Preservation of sedimentary plant DNA is related to lake water chemistry

Little is currently known about preservation of plant DNA in lake sediments. Most prior information originates from laboratory experiments while systematic field-based studies are still lacking. Here, we used the “g” and “h” universal primers for P6 loop region chloroplast trnL (UAA) intron to amplify 219 surface sediments China Siberia. We introduce (i) percentage sequence counts with best identity ≥95%, (ii) weighted average identity, (iii) fragment length, iv) rarefied richness terrestrial seed plants metabarcoding as proxies sedimentary relate them five environmental variables (lake water conductivity, pH, mean July air temperature, sampling depth, size) using boosted regression tree (BRT) analyses. Our results suggest that chemical characteristics, is, electrical conductivity most important Intermediate conductivities (100–500 μS cm−1) neutral slightly alkaline pH (7–9) may facilitate preservation. Furthermore, deep lakes seem support indicated by relatively high richness. also find small compared large lakes, but this result needs be assessed more future. None our BRT models shows temperature a key variable limit To conclude, can preferentially select characterized intermediate conditions.