paleoecology

Recontructing paleoenvironments using ancient DNA

We are using the metabarcoding tecnique on sedimentary DNA (sedDNA) from three volcanic Italian lakes: Lago Grande di Monticchio, Lago di Nemi, and Lago di Martignano. At Monticchio, we have already identified over 90 plant taxa from a long sediment core covering the period from 1.4 to 31 thousand years before present. To maximize our results, we have developed new strategies to improve DNA extraction from mineral-adsorbed samples and counteract PCR inhibition. We are also testing new probes designed to capture short plant DNA sequences using shotgun sequencing.

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Quaternary DNA. A multidisciplinary research field

The purpose of this Milankovitch review is to explain the significance of Quaternary DNA studies and the importance of the recent methodological advances that have enabled the study of late Quaternary remains in more detail, and the testing of new assumptions in evolutionary biology and phylogeography to reconstruct the past. The topic is wide, and this review is not intended to be an exhaustive account of all the aDNA work performed in the last three decades on late-Quaternary remains.

MicroWeaR. A new R package for dental microwear analysis

Mastication of dietary items with different mechanical properties leaves distinctive microscopic marks on the surface of tooth enamel. The inspection of such marks (dental microwear analysis) is informative about the dietary habitus in fossil as well as in modern species. Dental microwear analysis relies on the morphology, abundance, direction, and distribution of these microscopic marks.