Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Evolution (Ecological extinction and evolution: answers from ancient biomolecules)
Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2022-09-30
The produced dataset constitutes the most complete cave bear genome dataset ever analysed, allowing us to gain an unprecedented understanding of cave bear evolutionary history. Given that brown bears are sister species of cave bears, the brown bear dataset helps to understand to what extent the brown bear tracts in the cave bear’s genome have been adaptive. Specific conclusions will be drawn up that might be used as a basis for other palaeogenomic and palaeoenvironmental studies and also for extant relatives of the cave bear. Investigating the evolutionary implications leading to population differentiation during the extreme climate fluctuations of the Pleistocene provide insights into a species’ responses to environmental pressures with implications for the conservation and management of mammals.
For brown bears: 21 brown bear genomes have been generated, to assess temporal change in diversity and loss across time and the genetic consequences of recent bottleneck in Scandinavian brown bear.
Part of the results have been disseminated via two peer reviewed manuscripts that reached a high visibility within academia and on social platforms or via the outreach activity organised by the European Commission “Science is Wonderful!”, that took place online between 22 and 26 November 2021. During talks held for 25 classes and one talk Meet the scientist with about 100 attendants the topic of the project has been covered and the audience has been familiarised with cave bears and brown bears and why it's important to understand their evolutionary history.