title: Ancient and modern environmental DNA.
abstract: DNA obtained from environmental samples such as sediments, ice or water (environmental DNA, eDNA), represents an important source of information on past and present biodiversity. It has revealed an ancient forest in Greenland, extended by several thousand years the survival dates for mainland woolly mammoth in Alaska, and pushed back the dates for spruce survival in Scandinavian ice-free refugia during the last glaciation. More recently, eDNA was used to uncover the past 50 000 years of vegetation history in the Arctic, revealing massive vegetation turnover at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, with implications for the extinction of megafauna. Furthermore, eDNA can reflect the biodiversity of extant flora and fauna, both qualitatively and quantitatively, allowing detection of rare species. As such, trace studies of plant and vertebrate DNA in the environment have revolutionized our knowledge of biogeography. However, the approach remains marred by biases related to DNA behaviour in environmental settings, incomplete reference databases and false positive results due to contamination. We provide a review of the field.
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mikkel Winther
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Overballe-Petersen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ermini
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Clio Der
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Sarkissian
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haile
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Micaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hellstrom
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, SLU, Umeå S-901 83, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spens
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Philip Francis
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Thomsen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bohmann
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cappellini
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark Center for Zoo and Wild Animal Health, Copenhagen Zoo, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ida Bærholm
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Schnell
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Wales
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carøe
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Paula F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Astrid M Z
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: M Thomas P
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orlando
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, The Natural History Museum of Denmark, Oester Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen C 1350, Denmark ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Eske
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Willerslev
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D049690:History, Ancient; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D004247:DNA
keywords: ancient; ancient DNA; environment; environmental DNA; review