Southwest Asia is climatically and topographically a highly diverse region in the xeric belt of the Old World. Its diversity of arid habitats and climatic conditions acted as an important area for ...the evolution and diversification of up to 20 (of 38 known) independent Eudicot C4 origins. Some of these lineages present unique evolutionary strategies like single-cell functioning C4 and C3-C4 switching mechanisms. The high diversity of C4 taxa in Southwest (SW) Asia is also related to the presence of seven phytogeographic zones including the Irano-Turanian region as a center of diversification of many Caryophyllales lineages and the Somali-Masai region (Southern Oman and Yemen) as a center of diversification for C4 Monocots. Nevertheless, the C4 flora of SW Asia has not received detailed attention. This paper presents a comprehensive review of all known C4 species in the area based on a literature survey, own floristic observations, as well as taxonomic, phylogenetic and herbarium data, and δ13C-isotope ratio analysis. The resulting checklist includes a total number of 923 (861 native, of which 141 endemic, and 62 introduced) C4 species, composed of 350 Eudicots and 509 Monocots, most of which are therophytic and hemicryptophytic xerophytes with pluriregional and Irano-Turanian distribution. Two hundred thirty-nine new δ13C-isotope ratios of C4 and C3 plants, as well as some taxonomic changes are presented. An analysis of the distribution of the three main C4 plant families (Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae, and Cyperaceae) in the region in relation to climatic variables indicates that the increase of C4 species follows more or less a latitudinal gradient similar to global patterns, while separate taxonomic groups seem to depend on specific factors as continentality (Chenopodiaceae), average annual temperature (Cyperaceae), and the presence of summer precipitation (Poaceae). An increase of C4 Eudicots in W-E direction even in similar longitudinal belts is explained by a combination of edaphic and climatic conditions. The provided data should encourage a deeper interest in the evolution of C4 lineages in SW Asia and their adaptation to ecological and climatical conditions and awaken interest in the importance of local C4 crops, the conservation of threatened C4 taxa, and awareness of human impacts on the rapid environmental changes in the region.
Genome-wide analysis of 67 ancient Near Eastern cattle,
remains reveals regional variation that has since been obscured by admixture in modern populations. Comparisons of genomes of early domestic ...cattle to their aurochs progenitors identify diverse origins with separate introgressions of wild stock. A later region-wide Bronze Age shift indicates rapid and widespread introgression of zebu,
from the Indus Valley. This process was likely stimulated at the onset of the current geological age, ~4.2 thousand years ago, by a widespread multicentury drought. In contrast to genome-wide admixture, mitochondrial DNA stasis supports that this introgression was male-driven, suggesting that selection of arid-adapted zebu bulls enhanced herd survival. This human-mediated migration of zebu-derived genetics has continued through millennia, altering tropical herding on each continent.
We sequenced Early Neolithic genomes from the Zagros region of Iran (eastern Fertile Crescent), where some of the earliest evidence for farming is found, and identify a previously uncharacterized ...population that is neither ancestral to the first European farmers nor has contributed substantially to the ancestry of modern Europeans. These people are estimated to have separated from Early Neolithic farmers in Anatolia some 46,000 to 77,000 years ago and show affinities to modern-day Pakistani and Afghan populations, but particularly to Iranian Zoroastrians. We conclude that multiple, genetically differentiated hunter-gatherer populations adopted farming in southwestern Asia, that components of pre-Neolithic population structure were preserved as farming spread into neighboring regions, and that the Zagros region was the cradle of eastward expansion.
Significance
Goats were among the first domestic animals and today are an important livestock species; archaeozoological evidence from the Zagros Mountains of western Iran indicates that goats were ...managed by the late ninth/early eighth millennium. We assess goat assemblages from Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein, two Aceramic Neolithic Zagros sites, using complementary archaeozoological and archaeogenomic approaches. Nuclear and mitochondrial genomes indicate that these goats were genetically diverse and ancestral to later domestic goats and already distinct from wild goats. Demographic profiles from bone remains, differential diversity patterns of uniparental markers, and presence of long runs of homozygosity reveal the practicing and consequences of management, thus expanding our understanding of the beginnings of animal husbandry.
The Aceramic Neolithic (∼9600 to 7000 cal BC) period in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran, provides some of the earliest archaeological evidence of goat (
Capra hircus
) management and husbandry by circa 8200 cal BC, with detectable morphological change appearing ∼1,000 y later. To examine the genomic imprint of initial management and its implications for the goat domestication process, we analyzed 14 novel nuclear genomes (mean coverage 1.13X) and 32 mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes (mean coverage 143X) from two such sites, Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein. These genomes show two distinct clusters: those with domestic affinity and a minority group with stronger wild affinity, indicating that managed goats were genetically distinct from wild goats at this early horizon. This genetic duality, the presence of long runs of homozygosity, shared ancestry with later Neolithic populations, a sex bias in archaeozoological remains, and demographic profiles from across all layers of Ganj Dareh support management of genetically domestic goat by circa 8200 cal BC, and represent the oldest to-this-date reported livestock genomes. In these sites a combination of high autosomal and mtDNA diversity, contrasting limited Y chromosomal lineage diversity, an absence of reported selection signatures for pigmentation, and the wild morphology of bone remains illustrates domestication as an extended process lacking a strong initial bottleneck, beginning with spatial control, demographic manipulation via biased male culling, captive breeding, and subsequently phenotypic and genomic selection.
Direkli Cave, located in the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, was occupied by Late Epipaleolithic hunters-gatherers for the seasonal hunting and processing of game including large numbers of wild ...goats. We report genomic data from new and published
Capra
specimens from Direkli Cave and, supplemented with historic genomes from multiple
Capra
species, find a novel lineage best represented by a ~14,000 year old 2.59 X genome sequenced from specimen Direkli4. This newly discovered
Capra
lineage is a sister clade to the Caucasian tur species (
Capra cylindricornis
and
Capra caucasica
), both now limited to the Caucasus region. We identify genomic regions introgressed in domestic goats with high affinity to Direkli4, and find that West Eurasian domestic goats in the past, but not those today, appear enriched for Direkli4-specific alleles at a genome-wide level. This forgotten ‘Taurasian tur’ likely survived Late Pleistocene climatic change in a Taurus Mountain refuge and its genomic fate is unknown.
The house mouse (Mus musculus) represents the extreme of globalization of invasive mammals. However, the timing and basis of its origin and early phases of dispersal remain poorly documented. To ...track its synanthropisation and subsequent invasive spread during the develoment of complex human societies, we analyzed 829 Mus specimens from 43 archaeological contexts in Southwestern Asia and Southeastern Europe, between 40,000 and 3,000 cal. BP, combining geometric morphometrics numerical taxonomy, ancient mitochondrial DNA and direct radiocarbon dating. We found that large late hunter-gatherer sedentary settlements in the Levant, c. 14,500 cal. BP, promoted the commensal behaviour of the house mouse, which probably led the commensal pathway to cat domestication. House mouse invasive spread was then fostered through the emergence of agriculture throughout the Near East 12,000 years ago. Stowaway transport of house mice to Cyprus can be inferred as early as 10,800 years ago. However, the house mouse invasion of Europe did not happen until the development of proto urbanism and exchange networks - 6,500 years ago in Eastern Europe and 4000 years ago in Southern Europe - which in turn may have driven the first human mediated dispersal of cats in Europe.
The emergence of farming during the Neolithic transition, including the domestication of livestock, was a critical point in the evolution of human kind. The goat (Capra hircus) was one of the first ...domesticated ungulates. In this study, we compared the genetic diversity of domestic goats to that of the modern representatives of their wild ancestor, the bezoar, by analyzing 473 samples collected over the whole distribution range of the latter species. This partly confirms and significantly clarifies the goat domestication scenario already proposed by archaeological evidence. All of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups found in current domestic goats have also been found in the bezoar. The geographic distribution of these haplogroups in the wild ancestor allowed the localization of the main domestication centers. We found no haplotype that could have been domesticated in the eastern half of the Iranian Plateau, nor further to the east. A signature of population expansion in bezoars of the C haplogroup suggests an early domestication center on the Central Iranian Plateau (Yazd and Kerman Provinces) and in the Southern Zagros (Fars Province), possibly corresponding to the management of wild flocks. However, the contribution of this center to the current domestic goat population is rather low (1.4%). We also found a second domestication center covering a large area in Eastern Anatolia, and possibly in Northern and Central Zagros. This last domestication center is the likely origin of almost all domestic goats today. This finding is consistent with archaeological data identifying Eastern Anatolia as an important domestication center.
The Oxus Civilisation (or Bactrio-Margian Archaeological Complex, BMAC) was the main archaeological culture of the Bronze Age in southern Central Asia. Paleogenetic analyses were previously conducted ...mainly on samples from the eastern part of BMAC. The population associated with BMAC descends from local Chalcolithic populations, with some outliers of steppe or South-Asian descent. Here, we present new genome-wide data for one individual from Ulug-depe (Turkmenistan), one of the main BMAC sites, located at the southwestern edge of the BMAC. We demonstrate that this individual genetically belongs to the BMAC cluster. Using this genome, we confirm that modern Indo-Iranian–speaking populations from Central Asia derive their ancestry from BMAC populations, with additional gene flow from the western and the Altai steppes in higher proportions among the Tajiks than the Yagnobi ethnic group.
Habitat suitability models are useful tools for a variety of wildlife management objectives. Distributions of wildlife species can be predicted for geographical areas that have not been extensively ...surveyed. The basis of these models' work is to minimize the relationship between species distribution and biotic and abiotic environments. For some species, there is information about presence and absence that allows the use of a variety of standard statistical methods. However, absence data is not available for most species. Nowadays, the methods that need presence-only data have been expanded. One of these methods is the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. The purpose of this study is to model the habitat of Urial (Ovis orientalis arkal) in the Samelghan plain in the North East of Iran with the MaxEnt method. This algorithm uses the Jackknife plot and percent contribution values to determine the significance of the variables. The results showed that variables such as southern aspects, Juniperus-Acer, Artemisia-Perennial plants, slope 0-5%, and asphalt road were the most important factors affecting the species’ habitat selection. The area under the curve (AUC) Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) showed excellent model performance. Suitable habitat was classified based on the threshold value (0.0513) and the ROC, which, based on the results, 28% of the area was a suitable habitat for Urial. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2021-02-04-05 Full Text: PDF
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