Shotgun sequencing Lateglacial-early Holocene lake sediment from Sweden to assess ancient plant diversity. Ancient plant DNA from sediment

The Lateglacial and early Holocene sediments derived from the ancient lake at Hässeldala Port in south-east Sweden provide detailed reconstructions of local and regional environmental conditions between 14.5 and 9.5 ka BP (thousand years before present) and show that rapidly shifting climate conditions had a distinct impact on floral and faunal communities. This multi-proxy data set, combined with a high-resolution chronology provides an excellent template for testing shotgun DNA sequencing techniques to investigate plant biodiversity changes in and around the ancient lake. Here we present the full metagenome data set preserved in the Hässeldala Port sedimentary record with a special focus on plant diversity. We compare this data series to pollen and plant macrofossil data analysed in the same sediment samples and correlate plant community changes to the distinct climatic shifts that occurred between 14 and 9.5 ka BP.