Ancient DNA Unveils 1,000 Years at Crawford Lake

An international team of scientists featuring faculty at Binghamton University has recreated a 1,000-year timeline documenting the ecological changes and human impact to the area surrounding Crawford Lake, the famed location of the proposed Anthropocene.

By analyzing sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) samples found preserved in the lake bottom sediment, scientists were able to reconstruct a diverse, high-resolution dataset of the entire ecosystem surrounding the lake - including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi - and map changes over the centuries.

Crawford Lake is a meromictic lake, meaning the water column does not mix with the lakebed. Its unique properties cause sediment in the upper level to settle on the lake floor, where it is preserved in alternating layers of calcite and organic laminae (sediment layers that are rich in organic material).