Palaeogenomic inference of biodiversity dynamics across Quaternary timescales

Abstract

Biodiversity is essential for the resilience and stability of life, yet it is highly dynamic and has continuously evolved throughout Earth’s history. The biodiversity concept encompasses three hierarchical levels of equal importance to fundamental ecological processes: diversity at the ecosystem, species and genetic levels. The current biodiversity crisis calls for an urgent need to understand the causes and consequences of widespread diversity losses at all three levels. Breakthroughs in palaeogenomics have increased the ecological and temporal scales on which we can use genomic information to study past biodiversity, reaching as far back as the Early Pleistocene. In this Review, we explore the possibilities and limitations of using palaeogenomics for studying all aspects of biodiversity. We explore how incorporating palaeogenomics into biodiversity research can provide clues about ecosystem composition, trophic interactions, species distributions, adaptation, evolution and extinction through time, in response to natural processes and as a consequence of human impact. We report how palaeogenomics can be applied to address a wide range of topics across all three hierarchical levels of biodiversity, and we show how advances within the field are making palaeogenomics an invaluable tool for understanding past and present declines in biodiversity, and in helping to predict future losses.