Reconstruction of Genetic Diversity prior to Recolonization of Nearly Extinct Alpine Ibex (Capra ibex) using Ancient DNA

Summary

Human activity has driven several mammal species close to extinction. The Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) suffered a severe bottleneck during the 19th century, when overhunting and habitat loss resulted in less than a hundred individuals surviving in the Italian Alps. Since then, the Alpine ibex has been successfully reintroduced across the Alpine ridge. Genetic analyses reveal a low genetic diversity in all extant populations, a common phenomenon in species that have gone through a recent bottleneck. Historical and zooarchaeological records of the Alpine ibex from the period of the population collapse are sparse. We are therefore using museum and archaeological specimens that pre-date the human induced bottleneck to address the historical archaeological question of whether the current low diversity was caused by recent human influence or by prior events (e.g., population reductions during the glacial maxima). We are reconstructing complete mitochondrial genomes from skeletal remains of twelve Alpine ibex individuals: six 150 to 300-year-old museum specimens, five individuals found in a cave system in central Switzerland and radiocarbon dated to between 3000 and 8000 years BP, and one sample, likely a hunting trophy, from a Roman settlement in eastern Switzerland dated to around 2000 years BP.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15110