Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Laura Batke
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Yury Dvornikov
Agroengineering Department/Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Ecosystems, Agrarian and Technological Institute, RUDN University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Laboratory of Carbon Monitoring in Terrestrial Ecosystems, Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russian Federation
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems, Potsdam, Germany
Katie Moon
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States
Samuel H Vohr
Embark Veterinary, Inc, Boston, United States
Beth Shapiro
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States
Ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA) from lake sediments has yielded remarkable insights for the reconstruction of past ecosystems, including suggestions of late survival of extinct species. However, translocation and lateral inflow of DNA in sediments can potentially distort the stratigraphic signal of the DNA. Using three different approaches on two short lake sediment cores of the Yamal peninsula, West Siberia, with ages spanning only the past hundreds of years, we detect DNA and identified mitochondrial genomes of multiple mammoth and woolly rhinoceros individuals—both species that have been extinct for thousands of years on the mainland. The occurrence of clearly identifiable aeDNA of extinct Pleistocene megafauna (e.g. >400 K reads in one core) throughout these two short subsurface cores, along with specificities of sedimentology and dating, confirm that processes acting on regional scales, such as extensive permafrost thawing, can influence the aeDNA record and should be accounted for in aeDNA paleoecology.
