This study analyzes the genetic stability and resilience of Baltic diatom populations over 8000 years, showing accelerated genetic change linked to historical human activity.

Global Change Biology · Sep 1, 2025Peer-reviewedGenomics

Dynamic connectivities of plant metacommunities at a millennial time-scale: the Beringia testbed

Ulrike Herzschuh, Kathleen R. Stoof‐Leichsenring, Luca Zsofia Farkas, Ying Liu, Sisi Liu, Thomas Böhmer, Izabella A. Baisheva, Boris K. Biskaborn, Jérémy Courtin, Bernhard Diekmann, Laura S. Epp, Barbara von Hippel, Sichao Huang, Yongsong Huang, Weihan Jia, , Evgenii S. Zakharov

The paper examines millennial-scale changes in plant metacommunity connectivity in Beringia using sedimentary DNA from lake cores, revealing shifts driven by climate and landscape changes.

bioRxiv · Aug 19, 2025 · PreprintEcology

Microbial sedimentary DNA from a cultural landscape disentangles the impacts of humans and nature over the past 13.5 thousand years

Yi Wang, David Schleheck, Elena Marinova, Martin Wessels, Sebastian Schaller, Flavio S. Anselmetti, Antje Schwalb, Mikkel Winther Pedersen, Laura S. Epp

This study uses sedimentary DNA from Lake Constance to analyze microbial changes over 13.5 thousand years, showing how both natural and human factors shaped microbial communities.

bioRxiv · Mar 14, 2025 · PreprintEcology

Mitochondrial genomes of Pleistocene megafauna retrieved from recent sediment layers of two Siberian lakes

Peter Andreas Seeber, Laura Batke, Yury A. Dvornikov, Alexandra Schmidt, Yi Wang, Kathleen R. Stoof‐Leichsenring, Katie Moon, Samuel H. Vohr, Beth Shapiro, Laura S. Epp

The paper retrieves mitochondrial genomes of extinct Pleistocene megafauna from recent sediment layers in Siberian lakes, showing that permafrost thawing affects aeDNA preservation and stratigraphic signal.

eLife · Sep 1, 2023Peer-reviewedMolecular Biology