DOI: 10.5061/dryad.09p3k
title: Data from: A comparative study of ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen and macrofossils from permafrost sediments of northern Siberia reveals long-term vegetational stability

description: Although ancient DNA from sediments (sedaDNA) has been used to investigate
 past ecosystems, the approach has never been directly compared to the
 traditional methods of pollen and macrofossil analysis. We conducted a
 comparative survey of 18 ancient permafrost samples spanning the Late
 Pleistocene (46–12.5 thousand years ago), from the Taymyr Peninsula in
 northern Siberia. The results show that pollen, macrofossils and sedaDNA
 are complementary rather than overlapping, and in combination reveal more
 detailed information on plant palaeocommunities than can be achieved by
 each individual approach. SedaDNA and macrofossils share greater overlap
 in plant identifications than with pollen, suggesting that sedaDNA is
 local in origin. These two proxies also permit identification to lower
 taxonomic levels than pollen, enabling investigation of temporal changes
 in species composition and the determination of indicator species to
 describe environmental changes. Combining data from all three proxies,
 reveals an area continually dominated by a mosaic vegetation of
 tundra-steppe, pioneer and wet-indicator plants. Such vegetational
 stability is unexpected, given the severe climate changes taking place in
 the northern hemisphere during this time, with changes in average annual
 temperatures of &gt; 22ºC. This may explain the abundance of ice-age
 mammals such as horse and bison in Taymyr Peninsula during the
 Pleistocene, and why it acted as a refugium for the last mainland woolly
 mammoth. Our finding reveals the benefits of combining sedaDNA, pollen and
 macrofossil for palaeovegetational reconstruction and add to the
 increasing evidence suggesting large areas of the northern hemisphere
 remained ecologically stable during the Late Pleistocene.
description: BAP_1DNA sequences from
 permafrost sediments: site Baskura Peninsula (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced
 on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platformBAP_12BAP_14DNA sequences from: site
 Baskura Peninsula (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA
 sequencing platform.BAP_15BAP_18BAP_21DNA sequences from: site
 Baskura Peninsula (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA
 sequencing platform.CS_10.0DNA sequences from: site Cape Sabler (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.CS_10.3DNA sequences from: site Cape Sabler (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.CS_10.9DNA sequences from: site Cape Sabler (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.FI_3DNA sequences from: site Federov Islands (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.FI_5DNA sequences from: site Federov Islands (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.ORV_2.1DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Ovrazhny Peninsula (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.ORV_2.3DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Ovrazhny Peninsula (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.ORV_2.8DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Ovrazhny Peninsula (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.UTRD_4.2DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Upper Taymyr River delta (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.UTRD_4.4DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Upper Taymyr River delta (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.UTRD_4.6DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Upper Taymyr River delta (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.UTRD_4.11DNA sequences from permafrost sediments: site Upper Taymyr River delta (Taymyr Peninsula). Sequenced on the Roche GS FLX DNA sequencing platform.Blank_Control