Polynesian Wayfinding Is Written in the Genomes of Island Populations - UC San Diego Today

image: Population structure of Sarcoptes scabiei inferred from genome-wide nuclear single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. (A) ADMIXTURE analysis showing estimated ancestry proportions for 83 quality-filtered sample-level datasets from diverse host species, assigned to seven ancestry clusters (K1–K7). (B) Principal component analysis (PCA) of genome-wide SNP data. Each point represents one sample-level dataset and is coloured according to its ADMIXTURE cluster assignment. (C) Phylogenetic relationships inferred from high-quality, linkage-pruned nuclear SNPs. Each bar in panel A represents one dataset derived from an individual mite or a pool of mites. Colours indicate estimated ancestry proportions, not transmission routes. Credit: Fang Fang, Pasi K. Korhonen, Siyi Huang, Barbara Moroni, Luca Rossi, Anna R. Molinar Min, Zhijun Hou, Vito Colella, Qingyou Liu, Jacques Guillot, Robin B. Gasser.

Melbourne, Today, our planet is teeming with life, but it has not always looked the same. Long before forests reached skyward, animals walked on land, and the rise and fall of dinosaurs, our planet was shaped by a much smaller, more unassuming form of life. And we can still find traces of it today. Earth’s oldest evidence of life is written in stone – but it’s at risk of disappearingThese ancient fossils, the earliest visible evidence of life on Earth, are known as microbialites. Western Australia contains an extraordinary record of microbialites: from the oldest known examples, preserved in rocks almost 3.5 billion years old in the Pilbara, to living examples in the UNESCO World Heritage area of Shark Bay. Our review of 50 years of microbialite research in Western Australia, published today in the journal Alcheringa, summarises what this archive can tell us about the evolution and resilience of life on Earth. Despite a fossil record that spans billions of years, microbialites are surprisingly fragile. Fossil sites remain vulnerable to over-collection and degradation, while living microbialites are facing growing pressures.

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Today, our planet is teeming with life, but it has not always looked the same. Long before forests reached skyward, animals walked on land, and the rise and fall of dinosaurs, our planet was shaped by a much smaller, more unassuming form of life. And we can still find traces of it today. These ancient fossils, the earliest visible evidence of life on Earth, are known as microbialites.

The written word has been revolutionary in preserving ideas from the past, and transmitting new ones in the present. But does it favor tradition or change?