Ancient metagenomics from a sediment core from Lake Naleng, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

The shrinking glaciers and permafrost, along with intensified land use, pose threats to diverse mountain wildlife and impact nature conservation strategies. However, our comprehension of alpine ecological dynamics remains incomplete due to the absence of time series that adequately portray ecosystem complexity. Here, we present the metagenomics (shotgun sequencing) record archived in Lake Naleng sediment core spanning the late-glacial and Holocene (17700 to 0 calibrated years before present). Lake Naleng (31.10?N, 99.75?E, 4200 m above sea level) is located in a glacially-formed basin in the Hengduan Mountains, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. It is an alpine freshwater lake situated in the present-day alpine treeline ecotone. The lake catchment is used for seasonal grazing by yaks and sheep. These characteristics make it an ideal site to track the turnover of diverse communities and their associations with changes in glaciers, permafrost, and land use over time.