1-Million-Year-Old DNA Found, Deemed as Important Discovery Linked to Massive Ice Loss in Antarctica

Scientists have recently excavated fragments of DNA that dated back one million years ago. Discovered underneath the Scotia Sea floor, north of the Antarctic, these organic materials found can be invaluable when it comes to charging the history of the region, mapping out what has lived in the ocean and across the kind of time spans.

As indicated in a ScienceAlert report, as humans are a "species with ever-shrinking attention spans," it can be challenging to comprehend just how long life has been around on this planet.

Technically called the "sedaDNA" or sedimentary ancient DNA, the recovered samples are possible to prove helpful in the ongoing initiatives to understand how climate change could impact Antarctica in the future.

According to Linda Armbrecht, a marine ecologist from the University of Tasmania in Australia, this comprises "by far the oldest authenticated marine" sedaDNA to date.

SedaDNA

As described in the Nature Communications journal, sedaDNA exists in many environments, which include terrestrial caves and subarctic permafrost, which have produced sedaDNA dating back 400,000 back and 650,000 years, respectively.

Cold temperatures, low oxygen, as well as lack of ultraviolet radiation are making popular marine environments like the Scotia Sea excellent locations for sedaDNA to stay intact, just waiting for humans to discover it.

The recovered DNA was extracted in 2019 from the ocean floor and underwent a comprehensive contamination control process to guarantee that the age markers embedded in the material were precise.

Among the other discoveries, the team found diatoms, single-celled organisms, that dated back 540,000 years back. This all helps inform the overview of this part of the world has evolved over extended stretches of time.

Diatom Abundance Linked to Warmer Periods

The team, a similar HCT Life report specified, was able to associate diatom abundance with warmer periods, the last of which in the scotia Sea, was approximately 14,500 years back.

This resulted in an increase in overall marine life activity throughout the Antarctica region. According to Michael Webber, a geologist from the University of Bonn in Germany, this is interesting, not to mention, an essential change that is linked to a global and rapid increase in sea levels and massive loss of ice in Antarctica because of natural warming.

This latest research is evidence that such sedaDNA techniques can be helpful in rebuilding ecosystems throughout hundreds of thousands of years, providing an entirely new level of understanding of how the oceans have changed.

Researchers are constantly improving at eliminating these ancient DNA fragments from the ground and eliminating the "noise" and interference all the modern DNA has left that has existed since to get a genuine look at the past.

Environmental Changes a 'Matter of Urgency'

Understanding more about the past climate shifts, as well as the manner the ocean ecosystem responded, means more precise models and forecasts for what might happen after around the South Pole.

In their published paper, the researchers reported that Antarctica is one of the most susceptible regions to climate change on Earth, and examining the past and present responses of this polar marine ecosystem to environmental changes is considered "a matter of urgency."

Related information about antarctic ice loss is shown on PBS NewsHour's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Antarctica in Science Times.