Marine ecosystem shifts with deglacial sea-ice loss inferred from ancient DNA shotgun sequencing

Heike H. Zimmermann, Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Viktor Dinkel, Lars Harms, Luise Schulte, Marc-Thorsten Hütt, Dirk Nürnberg, Ralf Tiedemann and Ulrike Herzschuh ()
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Heike H. Zimmermann: Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems
Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring: Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems
Viktor Dinkel: Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems
Lars Harms: Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Data Science Support
Luise Schulte: Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems
Marc-Thorsten Hütt: Constructor University Bremen, Computational Systems Biology
Dirk Nürnberg: Ocean circulation and climate dynamics
Ralf Tiedemann: Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Marine Geology
Ulrike Herzschuh: Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Sea ice is a key factor for the functioning and services provided by polar marine ecosystems. However, ecosystem responses to sea-ice loss are largely unknown because time-series data are lacking. Here, we use shotgun metagenomics of marine sedimentary ancient DNA off Kamchatka (Western Bering Sea) covering the last ~20,000 years. We traced shifts from a sea ice-adapted late-glacial ecosystem, characterized by diatoms, copepods, and codfish to an ice-free Holocene characterized by cyanobacteria, salmon, and herring. By providing information about marine ecosystem dynamics across a broad taxonomic spectrum, our data show that ancient DNA will be an important new tool in identifying long-term ecosystem responses to climate transitions for improvements of ocean and cryosphere risk assessments. We conclude that continuing sea-ice decline on the northern Bering Sea shelf might impact on carbon export and disrupt benthic food supply and could allow for a northward expansion of salmon and Pacific herring.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36845-x

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