Scientists have dug up fragments of DNA dating back one million years ago.
These fragments of organic material, technically referred to as sedaDNA (sedimentary ancient DNA), were found beneath the floor of the Scotia Sea, north of the Antarctic.
Dr Linda Armbrecht, marine ecologist from the University of Tasmania in Australia, lead author on the project, said 'This comprises by far the oldest authenticated marine sedaDNA to date.'
The sedaDNA are likely to prove useful in the ongoing efforts to understand how climate change could affect Antarctica in the future. Furthermore, sedaDNA can be invaluable in charting the history of the region by mapping out what has lived in the ocean and across what kind of time spans.
'Antarctica is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change on Earth, and studying the past and present responses of this polar marine ecosystem to environmental change is a matter of urgency,' the researchers wrote in their paper published in Nature Communications.
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