Dr Linda Armbrecht1, Prof. Leanne Armand2, Dr Phil O’Brien3, Prof Michael E. Weber4, Prof. Maureen Raymo5, Dr Victoria Peck6, Dr Trevor Williams7, IN2017-V01 On-board Scientific Party (H. Baker, A. Caburlotto, T. Connell, D. Cotterle, M. Duffy, S. Edwards, D. Evangelinos, J. Fazey, A. Flint, A. Forcardi, S. Gifford, L. Holder, P. Hughes, K-A. Lawler, J. Lieser, A. Leventer, M. Lewis, T. Martin, N. Morgan, A. Lopez Quiros, K. Malakoff, T. Noble, B. Opdyke, R. Palmer, R. Perera, V. Pirotta, A. Post, R. Romeo, J. Simmons, D. Thost, S. Tynan and A. Young), IODP Exp. 382 Scientists (I. Bailey, S. Brachfeld, Z. Du, G. Fauth, M. Garcia, A. Glüder, M. Guitard, M. Gutjahr, S. Hemming, I. Hernandez-Almeida, F. Hoem, J. Hwang, M. Iizuka, Y. Kato, B. Lee, Y. Martos, S. O’Connell, L.F. Perez, B. Reilly, T. Ronge, O. Seki, L. Tauxe, S. Tripathi, J. Warnock, X. Zhen)
1Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Australia, 2Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 3Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 4Institute for Geosciences, Department of Geochemistry and Petrology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, 5Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, , USA, 6Geological Sciences, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, England, 7International Ocean Discovery Program, Texas A&M University, , USA
This presentation will inform about the latest optimisations in marine sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) research, and detail applications of this emerging paleo-monitoring tool to the Antarctic environment for the reconstruction of this polar marine ecosystem over thousands of years. sedaDNA research has become increasingly applied to reconstruct paleo-ecosystems worldwide, with sampling and laboratory as well as bioinformatic techniques to analyse the complex genetic data rapidly advancing. These optimisations in the sedaDNA workflow mean that we can now extract and analyse sedaDNA from less than a gram of seafloor sediments, and by applying a metagenomics approach combined with hybridisation capture, we also can now isolate and investigate ancient DNA from keystone organisms. These technologies and advances further allow us to acquire sufficient genetic material for robust statistical analyses and authentication by means of DNA damage analyses. However, many questions remain open such as “how far back in time can we go?”’, “where do we find the best preserved ancient DNA”, and “can we study organisms across the food web from bacteria to plankton to fish’? This presentation will address these questions, and showcase the latest, deep-time sedaDNA data generated using metagenomics from seafloor samples collected off East and West Antarctica (Totten Glacier/IN2017_V01, Iceberg Alley/IODP Exp. 382).
Biography:
Dr Linda Armbrecht is an ARC DECRA Fellow (DE210100929) at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania. Her research focuses on the reconstruction of marine ecosystems with an emphasis on the Antarctic environment, where research into resilience and sustainability is critical due to climate change. Linda specialises in paleo-genomics techniques, in particular, the analysis of ancient DNA from the seafloor (sedaDNA).
Before joining IMAS, Linda was a Research Fellow and ARC Research Associate at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide. Here, she investigated past Scotia Sea biodiversity using ancient DNA from sediments collected during International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382 ‘Iceberg Alley and Subantarctic Ice and Ocean Dynamics’, and harmful algal bloom dynamics off Tasmania spanning the last 9,000 years (DP170102261 ‘Improved management of coastal plankton systems by ancient DNA technology’, lead CI Prof. G. Hallegraeff). Prior to this (2018), she held a prestigious Australian Endeavour Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to develop sea-ice proxies using marine genomics and transcriptomics with Prof. Chris Bowler at the Institut de Biologie de l’Ecole Normale Superieure (IBENS), Paris, France. Holding an international Macquarie University Excellence Research Scholarship (iMQRES), she undertook a PhD in Biological Sciences (Phytoplankton Biology/Biological Oceanography) in Sydney, Australia (2015).
Linda is currently the Vice Chair of the Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC) Science Committee, a steering committee member of the PAGES Working Group ‘PaleoEcoGen’, and an advisory board member of the international sedaDNA Society.