PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shapiro, Beth
AU  - Drummond, Alexei J.
AU  - Rambaut, Andrew
AU  - Wilson, Michael C.
AU  - Matheus, Paul E.
AU  - Sher, Andrei V.
AU  - Pybus, Oliver G.
AU  - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
AU  - Barnes, Ian
AU  - Binladen, Jonas
AU  - Willerslev, Eske
AU  - Hansen, Anders J.
AU  - Baryshnikov, Gennady F.
AU  - Burns, James A.
AU  - Davydov, Sergei
AU  - Driver, Jonathan C.
AU  - Froese, Duane G.
AU  - Harington, C. Richard
AU  - Keddie, Grant
AU  - Kosintsev, Pavel
AU  - Kunz, Michael L.
AU  - Martin, Larry D.
AU  - Stephenson, Robert O.
AU  - Storer, John
AU  - Tedford, Richard
AU  - Zimov, Sergei
AU  - Cooper, Alan
TI  - Rise and Fall of the Beringian Steppe Bison
AID  - 10.1126/science.1101074
DP  - 2004 Nov 26
TA  - Science
PG  - 1561--1565
VI  - 306
IP  - 5701
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/306/5701/1561.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/306/5701/1561.full
SO  - Science2004 Nov 26; 306
AB  - The widespread extinctions of large mammals at the end of the Pleistocene epoch have often been attributed to the depredations of humans; here we present genetic evidence that questions this assumption. We used ancient DNA and Bayesian techniques to reconstruct a detailed genetic history of bison throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Our analyses depict a large diverse population living throughout Beringia until around 37,000 years before the present, when the population's genetic diversity began to decline dramatically. The timing of this decline correlates with environmental changes associated with the onset of the last glacial cycle, whereas archaeological evidence does not support the presence of large populations of humans in Eastern Beringia until more than 15,000 years later.