Climate impacts on trans-ocean dispersal and habitat in gray whales from the Pleistocene to 2100

Arctic animals face dramatic habitat alteration due to ongoing climate change. Understanding how such species have responded to past glacial cycles can help us forecast their response to today's changing climate. Gray whales are among those marine species likely to be strongly affected by Arctic climate change, but a thorough analysis of past climate impacts on this species has been complicated by lack of information about an extinct population in the Atlantic. While little is known about the history of Atlantic gray whales or their relationship to the extant Pacific population, the extirpation of the Atlantic population during historical times has been attributed to whaling. We used a combination of ancient and modern DNA, radiocarbon dating and predictive habitat modelling to better understand the distribution of gray whales during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Our results reveal that dispersal between the Pacific and Atlantic was climate dependent and occurred both during the Pleisto...受持续气候变化影响，北极动物正经历剧烈的栖息地变迁。解析此类物种对过往冰期循环的响应机制，有助于我们预判其应对当前气候变化的方式。灰鲸是极有可能受北极气候变化强烈影响的海洋物种之一，但由于缺乏大西洋灭绝灰鲸种群的相关资料，针对该物种过往受气候影响情况的全面分析一直受阻。尽管学界对大西洋灰鲸的演化历史及其与现存太平洋种群的亲缘关系所知甚少，但历史时期大西洋灰鲸种群的局部灭绝被归因于捕鲸活动。本研究结合古DNA（ancient DNA）、现代DNA、放射性碳定年法与预测性栖息地建模技术，以更深入地解析更新世（Pleistocene）至全新世（Holocene）期间灰鲸的分布格局。我们的研究结果显示，太平洋与大西洋间的种群扩散受气候条件调控，且这一过程既发生在更新世（Pleistocene）时期，亦……