Re-Examining Southern California Lake Sediment Cores with Environmental DNA to Revolutionize How We Study the Past

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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONGEOGRAPHY SPATIAL SCIENCES (GSS) PROGRAMABSTRACT1759756Wayne, RobertUniversity of California-Los Angeles (No subs)This research project will investigate the human-environment relationship from the late Pleistocene era (approximately 120,000 BP) to the present in order to provide new understanding of the environmental dynamics prior to the arrival of humans in North America. The investigators will use environmental DNA (eDNA) to provide new insights for addressing long-standing questions of past human-environment relationships and biodiversity dynamics resulting from environmental change, fire, and human activities. The project will engage Native American communities in order to shape the procedures ancient eDNA studies take with regard to obtaining information about their ancestral activities. The investigators will build partnerships through this Native American network to initiate eDNA citizen science projects and virtual eDNA learning content. Through these activities, the investigators will offer educational and research opportunities to these underrepresented groups.Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a new methodology used for biodiversity monitoring. DNA shed by plants, animals, and other organisms is sequenced and evaluated, thereby allowing scientists to inventory the community at a location. Previous studies using eDNA on paleosoils and sediments have only been done in colder climates. This project will develop eDNA methods suitable for inventorying paleosediments in warmer climates by focusing on southern California, an area with a diverse history of environmental and landscape change over the timespan characterized by continuous human presence. The investigators will recover DNA shed by plants, animals, and microbes from well-dated, environmentally sensitive lake sediment cores, and they will use these data in combination with other paleoecological proxies. Using DNA techniques involving metabarcoding and hybridization, the investigators will inventory the flora and fauna of the past at low and high elevations levels and with different temperatures. Outcomes of this research will provide the scientific community and the public with the appropriate mechanisms to interpret ancient eDNA results.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.