New insights on lake sediment DNA from the catchment: importance of taphonomic and analytical issues on the record quality

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. The published version of this Preprint is available: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50339-1. This is version 5 of this Preprint.

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Authors

Charline Giguet-Covex , Francesco Gentile Ficetola, Kevin James Walsh, Jérôme Poulenard, Manon Bajard, Laurent Fouinat, Pierre Sabatier, Ludovic Gielly, Erwan Messager, Anne-Lise Develle

Abstract

Over the last decade, an increasing number of studies have used lake sediment DNA to trace past landscape changes, agricultural activities or human presence. However, the processes responsible for lake sediment formation might affect DNA archiving via taphonomic and analytical processes. It is crucial to understand these processes to ensure reliable interpretations for “palaeo” studies. Here, we combined plant and mammal DNA metabarcoding analyses with sedimentological and geochemical analyses from three lake-catchment systems that are characterised by different erosion dynamics. The new knowledge from this approach concern the DNA sources and transfer processes. The sources of eroded materials strongly affect the “catchment-DNA” concentration in the sediments. For instance, erosion of upper organic and organo-mineral soil horizons provides higher amount of plant DNA in lake sediments than deep horizons, bare soils or glacial flours. Moreover, high erosion rates along with a well-developed hydrographic network, are proposed as factors positively affecting the representation of the catchment flora. The development of open and agricultural landscapes, which favour the erosion, could thus bias the reconstructed landscape trajectory. Regarding domestic animals, pastoral practices and animal behaviour might affect their DNA record because they control the type of source of DNA (“point” vs. “diffuse”).

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/cnh3r

Subjects

Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geochemistry, Geology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Keywords

agriculture, Vegetation, DNA metabarcoding, extracellular DNA, lake sediment DNA, landscape archaeology, Taphonomy

Dates

Published: 2019-02-27 05:59

Last Updated: 2019-03-14 00:57

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License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International