Reconstruction of Past Ecosystems by Barcoding DNA Preserved in Permafrost, 2014

Recent advances in ultra-high-throughput DNA sequencing technology and in species identification (barcoding) tools based on ancient DNA preserved in permafrost soils are opening up a novel research avenue for paleoecological reconstruction. In this project, we developed new DNA barcoding markers for several groups of organisms (bryophytes, fungi, insects, springtails, vertebrates) that are short enough to amplify from degraded DNA. These markers were sequenced in modern DNA to construct taxonomic reference databases for ecologically important arctic species, and thereafter used for species identification by pyrosequencing environmental DNA from dated permafrost cores (available through our EU-project ECOCHANGE). The new data obtained for these organisms, along with complementary data for vascular plants, was merged with vascular plant data available from ECOCHANGE and used for reconstructions of past ecosystems. The overall resolution level possible to obtain by this novel approach is not yet known, but the preliminary results from ECOCHANGE suggest that the reconstructions will be considerably improved compared to traditional fossil analyses. The results can therefore have immediate bearing on various central ecological issues, such as past species turnover dynamics in assemblages, niche stability in time and space, and backward testing of predictive species distribution models. The project team consisted of two postdocs funded by the Research Council and one PhD student funded by the Natural History Museum in Oslo, in addition to national and international leading experts on ancient DNA, DNA barcoding, bioinformatics, and various taxonomic groups. The group will be closely linked to the international ECOCHANGE team to ensure immediate access to new developments in pyrosequencing and bioinformatics tools.