Climate of the Past
Climate of the Past
CP
Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1159-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1159-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
10 Jun 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 10 Jun 2026

Quantitative climate reconstruction from sedimentary ancient DNA: framework, validation and application

Ulrike Herzschuh, Thomas Böhmer, Weihan Jia, and Simeon Lisovski

Data sets

Quantitative climate reconstruction from sedimentary ancient DNA: framework, validation and application Ulrike Herzschuh et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17312185

Model code and software

Quantitative climate reconstruction from sedimentary ancient DNA: framework, validation and application Ulrike Herzschuh et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17312185

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Editorial statement
The manuscript by Herzschuh et al. presents a novel approach for deriving quantitative summer temperature estimates from Lake sediments. This method has the potential to substantially improve terrestrial temperature reconstructions and thereby advance our understanding of past continental climate change.
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Short summary
We introduce a new climate proxy based on plant DNA preserved in lake sediments. Validated with a large surface sample dataset and applied to a sediment record, this method provides more accurate and robust reconstructions of past climate change than traditional vegetation proxies like pollen, likely due to a higher taxonomic resolution and more localized signal.
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