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This edition of the Open Data Digest is guest edited by Todd Vision, Department of Biology and School for Information and Library Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In honor of 2024 being proclaimed the Year of Camelids, this month we highlight a selection of datasets from recent years that share a focus on the biology of camelids and their close association with humans.
The UN has named 2024 the Year of Camelids to raise awareness about the economic and cultural importance of these extraordinary animals, which today include the Bactrian camels (both domesticated and wild), dromedaries (domesticated only), guanacos (domesticated as llamas), and vicuñas (domesticated as alpacas). Domesticated camelids are critically important for producing food and fiber in marginal and degraded environments, and the main means of subsistence for millions.
Evolutionarily, camelids are the sister lineage of all other artiodactyls (whales, pigs, giraffes, etc) and have surprising origins. The first member of the group appeared in the fossil record 45 million years ago in the then-rainforests of southwest North America. They diversified into dozens of different genera during the Miocene (23.03-5.3 million years ago) reached Asia about 7 million years ago, South America about 3 million years ago, and survived in North America just long enough to have been hunted by early humans there.1
SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING
Guanaco distribution modeling in the last 2500 years in Northwest Patagonia
Moscardi (2023)
Moscardi reports a dataset combining information from archaeological, ethnohistorical and observational sources used by Rindel and colleagues for an analysis of the factors that have shaped the distribution of guanacos in NW Patagonia for the past 2500 years.2
RANGELAND MANAGEMENT
Remotely-sensed primary productivity shows that domestic and native herbivores combined are overgrazing Patagonia
Oliva et al. (2019)
Domestic and wild native herbivores combined are still overgrazing Patagonia rangelands: A response to Marino et al.
Oliva et al. (2020)
These two datasets from Oliva and colleagues contribute to a debate over the contribution of wild guanacos to overgrazing on Patagonian rangeland where historically intense sheep production has given way to a mixture of cattle, goats, and wild guanacos. In the first dataset, Oliva et al., (2019) used remote sensing data to compare net primary productivity with historic grazing pressure. Marino et al. (2020) countered that guanacos were being scapegoated for overgrazing that is primarily the result of domestic livestock.3 In the second dataset, Oliva et al. (2020) responded by reporting data on the guanaco population density and grazing pressures for a number of Patagonian sheep farms.
GENOMICS
Genome-wide diversity and global migration patterns in dromedaries follow ancient caravan routes
Lado et al. (2021)
Lado and colleagues report 22,721 SNP markers from a sample of 122 dromedary camels, the first published genetic data from this species sufficient to detect local population differentiation. Their analysis suggests that genetic structure reflects the influence of long-standing human overland trade routes such as the Silk and Incense Roads, as well as a Pleistocene population bottleneck and a recent population expansion corresponding to the spread of the Ottoman Empire.
EVOLUTION
Whole-genome sequencing of 128 camels across Asia reveals origin and migration of domestic Bactrian camels
Wang et al. (2020)
Wang and colleagues report whole-genome data that provides an improved estimate for the antiquity of the split between the domesticated and wild Bactrian populations. Their analysis also supports a Central Asian origin of Bactrian domestication.
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Cascading effects of a disease outbreak in a remote protected area
Monk et al. (2022)
Monk and colleagues report a variety of data collected during a catastrophic disease outbreak (of mange) in vicuña at a long-term study site in Argentina where baseline data already existed on the populations of vicuñas and the plants they eat, as well as the predators (pumas) and scavengers (condors) present. Analyses of these data reveal how the reduction of the vicuña population dramatically affected the larger ecological community.
DOMESTICATION
Genomic signatures of domestication in Old World camels
Fitak et al. (2020)
Fitak and colleagues report resequencing data from a geographically broad sample of dromedaries, domesticated Bactrians and wild Bactrians. They apply these data to study, among other things, the pattern of positive or relaxed selection on candidate domestication genes. This frequently downloaded dataset provides a variety of genomic resources that can be applied to breeding programs in support of conservation as well as livestock improvement.
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- Kooyman B. Hills L. V., Tolman S., McNeil P. (2012) Late Pleistocene western camel
(Camelops hesternus) hunting in southwestern Canada. Am Antiquity 77, 115-124. ↩︎ - Rindel, D. D., Moscardi, B. F., & Perez, S. I. (2021). The distribution of the guanaco (Lama
guanicoe) in Patagonia during Late Pleistocene–Holocene and its importance for
prehistoric human diet. The Holocene 31(4), 644-657.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683620981689 ↩︎ - Marino, A., Rodriguez, M., & Schroeder, N. (2020). Wild guanacos as scapegoat for
continued overgrazing by livestock across southern Patagonia. Journal of Applied
Ecology 57: 2393–2398. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13536 ↩︎