Wood Jamie R, Zhou Chengran, Cole Theresa L, Coleman Morgan, Anderson Dean P, Lyver Phil O'B, Tan Shangjin, Xiang Xueyan, Long Xinrui, Luo Senyu, Lou Miao, Southon John R, Li Qiye, Zhang Guojie
Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, North Terrace Campus, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 5;16(1):1798. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56925-4.
We report 156 sediment metagenomes from Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies dating back 6000 years along the Ross Sea coast, Antarctica, and identify marine and terrestrial eukaryotes, including locally occurring bird and seal species. The data reveal spatiotemporal patterns of Adélie penguin diet, including spatial patterns in consumption of cnidarians, a historically overlooked component of Adélie penguin diets. Relative proportions of Adélie penguin mitochondrial lineages detected at each colony are comparable to those previously reported from bones. Elevated levels of Adélie penguin mitochondrial nucleotide diversity in upper stratigraphic samples of several active colonies are consistent with recent population growth. Moreover, the highest levels of Adélie penguin mitochondrial nucleotide diversity recovered from surface sediment layers are from the two largest colonies, indicating that sedaDNA could provide estimates for the former size of abandoned colonies. SedaDNA also reveals prior occupation of the Cape Hallett Adélie penguin colony site by southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), demonstrating how terrestrial sedaDNA can detect faunal turnover events in Antarctica driven by past climate or sea ice conditions. Low rates of cytosine deamination indicate exceptional sedaDNA preservation within the region, suggesting there is high potential for recovering much older sedaDNA records from local Pleistocene terrestrial sediments.
我们报告了来自南极罗斯海沿岸可追溯至6000年前的阿德利企鹅（Pygoscelis adeliae）栖息地的156个沉积物宏基因组，并识别出海洋和陆地真核生物，包括当地出现的鸟类和海豹物种。数据揭示了阿德利企鹅饮食的时空模式，包括刺胞动物消费的空间模式，而刺胞动物是阿德利企鹅饮食中一个历史上被忽视的组成部分。在每个栖息地检测到的阿德利企鹅线粒体谱系的相对比例与之前从骨骼中报告的比例相当。几个活跃栖息地的上部地层样本中阿德利企鹅线粒体核苷酸多样性水平升高与近期种群增长一致。此外，从表层沉积层中恢复的阿德利企鹅线粒体核苷酸多样性最高水平来自两个最大的栖息地，这表明沉积物DNA可以为废弃栖息地的先前规模提供估计。沉积物DNA还揭示了南极海狗（Mirounga leonina）曾占据哈雷特角阿德利企鹅栖息地，这表明陆地沉积物DNA可以检测到过去气候或海冰条件驱动的南极动物群更替事件。胞嘧啶脱氨率低表明该区域内沉积物DNA保存异常，这表明从当地更新世陆地沉积物中恢复更古老的沉积物DNA记录具有很高的潜力。
