Introducing FAMM: an open-access database of Fossil Arctic Marine Mammals

Motivation: The Arctic is currently experiencing the strongest effects of climate change on Earth. These effects, including sea ice loss, are already modifying ecologies of the 11 species of marine mammals found in the Arctic year-round. Data from contemporary individuals are often applied to understand how these species may respond to future climate change. The inclusion of fossil data can provide greater insight into species histories. Conservation approaches are increasingly enhanced by including ancient biomolecular data such as radiocarbon age, stable isotopes, and ancient DNA. However, analytical quality is challenged by data degradation over time, lack of cross-linkage between different ancient biomolecular data, and widely varying metadata standards across fields. Here, we compile and present an open-access database of Fossil Arctic Marine Mammals (FAMM) containing nearly 3400 specimens with harmonized primary and molecular biodiversity data, providing a crucial resource to Arct..., , # Introducing FAMM: an open-access database of Fossil Arctic Marine Mammals

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.2v6wwq01g](10.5061/dryad.2v6wwq01g)

## Description of the data and file structure

Database Key: `FAMM_Key_2025.07.05.xlsx`

Museum IDs used in FAMM: `FAMM_MuseumIDs.xlsx`

Uploading data to FAMM: Anyone wishing to upload new specimen data relating to fossil Arctic marine mammals (including radiocarbon, stable isotopes, and/or ancient DNA) should email the corresponding authors.

Database versions: `FAMM_Database_v1.1_2025.08.17.csv`

### CHANGELOG:

* vers. 1.1 - First publicly released version of the FAMM database. Updated citations for many Russian specimens. Removed radiocarbon dates/metadata for 31 narwhal specimens as they are unpublished (these data will be re-added once published).
* vers. 1.0 - First version of the FAMM database. 

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