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The study published in the journal Science is a multi-national collaboration between scientists at universities and research institutes located in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Persistent genetic signatures of historic climatic events in an octopus

This research builds on a previous genetic study by members of the team () to develop a novel and more powerful ‘population genomics’ approach that was able to test different scenarios of connectivity among populations of octopuses from the Antarctic shelf.

- The persistent genetic similarities between modern populations of Turquet’s octopus from the Weddell Sea and the Amundsen- and Ross Seas is only possible with the loss of the WAIS that opened a seaway to connect these otherwise distant areas, explains professor Phillip Watts from the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.

Global sea level changes

These data address a long-standing debate about whether the WAIS collapsed during the Last Interglacial.

- The study has relevance for predicting impacts of climate change as the Last Interglacial experienced global average surface temperatures that were some 1.5^oC warmer than pre-industrial levels and with the global sea level about 5–10 meters higher than present, says Watts. As the WAIS is presently Antarctica’s biggest contributor to global sea level rise, a complete collapse of the WAIS could raise global sea levels by approximately 3-5 meters, he continues.

The research was partly funded by the Academy of Finland.

Article information:

• Please visit  for a non-technical summary of the research.
• Lau SCY, Wilson NG, Golledge NR, Naish TR, Watts PC, Silva CNSS, Cooke IR, Allcock AL, Mark FC, Linse K, Strugnell JM (2023) Genomic evidence for West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse during the Last Interglacial. Science.