Download or read book Temporal and Spatial Trends in Toxic Cyanobacteria as Identified Through Lake Sediment DNA written by Shinjini Pal and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Temporal Trends in Cyanobacteria Through Paleo Genetic Analyses written by William Dodsworth and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With increasing eutrophication and climate change, temperate lakes are experiencing conditions favoring cyanobacterial dominance, leading to toxic blooms. However, the relative importance of these two factors remains unclear, due to a lack of historical records. This thesis analyzed sediment DNA from four lakes in Central Ontario to quantify trends over the past ~ 200 years in bacteria, cyanobacteria, and microcystin toxins through ddPCR of target genes. Climate related variables explained a small amount of variation. However, lakes with more development exhibited significant increases in cyanobacterial dominance, indicating regime shifts not occurring in less developed lakes. These shifts were likely driven by nutrient loading in concert with climate change. Sediment cores were also compared within a single multi-basin lake to determine the effect of depth and morphometry on DNA preservation. Sites of greater depth (20 m +) were more conducive to long-term DNA preservation and sheltered morphometry increased sediment DNA deposition.

Download or read book Physical and Chemical Environmental Factors Associated with the Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Cyanobacteria in Lake George New York written by Lance Richardson and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cyanobacteria and environmental factors were studied in Lake George, New York from May 1998 to August 1998. Lake George, New York is a (meso) oligotrophic freshwater lake located in the southeast corner of the Adirondack State Park. An island filled channel known as The Narrows separates it into two distinct basins. The water in the lake flows from south to north where it empties into Lake Champlain near Ticonderoga, New York. The lake is dimictic, mixing in the spring and the fall, and stratification of the water column into a distinct epilimnion and hypolimnion occurs each summer. The lake undergoes a clear water phase in late May/early June. The goal of the study was to determine the temporal and spatial development of the cyanobacteria population in the north and south basins of the lake and their association to physical and chemical factors in the water column. Various nitrogen and phosphorus species were measured along with physical factors such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, and illumination. These factors were then used to search for trends and associations with cyanobacteria enumerated by epifluorescent microscopy. One morphological genus, Synechococcus, was found to dominate the cyanobacteria population throughout the water column and throughout the period of the study. Abundance of Synechococcus increased after the clear water phase ended, reaching its maximum in both basins in early August. Other general trends showed the greatest initial abundance of Synechococcus at 20 and 25 meters in depth in the late spring and this moved up in the water column to an average of 15 meters after the clear water phase of the lake ended in mid-June. Slight temporal and spatial differences were found between the two sites, however linear regression found no strong associations between Synechococcus and any single chemical or physical factor.

Download or read book Assessment of Toxic Cyanobacterial Abundance at Hamilton Harbour from Analysis of Sediment and Water written by Miroslava Jonlija and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The western embayment of Lake Ontario, Hamilton Harbour, is one of the most polluted sites in the Laurentian Great Lakes and in recent years has seen a reoccurrence of cyanobacterial blooms. This study uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine the presences of toxic Cyanobacteria in the harbour in order to gain insight into these recurrent blooms. Microscopic analyses of phytoplankton samples collected during the 2009 summer-fall sampling season from two locations within the harbour showed the spatial and seasonal diversity of the contemporary cyanobacterial community. Microcystis colonies relative abundances in relation to total algal numbers were estimated. The lowest and highest relative abundances of Microcystis in the phytoplankton population were 0.6% and 9.7%, respectively, and showed seasonal variability between stations. Fourteen cyanobacterial genera comprising six families and three orders were identified and for which the most abundant filamentous genera during the summer-fall sampling season were Planktothrix, Aphanizomenon and Limnothrix. Potential microcystin producers Microcystis, Planktothrix, Aphanizomenon and Dolichospermum were also present and during the sampling period Microcystis was recorded at both stations on all dates, however, its relative abundance was below 10 % throughout the study period. The composition and abundance of filamentous cyanobacteria were observed to be positively statistically correlated to water quality environmental parameters dissolved nitrates (NO3/NO2), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and conductivity. Redundancy analysis (RDA) found that 53.35% total variance of Aphanizomenon was correlated to low water column NO3/NO2 and conductivity, and higher water column DIC. 58.13% of the relative abundance of Planktothrix was correlated to high concentrations of dissolved nitrates, while 51.69% of total variance of Limnothrix was correlated to higher DIC and lower water column dissolved nitrate concentrations. Information about past cyanobacterial communities was obtained from the sediment core analysis, using paleolimnological and modern molecular methods. The age of the 100.5 cm long sediment core retrieved from the deepest part of Hamilton Harbour was established to be 140 years (1869-2009), using the Constant Rate of Supply (CRS) 210Pb age model. This age was not sufficient to provide information of harbour's environmental conditions, presence of the blooms, and triggers for their occurrence before European settlement in the area. Results of the HPLC analysis of fossil pigments indicated that the dominant members of the algal community have not changed over the 140 years and that cyanobacteria were regular members of the phytoplankton community. The composition of the major chlorophyll pigments indicated high presence of Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta in the harbour at all times. The main algal groups identified on the basis of marker pigments presence, besides the Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta, were the Dinophyta and the Cryptophyta. The presence of a scytonemin derivative, compound B, indicated that cyanobacterial blooms were occurring in past, before the first officially recorded blooms in the 1960s. Cyanobacterial pigments presence indicated that Cyanobacteria have been a regular but not dominant feature of Hamilton Harbour phytoplankton in the past. To our knowledge, this study is the first one examining fossil pigments from Hamilton Harbour. Results of the PCR-DGGE molecular analysis of 16S rRNA-V3 gene fragments from sedimentary DNA revealed the presence of thirteen cyanobacterial genotypes. The temporal change in the cyanobacterial community composition was indicated by the increasing number of species over time, from the oldest to the most recent sediment layers. The deepest sediment strata showed the lowest number (two bands) and intensity of bands. The most recent sediment layer had the greatest numbers (11) and intensity of bands. This increased diversity indicated changing environmental conditions in the harbour, primarily nutrient pollution and worsening water quality. Results of the PCR-DGGE molecular analysis of mcyE-AMT gene fragments showed that Microcystis aeruginosa and Planktothrix rubescens were two microcystin producers present in Hamilton Harbour over the last 80 years. The persistent presence and resilience of these two genera indicated a more serious and longer-term issue of toxic blooms than previously recognized. Historical records show that noticeable anthropogenic impact on Lake Ontario environment has been measurable since the 1780s, the first dramatic impact on the Lake Ontario watershed was evident from the mid1880s, the earliest evidence of eutrophication in the lake occurred between 1820 and 1850, while human induced environmental changes in Hamilton Harbour date back ca. 350 years. In the 1960s, cyanobacterial blooms were first officially recognized in the harbour and the lower Great Lakes. The present research is the first report of the mcyE module and AMT domain of microcystin genes being amplified from sediment of North American lakes, and showed that toxic Cyanobacterial have been regular members of Hamilton Harbour phytoplankton community for almost a century. This research considerably deepened the knowledge of the past toxic cyanobacterial blooms in Hamilton Harbour and their possible causes. It also showed that in the absence of historical records, both the PCR-DGGE method and the mcyE-AMT gene may be used for reconstruction of the past toxic blooms not only in the Laurentian Great Lakes, but also in other aquatic regions of the world impacted by toxic cyanobacterial blooms. Also, it demonstrated the utility of the combined molecular and paleolimnological analyses, which might become a useful tool in the determination of the bloom causes factors and in the mitigation of the future production of toxic blooms.

Download or read book Physiological and molecular ecology of aquatic cyanobacteria written by Anton F Post and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cyanobacteria inhabit every illuminated environment on Earth, from polar lakes to desert crusts and through their phototrophic metabolism play essential roles in global geochemical cycles. With the discovery of marine Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus almost 30 years ago, cyanobacteria have now earned their place as dominant primary producers contributing over 25 percent of global photosynthesis. Their global abundance is now explained from the coexistence of ecotypes that occupy different niches along spatial and temporal gradients. New ecotypes of Synechococcus have been identified as abundant components of microbial communities in freshwater environments and marginal seas. Extensive comparative genomics of marine and freshwater picocyanobacteria have begun to unmask adaptations to light and nutrient (N, P, Fe) limitation that these diverse environments present. Novel types of cyanobacterial diazotrophy input new N and structure microbial communities in the open sea. Current challenges include the understanding of the interactions between marine cyanobacteria and other microbes in their immediate community. In contrast, mesotrophic and eutrophic environments such as the Laurentian Great Lakes have been increasingly affected by nuisance and toxic cyanobacterial blooms that have yielded severe declines in water quality. Factors promoting bloom formation and the functional roles of toxins are important issues being addressed today.

Download or read book Spatial and Temporal Variability of Cyanobacteria Toxicity in Rhode Island Urban Ponds written by Amie L. Parris and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is the first to identify variations in cyanobacteria concentrations over space and time in Rhode Island urban lakes. Two small lakes were sampled weekly throughout August and September 2014 at three separate locations. For Mashapaug Pond, but not Slacks Reservoir, a visible bloom was present for most of this sampling period. 100 mL samples were obtained, frozen, and analyzed using a direct-injection tandem quadrupole MS/MS detector for the presence of 10 microcystin variants and anatoxin-a in Mashapaug Pond and six microcystin variants in Slacks Reservoir. Samples at both lakes exceeded RI recreational criteria for microystin. The southern sampling station in Mashapaug Pond presented the highest concentrations of toxins followed by the northern pond while the western pond presented only minor concentrations. The current RI protocol for assessing cyanobacteria, performed only in response to visible blooms and only at one location, would not have reliably identified microcystin hazards found in this study.

Download or read book Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water written by Ingrid Chorus and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-03-08 with total page 840 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cyanobacterial toxins are among the hazardous substances most widely found in water. They occur naturally, but concentrations hazardous to human health are usually due to human activity. Therefore, to protect human health, managing lakes, reservoirs and rivers to prevent cyanobacterial blooms is critical. This second edition of Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water presents the current state of knowledge on the occurrence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins as well as their impacts on health through water-related exposure pathways, chiefly drinking-water and recreational activity. It provides scientific and technical background information to support hazard identification, assessment and prioritisation of the risks posed by cyanotoxins, and it outlines approaches for their management at each step of the water-use system. It sets out key practical considerations for developing management strategies, implementing efficient measures and designing monitoring programmes. This enables stakeholders to evaluate whether there is a health risk from toxic cyanobacteria and to mitigate it with appropriate measures. This book is intended for those working on toxic cyanobacteria with a specific focus on public health protection. It intends to empower professionals from different disciplines to communicate and cooperate for sustainable management of toxic cyanobacteria, including public health workers, ecologists, academics, and catchment and waterbody managers. Ingrid Chorus headed the department for Drinking-Water and Swimming-Pool Hygiene at the German Environment Agency. Martin Welker is a limnologist and microbiologist, currently with bioMérieux in Lyon, France.

Download or read book Molecular Tools for the Detection and Quantification of Toxigenic Cyanobacteria written by Rainer Kurmayer and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to state-of-the-art molecular tools for monitoring and managing the toxigenicity of cyanobacteria Runaway eutrophication and climate change has made the monitoring and management of toxigenic organisms in the world’s bodies of water more urgent than ever. In order to influence public policy regarding the detection and quantification of those organisms, it is incumbent upon scientists to raise the awareness of policy makers concerning the increased occurrence of toxigenic cyanobacteria and the threats they pose. As molecular methods can handle many samples in short time and help identify toxigenic organisms, they are reliable, cost-effective tools available for tracking toxigenic cyanobacteria worldwide. This volume arms scientists with the tools they need to track toxigenicity in surface waters and food supplies and, hopefully, to develop new techniques for managing the spread of toxic cyanobacteria. This handbook offers the first comprehensive treatment of molecular tools for monitoring toxigenic cyanobacteria. Growing out of the findings of the landmark European Cooperation in Science and Technology Cyanobacteria project (CYANOCOST), it provides detailed, practical coverage of the full array of available molecular tools and protocols, from water sampling, nucleic acid extraction, and downstream analysis—including PCR and qPCR based methods—to genotyping (DGGE), diagnostic microarrays, and community characterization using next-gen sequencing techniques. Offers an overview of the latest trends in the field, while providing a foundation for understanding and applying the tools and techniques described Provides detailed coverage of the full range of molecular tools currently available, with expert guidance on the analysis and interpretation of results Includes step-by-step guidance on standard operational procedures, including molecular tests used in environmental monitoring, with individual chapters devoted to each procedure Complements the published Handbook of Cyanobacterial Monitoring and Cyanotoxin Analysis from the CyanoCOST project This handbook is an indispensable working resource for scientists, lab technicians, and water management professionals and an excellent text/reference for graduate students and supervisors who use molecular tools. It will also be of great value to environmental health and protection officials and policy makers.

Download or read book Early Detection of Cyanobacterial Toxins Using Genetic Methods written by J. Paul Rasmussen and published by American Water Works Association. This book was released on 2008 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research sought to develop and test rapid genetic methods to identify toxic cyanobacteria. The key objectives were to (1) conduct a literature review and industry questionnaire examining options for rapid genetic tests; (2) characterize and understand the genes involved in cylindrospermopsin and anatoxin production; (3) adapt conventional PCR assays to real-time PCR; (4) develop rapid field methods for DNA preparation; and (5) develop probes for toxin genes and testing in the field.

Download or read book Historical Trends of Cyanobacteria and Their Toxins in Four Eastern Canadian Source Waters written by Sisi Zhao and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms State of the Science and Research Needs written by H. Kenneth Hudnell and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-03-13 with total page 955 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the ever-increasing incidence of harmful cyanobacterial algal blooms, this monograph has added urgency and will be essential reading for all sorts of researchers, from neuroscientists to cancer research specialists. The volume contains the proceedings of the 2005 International Symposium on Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms, and has been edited by H. Kenneth Hudnell, of the US Environmental Protection Agency. It contains much of the most recent research into the subject.

Download or read book A National Ecological Framework for Canada written by Ecological Stratification Working Group (Canada) and published by Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research ; Hull, Quebec : State of the Environment Directorate. This book was released on 1996 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [An] expanded attribute database [that] includes attribute data for the ecoprovince level of generalization.

Download or read book Using Sediment DNA Archives for Interpreting Long term Cyanobacterial Dynamics in the Anthropocene written by Hebah Shaker Mejbel and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change and eutrophication, accelerated by anthropogenic activities, have impacted aquatic ecosystems worldwide. These impacts have stimulated the expansion of cyanobacterial blooms which pose severe threats to ecosystem functioning, environmental health, and the economy. However, the long-term effects of environmental change on bloom-forming cyanobacteria are not well understood as traditional paleolimnological approaches are of limited use in the reconstruction of cyanobacterial dynamics through time. Here, sediment DNA (sedDNA) was used to investigate long-term cyanobacterial trends using sediments from two experimental (fertilized L227 and acidified L223) and two reference (L224 and L442) lakes in the Experimental Lakes Area, Canada. First, to determine whether taxonomic bias might arise from the cyanobacterial sediment record, I performed a 1-year incubation experiment comparing the degradation rates of selected cyanobacterial genes under contrasting environmental conditions. Based on first-order linear decay models, Synechococcus sp. (Synechococcales) decayed the slowest under cold, anoxic conditions, followed by Trichormus (Nostocales), then Microcystis (Chroococcales), suggesting differential preservation of DNA. I then compared the quantitative performance of droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) and high-throughput sequencing (HTS) for the analysis of sedDNA and found that the ddPCR results were more consistent with the known history of the lakes. Furthermore, ddPCR showed that cyanobacterial abundance increased over the past century in all study lakes, but the greatest increase was observed in experimentally fertilized L227. HTS revealed shifts in the cyanobacterial community towards Nostocales dominance and a decrease in alpha diversity in response to phosphorus-only additions. An increase in abundance of the mcyE gene (indicative of microcystin producing taxa) was uniquely observed in L227 when nitrogen additions ceased. Heating degree days were important in explaining variation in the cyanobacterial community composition in all lakes, but nutrients had a greater influence on the L227 community. When sediment data were compared to historical surface water phytoplankton records, moderate to strong correlations between the two archives were found, validating the use of sedDNA. This research demonstrated that sedDNA can elucidate cyanobacterial trends at the community, population, and species level over multidecadal timescales in response to environmental change.

Download or read book Spatial and Temporal Variation in Cyanobacterial Population Dynamics and Microcystin Production in Eutrophic Lakes written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Toxic cyanobacterial blooms threaten freshwaters worldwide. We have learned much about the environmental factors promoting cyanobacterial success: high growth rates in increased water temperatures, predator avoidance, an ability to store nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), positive buoyancy, high affinity for inorganic carbon (C) and efficiency for converting bicarbonate to carbon dioxide (CO2), and the ability of some to fix dinitrogen (N2). However, the physiological and ecological role of cyanotoxins eludes us. Furthermore, complex population dynamics of toxic and non-toxic cyanobacterial strains confounds many ecosystem-based studies. Thus, our research has focused on describing spatial and temporal cyanobacterial population dynamics and cyanotoxin production in eutrophic lakes. Our results indicate that vertical heterogeneity in lakes is important for partitioning individual cyanobacterial taxa within the photic zone on short time scales (hourly-daily). However, on the time-scales that toxic blooms occur (days-weeks), physics likely plays a larger role in distributing cyanobacterial biomass and toxins throughout the epilimnion. Similarly, horizontal heterogeneity in lakes can be extremely patchy. We observed on daily time-scales, cyanotoxins could vary by orders of magnitude in different parts of the lake. Thus, toxic blooms are not evenly distributed horizontally or vertically in lakes on short time scales, but were also not significantly different beyond several days. Conversely, cyanobacterial communities and toxin concentrations changed significantly over the course of the open water season. Intra-annual changes in temperature, lake stratification, and nutrient concentrations had a profound impact on cyanobacterial community composition and measured toxin concentrations. In particular, inorganic nitrogen drawdown during stratification resulted in large N2 fixing Aphanizomenon blooms. Shortly thereafter, Microcystis abundance and microcystin concentrations increased significantly. Aphanizomenon and Microcystis were both abundant in the fall, but toxin concentrations decreased. Three Microcystis genotypes were abundant at different times of the year, suggesting they occupy different niches. We proposed that microcystin production was caused by N stress, particularly the rapid drawdown of ammonium, and present a metabolic model for regulation of microcystin synthesis in Microcystis. Together, these results have implications for lake management, public health, and modeling toxin production in eutrophic lakes.

Download or read book Detection Methods for Cynobacterial toxins written by G A Codd and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, commonly occur in a variety of water types throughout the world. A variable, but, high proportion of the cyanobacterial blooms and scums, which can develop annually in lakes, reservoirs, canals and slow-flowing rivers, contain potent toxins. Although animal poisonings and human health problems associated with the ingestion of, or contact with, cyanobacterial scums have long been recognized, a developing understanding of the health hazards posed by the toxins requires that reliable, sensitive, specific and convenient methods are available for their detection and quantification.Detection methods for cynobacterial toxins looks at the application of biological, toxicological, biochemical and physicochemical techniques in studies of cyanobacterial toxins and at experimental methods that have identified at least 50 cyanobacterial compounds toxic to vertebrates.Academics, public health bodies, environmental protection agencies and water companies are all involved in monitoring cyanobacterial levels and effects, and this book will help to ensure that their research is not duplicated, is standardized and comparable, and that optimal progress can be made in an important area that is still in its developing stages.

Download or read book Relationship Between Toxic Cyanobacterial Blooms Psycho chemical Factors and Multiple Source Excreta Contamination in Affected Watershed written by Valentina Muñoz Ramos and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Missisquoi Bay (MB) is a temperate eutrophic freshwater ecosystem located in an agricultural watershed and it frequently experiences toxic Microcystis-dominated cyanobacterial blooms. Cyanobacterial population dynamics are influenced by a plethora of factors that may differ from system to system, requiring a site-specific assessment of bloom-promoting factors to design more effective bloom prevention or remediation strategies. This is the first biomonitoring study that combined data from high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, qPCR and environmental parameters from temporal and spatial samples to identify the main bloom-promoting factors. In addition, high-throughput amplicon sequencing of mitochondrial DNA genes was performed to qualitatively identify potential external sources of nutrients originating from animal excreta. Particular emphasis was placed on 1) determining whether there was a link between nutrients from external sources and cyanobacterial blooms and 2) analyzing in situ the effect of environmental factors (particularly nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations) on the dynamics of cyanobacterial community composition, abundance and toxicity.The concentrations of total P (TP) and total N (TN) in MB in 2009 correlated significantly with the abundance of total cyanobacterial cells, the Microcystis 16S rRNA and mcyD genes and intracellular microcystin. The results suggest that external sources of nutrients, such as surface runoff and animal excreta, played a significant role in the load of nutrients into the bay and thus in the proliferation of toxic cyanobacterial blooms. This was indicated by the detection of non-aquatic mitochondrial DNA hosts in the bay and the relationships between the pattern of surface runoff, nutrient concentrations, E. coli counts and total cyanobacterial abundance. Potential sources of nutrients from non-aquatic animal excreta in the system comprised rodents, birds, cattle and humans, indicating that efforts are required to control pollution from animal excreta in MB. During the growing season, the major cyanobacterial taxa were members of the orders Chroococcales and Nostocales. The genus Microcystis was identified as the main mcyD-carrier and main microcystin producer, hence the most problematic taxon in the cyanobacterial bloom. The correlations observed with environmental parameters suggest that increasing nutrient concentrations and TN:TP (mass) ratios approaching 11:1, coupled with an increase in temperature, promoted Microcystis-dominated toxic cyanobacterial blooms. Although the importance of nutrient ratios and absolute concentrations on cyanobacterial and Microcystis dynamics has been documented, this is the first time that an optimum TN:TP ratio for Microcystis dominance has been observed in the field. This observation provides further support to the theory that nutrient supply ratios are an important determinant of species composition in natural phytoplankton assemblages. Although the validity and prediction potential of this optimum ratio for Microcystis dominance has yet to be verified through longer-term studies, it may provide practical guidelines for nutrient management strategies to avoid the proliferation of this toxin producing cyanobacterial genus in MB. " --

Download or read book Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments written by Eric Capo and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2024-01-20 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, entitled Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments: Volume 6 – Sedimentary DNA, provides an overview of the applications of sedimentary DNA-based approaches to paleolimnological studies. These approaches have shown considerable potential in providing information about the long-term changes of overall biodiversity in lakes and their watersheds in response to natural and anthropogenic changes, as well as tracking human migrations over the last thousands of years. Although the first studies investigating the preservation of these molecular proxies in sediments originate from the late-1990s, the number of scientific publications on this topic has increased greatly over the last five years. Alongside numerous ecological findings, several sedimentary DNA studies have been dedicated to understanding the reliability of this approach to reconstruct past ecosystem changes. Despite the major surge of interest, a comprehensive compilation of sedimentary DNA approaches and applications has yet to be attempted. The overall aim of this DPER volume is to fill this knowledge gap.