A new method of obtaining ancient genomic data without damaging source material has been developed by University of Otago researchers, creating new opportunities for museum and archaeological collections worldwide.
"Deep splits between North and South Island populations reflect long-term isolation prior to the formation of Cook Strait, while South Island populations show genetic breaks geographically consistent with maximum ice coverage during the height of the last Ice Age," Mr Scarsbrook explains.
Supervisor and co-author of the study, Dr. Nic Rawlence of the Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory says that one of the upshots of this research is that knowledge of New Zealand's geckos at the time of human arrival is now a clean slate. "It turns out size doesn't matter after all, meaning what we know about New Zealand's geckos at the time of human arrival is now a paleontological clean slate."
"We first attempted to obtain mitochondrial genomes using a different method, and after months of time in the laboratory, we failed to produce usable data."
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