A Late Holocene Population Bottleneck in California Tule Elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes): Provisional Support from Ancient DNA |
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Authors: | Jack M Broughton R Kelly Beck Joan B Coltrain Dennis H O’ Rourke Alan R Rogers |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 270 S 1400 E RM 102, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0060, USA 2. SWCA Environmental Consultants, 257 East 200 South, Suite 200, Salt Lake City, UT, 84111, USA
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Abstract: | Zooarchaeological analyses have suggested a possible case of late Holocene resource depression in California tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). We develop and conduct a preliminary independent test of this here based on trends in genetic diversity derived from ancient DNA extracted from archaeological elk bone. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data from 24 tule elk temporally dispersed across the late Holocene deposits of the Emeryville Shellmound, California, provide provisional support for a decline in genetic diversity and a population bottleneck beginning about 1600 B.P. Final confirmation of this pattern must await complete replication of the sequences. Stable isotope analyses of the elk bone provide a record of change in the terrestrial environment across the period of deposition and no suggestion that climate change may have played a role in an elk population decline. The analysis has implications for our understanding of change in human behavior and biology during late Holocene of central California, the methodology of resource depression analyses, and the conservation biology of tule elk. |
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