Articles | Volume 22, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2601-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2601-2025
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06 Jun 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 06 Jun 2025

Sedimentary ancient DNA insights into foraminiferal diversity near the grounding line in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica

Ewa Demianiuk, Mateusz Baca, Danijela Popović, Inès Barrenechea Angeles, Ngoc-Loi Nguyen, Jan Pawlowski, John B. Anderson, and Wojciech Majewski

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Based on the analysis of sedimentary ancient DNA, the authors show that Antarctic foraminiferal communities are diverse in open marine environments and significantly less diverse along slopes of submarine moraines. In both cases, DNA analysis reveals a high abundance of soft-walled monothalamids, which are not preserved in the fossil record. No foraminiferal DNA was found in tills, suggesting its destruction during glacial redeposition. A promising new foraminiferal mini-barcode marker is proposed, which merits further validation for application in future paleoecological investigations.
Short summary
Ancient foraminiferal DNA is studied in five Antarctic cores with sediments up to 25 kyr old. We use a standard and a new, more effective marker, which may become the next standard for paleoenvironmental studies. Much less diverse foraminifera occur on slopes of submarine moraines than in open-marine settings. Soft-walled foraminifera, not found in the fossil record, are especially abundant. There is no foraminiferal DNA in tills, suggesting its destruction during glacial redeposition.
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