Data for: Ancient sedimentary DNA shows more than 5000 years of continuous beaver occupancy in Grand Teton National Park

Beaver-based restoration is emerging as a cost-effective conservation and
climate adaptation strategy, but efforts are constrained by limited
knowledge of pre-colonial beaver distribution and their long-term
ecosystem impacts. Here, we apply sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA)
techniques to investigate the history of beaver occupancy at three lakes
in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, over the last ~10 ka, as well as
interactions with the local plant community. To investigate
change in the vascular plant community, extracts were PCR amplified using
barcode primers targeting the trnL P6 loop of the plant chloroplast genome
with five replicates per DNA extract. A barcode targeting the 16S region
of the mammalian mitochondrial genome (16SmammP007) was also amplified and
sequenced from a subset of samples to validate beaver presence results
from the species-species qPCR assay. trnL metabarcoding showed differing
plant communities in the two lower-elevation lakes as compared to the
higher elevation lakes, with mid-Holocene shifts in the plant community
coinciding with both local beaver establishment (as indicated by
species-specific qPCR results) and regional climatic changes trending
towards wetter conditions. 16S metabarcoding yielded sporadic detections
of a limited number of mammalian taxa, but confirmed beaver detection from
the species-species qPCR assay.