Page Sec1:25 - Labyrint 2013 - English Edition

More resilient to climate change:
Spruce and pine survived
the last ice age in Norway
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 25
Text: Stefan Amlie
for the improvement of Norwegian
spruce,” she explains.
Sediment samples from a pond
The findings are based on a three-part
study in which researchers analyzed
DNA from the existing spruce and fossil
DNA in combination with more tradi-
tional studies of pollen and macrofossils
from plants in sediment samples from
a pond in Trøndelag and in Andøya in
Nordland.
“The results show that much of the
spruce in the north and west in Scandi-
navia has a unique genetic variant which
means it must have wintered north
of the ice sheet that covered northern
­Europe,” says Elverland.
“Furthermore, analysis of free fossil
DNA in lake sediments showed traces of
pine and fir in Andøya from 22 000 and
17 700 years ago,” explains Elverland.
The prevailing view has been that pine
migrated from the east about 9000 years
ago, while spruce arrived about 2500-
3000 years ago.
“Our findings therefore show that the
trees were able to survive for thousands
of years in a very harsh climate, and that
they produced seed, spread and actually
contributed to the genetic structure of
spruce. This is a fascinating example of
adaptation to climate change,” says the
doctoral candidate.
Girl Power
Elverland’s participation in this startling
research began with her work with plant
remains found in bottom sediments
from a lake in Andøya. Professor Inger
Greve Alsos at the Tromsø Museum
then put Elverland in contact with
Professor Eske Willerslev and his PhD
candidate Tina Jørgensen, who work
with fossil DNA in Copenhagen.
“This contact with Willerslev enabled
the cooperative effort to expand to
include a Swedish-Norwegian research
group of scientists, with Laura Parducci
and Mari Mette Tollefsrud in the lead.
They were also working with the same
problem,” Elverland said.
“We decided that instead of competing,
we should join forces and create a strong
article that could be published in Sci-
ence. Think of it as Girl Power instead of
a cat fight,” she adds, laughing.
The research group, which has worked
on the project since January 2010, has
paid off. The group’s results were pub-
lished in the 2 March print edition of the
prestigious journal Science, a publica-
tion of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
“The research group was also recently
awarded NOK six million from a re-
search initiative to expand genetic stud-
ies of past vegetation,” says Elverland.
facts:
An international research collaboration
consisting of 24 scientists from 16 in-
stitutions resulted in the article "Glacial
Survival of Boreal Trees in Northern
Scandinavia."
The research results were published in
the world-renowned scientific journal
Science on 2 March 2012.
The study is headed by Eske Willerslev
of the University of Copenhagen, Inger
Greve Alsos at the Tromsø Museum
and Laura Parducci at the University of
Uppsala.
Ellen Elverland is a PhD candidate at
the University of Tromsø and one of
four equal first authors of the arti-
cle. Torbjørn Alm from the Tromsø
Museum, who is Elverland’s supervisor,
was also an article co-author.
The Tromsø Museum and project
leader Alsos also recently received NOK
six million from a research initiative to
continue the research.