2015 Skerman Lecture - 'Using Ancient DNA to time travel through megafaunal extinctions, climate change and human microbiomes'
Event Details
- Date:
- Friday, 09 October 2015 - Friday, 09 October 2015
- Time:
- 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
- Room:
- Room 360, Physiology Building (#63), UQ St Lucia
- UQ Location:
- Physiology Lecture Theatres (St Lucia)
- URL:
- http://ems.gs/3iGO0fPVhA
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Mrs Eleanor Fischer
- Phone:
- 64129
- Email:
- science.events@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Executive Dean, Science
Event Description
- Full Description:
- This year's Skerman lecture is 'Using Ancient DNA to time travel through megafaunal extinctions, climate change and human microbiomes' and will be presented by Professor Alan Cooper from the University of Adelaide.
Recent studies of radiocarbon and ancient DNA datasets from megafauna and humans have allowed us to disentangle the roles of climate change and human impact in the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions. We find that Holarctic megafaunal populations underwent local or global extinctions in association with rapid warming events, known as interstadials, on a millennial scale. The extinction events took place both before and after the presence of AMH on the landscape, and populations appear to respond using metapopulation processes that may have evolved to provide resilience to rapid and frequent climate shifts in the past.
In the Americas, we find that the rapid movement of the first Native Americans throughout both continents was associated with differing impacts in the North and South. While megafaunal extinctions were associated with warming trends in both cases, the inverted climate patterns between the two continents meant that the sequence and timing of events was mirrored, providing a means to provide a high resolution.
Within humans, calcified dental plaque (calculus) provides a unique and powerful opportunity to examine ancient human oral microbiomes and investigate how these bacterial communities, and their associations to disease, have changed through time. We have used ancient DNA sequencing of ancient dental calculus to identify significant changes in the hominid oral microbiome associated with major cultural and dietary revolutions, such as the onset of farming (Neolithic Revolution) and the Industrial Revolution, identifying how large shifts have impacted modern disease prevalence and severity.
The modern human mouth appears to be in a chronic 'diseased state', not previously observed in human history. Ancient DNA studies from a variety of hominids, time periods, and geographic locations reveal how major dietary and cultural changes, such as the addition of carbohydrates or processed foods to our diets, have drastically altered our microbiomes and directly impacted our health.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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