SedaDNA metabarcoding reveals hidden histories of within-species sequence variation

Dated sediment cores from eight Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal wetlands show that sedaDNA metabarcoding reconstructs temporal changes in within-species haplotype diversity, with marker- and species-specific geographic sharing.

• Why it matters: Contemporary genetic sampling leaves historical shifts in within-species sequence variation poorly documented, limiting insights into how biodiversity composition changes through time.
• What they did: The study metabarcoded COI and 18S from dated cores, treating amplicon sequence variants as putative haplotypes and reconstructing haplotype networks across historical periods.
• The result: Accumulated haplotype networks and 18S analyses revealed distinct variant sets and substantial haplotype-composition differences among periods, sites, and taxa, supporting historical metaphylogeography.

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