Whole-genome resequencing reveals world-wide ancestry and adaptive introgression events of domesticated cattle in East AsiaNingbo Chen, Yudong Cai, Qiuming Chen et al.|Nature Communications|2018 Cattle domestication and the complex histories of East Asian cattle breeds warrant further investigation. Through analysing the genomes of 49 modern breeds and eight East Asian ancient samples, worldwide cattle are consistently classified into five continental groups based on Y-chromosome haplotypes and autosomal variants. We find that East Asian cattle populations are mainly composed of three distinct ancestries, including an earlier East Asian taurine ancestry that reached China at least ~3.9 kya, a later introduced Eurasian taurine ancestry, and a novel Chinese indicine ancestry that diverged from Indian indicine approximately 36.6-49.6 kya. We also report historic introgression events that helped domestic cattle from southern China and the Tibetan Plateau achieve rapid adaptation by acquiring ~2.93% and ~1.22% of their genomes from banteng and yak, respectively. Our findings provide new insights into the evolutionary history of cattle and the importance of introgression in adaptation of cattle to new environmental challenges in East Asia.
Cyclic rapid warming on centennial‐scale revealed by a 2650‐year stalagmite record of warm season temperatureMing Tan, Tungsheng Liu, Juzhi Hou et al.|Geophysical Research Letters|2003 A 2650‐year (BC665‐AD1985) warm season (MJJA: May, June, July, August) temperature reconstruction is derived from a correlation between thickness variations in annual layers of a stalagmite from Shihua Cave, Beijing, China and instrumental meteorological records. Observations of soil CO 2 and drip water suggest that the temperature signal is amplified by the soil‐organism‐CO 2 system and recorded by the annual layer series. Our reconstruction reveals that centennial‐scale rapid warming occurred repeatedly following multicentenial cooling trends during the last millennia. These results correlate with different records from the Northern Hemisphere, indicating that the periodic alternation between cool and warm periods on a sub‐millennial scale had a sub‐hemispherical influence.
Lake Evolution in the Tengger Desert, Northwestern China, during the Last 40,000 YearsAbstract Climatic changes inferred from lacustrine deposits and lake-level fluctuations in northwestern and central China are mainly based on paleoclimatic records from the Tibetan Plateau, while there is still a lack of data relating to the semiarid/arid desert regions of Inner Mongolia. In the Tengger Desert, different paleolake levels at Baijian Hu are documented by six paleoshorelines and stratified lake carbonates. The highest lake level occurred ca. 39,000 14 C yr B.P. and prevailed over about 16,000 km 2 . From sediment structure, geochemical composition, and ostracods we infer humid/cool conditions until 23,000 14 C yr B.P. In the northern Badanjilin Desert at Gaxan Nur/Sogu Nur, high lake levels can be deduced from mollusc-bearing paleobeaches and lake carbonates, which have been dated to 34,000 14 C yr B.P. and indicate a lake that covered some 32,000 km 2 . After ca. 20,000 yr B.P. the climate became dry with increased eolian activity and decreasing lake levels. Reestablishment of wet conditions occurred ca. 13,000 yr B.P. The Holocene is represented by stratified lake deposits that alternate with fluvial and eolian deposits, indicating a longterm oscillating trend toward arid conditions. The existence of widespread freshwater lakes during the late Pleistocene indicates a semihumid climate without an accompanying fall in temperature to arctic conditions.