Droplet digital PCR as a powerful tool for quantifying past climate and environmental changes from marine sedimentary DNA records

This grant will allow for purchasing a droplet digital PCR system to integrate a cross-departmental laboratory at GEUS. The use of marine sedimentary ancient DNA is revolutionizing our understanding of past ocean conditions, because DNA can be preserved in marine sediments for at least hundreds of thousands of years and can trace past climatological and environmental changes at high temporal resolution. While most studies have so far focused on describing diversity changes over time and presence/absence of certain species, there is a pressing need to develop quantitative tools. This project aims at developing new quantitative DNA-based proxies for past climate and environmental change with focus on the Arctic region, that will ultimately contribute to better future predictions.