reasons, there has been a marked retreat of the Eurasian population towards the east during the Holocene. The time of the Sibirian extinction is still not known, but the youngest available date from NE Siberia is ca. 3000 BP (14C years). At the same time the North American population dispersed eastwards apparently occurring in East Canada around 6700 BP and in North Greenland around 4500 BP. Aim The main object of this proposal is to track the recurrent expansions, retreats, local extinctions, subsequent re-colonizations, and changes in effective population size within the Eastern Arctic muskox population throughout the postglacial period, and to correlate these pulsations with the climate history based on the isotopic record in the GRIP and NGRIP Greenland ice-cores. Additionally, the study seeks to describe possible changes in dietary strategies and to outline the phylogeography of the species. Increasingly, ancient genetic information is providing a unique means to test assumptions used in evolutionary and population genetics studies to reconstruct the past. Initial results have revealed surprisingly complex population histories, and indicate that modern phylogeographic studies are giving misleading impressions about even the recent evolutionary past (see e.g. Shapiro et al. 2004 Science 306, 1561). This holds especially true for species like the muskox going through recent bottlenecks erasing past genetic diversity. Material and methodsThe Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen holds a large collection of muskox remains, mostly skulls, from Greenland. By sampling a few gram of bone from each specimen it will be possible to perform a large-scale dating program using the AMS14C method and to detect changes in diet as it is manifested in stable isotope ratios (d13C, d15N) of the bone collagen. Additionally, the bone samples will be screened for ancient mitochondrial and potentially nuclear DNA sequences providing information of past population dynamics. The Zoological Museum collection will be supplemented with other collections and data held by other institutions and with new material collected in N and NE Greenland.Further implications and links to other disciplinesThis study is among the first attempts to directly measure the population scale impact of recent climate change. Hereby it will provide valuable information for future conservation planning of Arctic megafauna and at the same time add to our understanding of the history of the Inuit people in High North- and Northeast Greenland.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
By adding data on the long-term population dynamics this project will supplement and strongly enhance the results of the current monitoring of the muskox and improve our ability to predict the consequences of future climatic fluctuations. It will also add to our general understanding of the influence of climatic change on mammalian populations in the Arctic and consequently to our understanding of the history of the Inuit people.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
American Museum of Natural History, Division of Vertebrate Zoology – enables us to include the Asian and New World muskoxen across time.University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Ancient Biomolecules Centre – enables us to perform ancient dna studies.Greenland National Museum – enables us to include the history of the Inuit people and provides us with permission to collect new samples and use old samples stored at the Zoological Museum ( a formal collaboration agreement between the two museums exists).Please see 4.2 for names.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
North and North East Greenland

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 07/07-08/07      07/08-08/08      
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Existing field stations.Fixed wing aircraft.Helicopters.Easily shared with other projects.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
NO - Further details – 50 words maxPlease see: “General endorsement letter” on www.dpc.dk/Res&Log/IPY/Endorsement.pdf

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
YES

How will the project be organised and managed?
The project will be organized and managed from the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen. The institution has a very long experience in organizing scientific work in Greenland.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The project will offer at least one ph.d. study (in the field of ancient dna). The results will be presented first of all through the usual communication channels of the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen and the Greenland National Museum.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
After publication the data will be available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) hosted at the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen with the object of making the world’s primary data on biodiversity freely and universally available via the Internet.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Through national funding.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
A network of biologists, geologists and archaeologists already working in the relevant areas will be engaged in the collection of new samples. A few gram of bone will be sampled in situ which means that the fossils are left in place after sampling. As a spinoff any other bones of mammals we will come across (e.g. marine mammals dating former shore lines) will also be sampled.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Kim Aaris-Sørensen
Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen
Universitetsparken 15
Copenhagen
DK-2100
Denmark

Tel: +45 3532 1088
Mobile: no
Fax: +45 3532 1010
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation