Summary
Dear sedaDNA enthusiasts,
Hello and welcome to the April newsletter. This month there is a great selection of new research from 8 papers and 3 preprints, so hopefully a little something for everyone. There are also several job adverts for a data management specialist, post docs and a technical position for anyone who might be interested.
We hope that you have and are having a great month,
The organising board
New papers
Co-first authors Xiaohong Lv, Yao Yu and Lin Ban et al., (2026) published "Population history and subsistence of farming communities in an agro-pastoral transition zone of northern China: ancient DNA and isotopic evidence from the Erdaojingzi site" in Scientific Reports.
Kübra Doymuş et al., (2026) published "Ancient lakes, modern tools: Oxford Nanopore MinION reveals prokaryotic diversity in Salda Lake, a Jezero analog" in Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology.
Liying Liu et al., (2026) published "Response strategies of bacterial and micro-eukaryotic communities to environmental changes: Evidence from alpine lakes sedimentary DNA in Southwest China" in the Journal of Environmental Management.
Robin G. Allaby et al., (2026) published "Early colonization before inundation consistent with northern glacial refugia in Southern Doggerland revealed by sedimentary ancient DNA" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Renxing Liang et al., (2026) published "Promethearchaeota Persistence in Marine Sediments Frozen for Over 100 kyr" in Environmental Microbiology.
Martha Sander et al., (2026) published "Sedimentary Metagenomics Reveal Avian Community Transitions From the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene in Ecology and Evolution.
Heike H. Zimmermann et al., (2026) published " Complementarity of ancient DNA and microfossil records in a marine sedimentary archive from the Arctic" in Marine Micropaleontology.
Emelie Ståhl et al., (2026) published "Testing a novel genomic-based approach for Arctic Ocean biostratigraphy" in Marine Micropaleontology.
Preprints
Kurt H. Kjær et al., (2026) submitted the preprint "Environmental DNA Reveals Reykjavík’s Human and Ecological History" available on BioRxiv.
Florian Jacques et al., (2026) submitted the preprint "Winter sediment resuspension in a submarine canyon drives the offshore export of toxigenic Alexandrium catenella cysts" avabilable on Research Square.
Jaekyung Yoon et al., (2026) submitted the preprint "Who Formed All That Iron?: A Novel Antarctic Chemolithotroph Drives Iron Biomineralization" availabe on BioRxiv.
New Positions
The Spanbauer lab of the Department of Earth & Environmental Science in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY is searching for a Data Management Specialist. The Data Management Specialist requires a strong grasp of the Neotoma Paleoecology Database schema, as well as foundational knowledge in geosciences and ecology, to guide stakeholders and resolve complex data submissions.
This position is expected to be funded for two years with hybrid/remote options available. Ability to travel and attend on-site meetings for remote employees is required. Deadline to apply is 12th April.
For more info please contact Trisha Spanbauer
We are inviting applications for a three-year postdoc position in Paleogenomics of the Arctic Ocean at NORCE Research in Bergen, Norway.
The position is part of the ERC Synergy project Into The Blue: Resolving past Arctic greenhouse climates. The project focusses on documenting, understanding and assessing the impact of a changing Arctic Ocean under past warm climates. It brings together researchers from NORCE Research and the University of Bergen in Bergen (Bergen, Norway), the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø (Norway), and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven (Germany).
Deadline to apply is 24th April.
For more info please contact Stijn De Schepper
A two-years postdoc position (fulltime) is available at Chrono-Environnement Laboratory (CNRS/Marie & Louis Pasteur University) in Besançon, Franche-Comté, France.
This position aims at quantifying spruce budworm outbreaks in the boreal forests of Quebec over the Holocene using lacustrine sedimentary DNA. It is part of the ANR RETROPEST project "Wildfires & Insect Outbreaks in Boreal Forests: A Combined Approach Using Paleoecology, Sedimentary DNA & Modelling"
Deadline to apply is 30th April.
For more info please contact Damien Rius
The project EcoArch at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo is inviting candidates to apply for two positions. Position one is a four year Head Engineer position and position two is a three year postdoctoral research fellow position.
1) The four year head engineer will primarily be responsible for and perform sedimentary ancient DNA laboratory work together with the other team members. In addition, they will administrate the EcoArch project on our HPC cluster and assist with the bioinformatic analyses. The engineer will be integrated in the research group, engage in the data analyses and have the opportunity to join as co-author on relevant publications.
2) The three year postdoctoral research fellow will work within the overarching goal of the project EcoArch to disentangle the drivers of landscape and climate change in the Afrotropics since the introduction of domesticated food economies. The project will collect and analyse diverse types of data for the reconstruction of changes in climate, biodiversity and wildfires across different biomes and examine the role of human activities in shaping the landscape. The postdoctoral fellow will investigate palaeoecological changes using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), focusing on several key sites. The successful candidate will join fieldwork, generate and analyse sedaDNA metagenomic data, and prepare results for publication and dissemination.
Deadline to apply to both positions is 12th May.
For more info about either position, please contact Sanne Boessenkool
If you have a query or something to announce, click here, and if you have a recent paper to share in the next newsletter, let us know.