PLEASE NOTE: Application deadline date 08 Jan 2024. Applications are no longer being accepted for this project
Project Overview
Environmental genomics provides a means to explore the biodiversity of present and past ecosystems. This project will use field work in Iceland and laboratory analyses in UK and Sweden to develop innovative methods for examining long-term floral and faunal changes in Iceland using ancient DNA (aDNA) preserved in soil.
Project Description
Soil is an enormous repository of genetic material, and the analysis of soil aDNA has huge potential for addressing important ecological questions that are impracticable to study by other means, e.g., the spatial range of vegetation and soil fauna changes in Iceland pre- and post-colonisation. However, a poor understanding of the fate of DNA entering the soil column hampers efforts to use soil aDNA in palaeo-environmental reconstructions.
This project aims to establish a solid scientific basis for the use of ancient DNA (aDNA) in soil for the reconstruction of terrestrial biodiversity, using a combination of experiments and field sampling in Iceland. To address this knowledge gap, the project will (1) establish field experiments to test the persistence and mobility of DNA in the soil environment; (2) study the century-scale response of vegetation and soil fauna to environmental changes (including human settlement) in Iceland using aDNA preserved in the soil; and (3) formulate protocols that will enable stakeholders to infer long-term changes in terrestrial biodiversity. The successful applicant will conduct field sampling in Iceland and laboratory analyses in the ultra-clean ancient DNA lab at the University of Southampton and the a/eDNA lab at Umeå University, Sweden. With soil aDNA, we’ll build a vast of long-term datasets of soil fauna for various ecological questions. The contribution of this project to science and our society is to (1) improve knowledge to safeguard flora and fauna under changes and (2) provide methods that benefit scientists and stakeholders who monitor terrestrial biodiversity.
The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at the School of Geography and Environmental Science. Specific training will
include:
- Field experiment and soil sampling in Iceland (two field seasons);
- Applications of tephrochronology;
- Soil geochemical analysis;
- Molecular analysis in ultra-clean ancient DNA labs, including DNA extraction, DNA metabarcoding, probe-capturing, library preparation and DNA sequencing;
- Bioinformatics and statistical techniques for community analysis; coding development for processing large datasets
- Paper/thesis writing and presentation skills
Kjær, K. H. et al. A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA. Nature 612, 283-291 (2022).
Wang, Y. et al. Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics. Nature 600, 86-92 (2021).
Huang, Y.-T. et al. A new method to extract and purify DNA from allophanic soils and paleosols, and potential for paleoenvironmental reconstruction and other applications. Geoderma 274, 114-125 (2016).
