Publications

This study explores how ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) preserved in marine sediments can be used to detect rare fish species and reconstruct long-term changes in marine ecosystems. By comparing metabarcoding and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) techniques, the authors demonstrate that repeated metabarcoding detections provide a reliable indicator of DNA abundance, helping to improve confidence in sedimentary DNA records as tools for tracking past fish populations and environmental change.

This paper explores a powerful new approach for studying ancient environmental DNA (eDNA), showing how hybridisation capture can selectively recover rare and highly degraded genetic material from environmental archives such as sediments. By bringing together current knowledge, practical guidance and case studies, the authors provide a roadmap for using this technique to reconstruct past ecosystems, track biodiversity change and uncover species that would otherwise remain hidden in ancient DNA records.

Scotland’s blue mussel beds were once extensive coastal habitats that supported thriving fishing communities and rich marine ecosystems, but historical records reveal that many were heavily depleted by the early twentieth century through intensive exploitation. Drawing on more than 200 archival sources and over a century of fisheries data, this study uncovers the scale of that decline and provides valuable insights to inform the conservation and restoration of this important habitat. 

SEACHANGE PhD student, Jane Earalnd, leads on this paper examining the influence of the Atlantic subpolar gyre on the northern North Sea, using datasets generated from a marine sediment core spanning the Late glacial and Holocene.

This paper highlights the rapid expansion of sclerochronology as a powerful interdisciplinary tool for understanding the life histories of aquatic organisms and reconstructing environmental change across timescales ranging from days to centuries. Bringing together cutting-edge research from around the world, it demonstrates how natural growth records preserved in shells, otoliths and other biomineralised structures can provide valuable insights into ecosystem resilience, climate change, fisheries management and the sustainable use of aquatic resources.

This paper explores how 130 years of technological innovation transformed Scottish fisheries, tracing the shift from traditional fishing methods to increasingly powerful industrial fleets and fishing gears. By linking historical patterns of innovation, exploitation and regulation, the study reveals how technological advances drove both short-term increases in catches and the long-term depletion of fish stocks, offering important lessons for the sustainable management of marine ecosystems today.

SEACHANGE team members from the University of Exeter explore the use of Ecopath models to create comparable representations of marine ecosystems in the North Sea.

Lukas Fröhlich, Qian Huang and Bernd R. Schöne from Mainz team explore how sampling and alignment techniques influence the fidelity of high-resolution reconstructions from geochemical signals in incrementally growing biogenic archives, particularly bivalve shells.

Harry Robson, together with other colleagues from the York SEACHANGE team, in collaboration with colleagues from Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Norway and Sweden, has published a new examination of the reciprocal interactions between marine resources and changes in human demography and economy before and after the introduction of agriculture across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Denmark between 6000 and 3000 cal BC.  This region offers one of the richest available sources of data for such an analysis across a major cultural transition.

As part of the SEACHANGE special issue, David Reynolds and the team created extended sclerochronology record for Arctica islandica collected from the Fladen Ground (North Sea). This record means has contributed to a better understanding of the variability in the seawater temperature and salinity, and atmospheric circulation patterns in the North Sea.

Evgeny Genelt-Yanovskiy and the team from the University of York, in collaboration with Richard Sabin from the Natural History Museum, analyse bone specimens from marine mammals collected from Antarctica and Patagonia, in order to trace historical trends associated with changes in the population structure and distribution of species, indicating long-term variability in their foraging ecology.

Luke Holman leads on another paper for the special issue. Luke and colleagues used evironmental DNA metabarcoding to reconstruct marine biodiversity in Iceland across three millennia (1315 BCE–1785 CE), encompassing periods of climatic fluctuation and human settlement, to explore the comparative effect of natural and anthropogenic forces on marine biodiversity.

In this article, we explore how archaeological and historical perspectives can inform current marine management, protection and restoration efforts, and entice us to rethink our present-day relationships with ocean resources to secure sustainable management. 

This theme issue advances our knowledge of past oceans, revealing how diverse perspectives from across disciplines can provide new insights into marine anthropogenic exploitation over thousands of years. Through engaging a range of source materials, including material remains, historical records and palaeoenvironmental archives, the contributions reveal shifting seas responding to both natural climatic changes and human impacts.

For more than 1,500 years, Atlantic cod have been a cornerstone of North Sea fisheries, yet the long-term ecological effects of human exploitation remain poorly understood. Using advanced stable isotope analysis of archaeological and modern cod remains, this study traces changes in cod feeding ecology over time, revealing remarkable trophic stability until the industrial era and providing new insights into how modern fishing has reshaped marine food webs.

Sturgeons were once among the most important and iconic fish in the Danube, supporting fisheries, cultures and ecosystems for thousands of years before widespread declines in the modern era. Using ancient DNA from archaeological remains spanning the last 10,000 years, this study reveals the deep genetic history of Danube sturgeons and provides a crucial long-term baseline for understanding and conserving these threatened species.

The common periwinkle (Littorina littorea) is one of the most abundant shellfish found in archaeological middens across Atlantic Europe, yet its potential as a record of past environments and human harvesting practices has remained largely unexplored. By analysing oxygen isotope records preserved in modern and medieval shells from Orkney, this study demonstrates that periwinkles can provide valuable evidence for reconstructing past summer sea temperatures and reveal when coastal communities gathered shellfish over the last millennium.

A new study published by SEACHANGE researchers at the University of Exeter highlights a profound transformation to the UK’s seafood supply over the last 120 years- from local resilience to global dependence.

Beatriz Arellano-Nava has led an investigation into the use of the annually-resolved increments within long-lived bivalves from the North Atlantic to provide an early warning system for approaching oceanographic tipping points.

Luke and the University of Copenhagen team examine methods for conducting eDNA analysis on ancient marine sediment.

Ruth Thurstan of the SEACHANGE Exeter team, together with co-authors from countries across Europe, have published a data descriptor paper to promote knowledge and use of an open-access dataset that lists locations, records of occurrence, and descriptions of historical native oyster (Ostrea edulis) habitat and fisheries, with the aim to support management and restoration efforts across Europe.

European oysters once formed extensive, biodiverse reefs along Denmark’s coasts, providing vital ecosystem services and supporting coastal communities for thousands of years. Drawing on the largest archaeological oyster growth dataset assembled to date, this study reveals how Mesolithic and Neolithic people harvested oysters over millennia and offers an important long-term baseline for modern oyster restoration and conservation efforts.

European native oyster reefs were once among the most extensive and ecologically important marine habitats in European seas, forming vast, three-dimensional reef systems that supported rich biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services. Drawing on historical records and modern ecological evidence, this study reveals that these ecosystems have undergone such profound decline that they now meet the IUCN criteria for ecosystem collapse, highlighting both the scale of past losses and the ambition required for meaningful restoration. 

Ruth Thurstan of the SEACHANGE Exeter team led a pan-European effort to identify and evaluate historical accounts about past European native oyster (Ostrea edulis) fisheries and habitat. Many native oyster reef habitats were decimated by human activities by the turn of the 20th century, with little correspondingly known of their past form or extent. This study evaluates records published across several hundred years to show that oyster reefs were once an important feature of European coastlines. 

Marine functional connectivity underpins the movement of species, genes, energy and nutrients across the oceans, shaping the resilience and functioning of marine ecosystems over time. This paper demonstrates how geological, archaeological and historical records can reveal long-term changes in connectivity, offering valuable insights into how marine ecosystems have responded to past environmental change and how they may respond in the future.

This paper led by PhD student Jane Earland documents the identification of the Storegga submarine landslide on the offshore environment around Shetland.

Aragonite is one of the most widely used materials for reconstructing past climates from oxygen and carbon isotope records, yet this study shows that common sample preparation techniques can unintentionally alter its mineralogy and geochemical signature. By comparing different grinding methods, the authors demonstrate that machine-based pulverisation can introduce measurable isotopic bias, providing important guidance for improving the accuracy of palaeoclimate reconstructions.

Development of an amino acid geochronology method based on the shell of Arctica islandica.  

For thousands of years, European eels and eelgrass meadows formed a closely connected ecological and cultural system in the western Baltic, supporting productive fisheries relied upon by Mesolithic and Neolithic communities. Using stable isotope analysis of archaeological eel remains, this study reveals the deep historical importance of seagrass habitats for eel populations and highlights their continued value for modern conservation and restoration efforts. 

Harry Robson of the SEACHANGE York team and colleagues from the UK and Denmark have published a paper on stable carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotope analysis of human and faunal bone collagen from a site spanning the transition to agriculture in Denmark.

Harry Robson of the SEACHANGE York team and colleagues from the UK, Ireland, Canada and Denmark report on a multi-method approach to determine the sex as well as palaeodiet of Mesolithic humans from the sites of Nivå 10 and Nivågård, Denmark. 

Members of the SEACHANGE Copenhagen team, Luke Holman, Mikkel Pedersen and Kristine Bohmann and their colleagues, have published a paper on the perspectives and future developments within sedimentary DNA research.

Qian Huang, Martina Conti, and Bernd Schöne, members of the SEACHANGE Mainz team and York team, have published a paper looking at the bulk and amino acid nitrogen isotope compositions in different shell organic phases.

Dr Harry Robson, Oliver Craig and colleagues, of the SEACHANGE York team, publish a paper reporting on the ability of farming groups to adapt to their environment by learning hunter-gatherer-fisher practices, combined with dairying, was key to their northerly expansion. 

Dr Martina Conti and colleagues, of the SEACHANGE York team, publish an article exploring the use of amino acid racemisation analysis to predict fossil ages or past climate temperatures for fossils.

Dr Harry Robson and colleagues, of the SEACHANGE York team, publish an overview of shell middens, including their definition, history of research, chronology, distribution, general research themes, key issues (preservation, post-depositional alteration and visibility), summary and future directions as well as an extensive further reading list.

A new study by Qian Huang, Hao Wuand and Bernd R. Schöne, members of the SEACHANGE Mainz team, opens promising potentials to reconstruct high-resolution changes of the origin and fate of nitrogen in past aquatic food webs.

Paul R. Halloran, James Scourse, Paul G. Butler and David J. Reynolds, members of the SEACHANGE Exeter team, use statistical indicators to show that the subpolar North Atlantic climate system destabilised during two episodes prior to the Little Ice Age.

Dr Harry Robson, a member of the SEACHANGE York team, and colleagues explore the use of 87Sr/86Sr ratios for identifying foraging patterns and hunting grounds of Mesolithic communities in Sweden. 

Lynggaard and colleagues demonstrate that airborne environmental DNA coupled with metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing can be used to detect terrestrial vertebrates.

Dr Ruth Thurstan, a member of the SEACHANGE Exeter team, provides an overview of the relevant historical ecology literature and summarises how its use aids in our understanding of human-ocean interactions. 

Nitrogen levels in the shell of the bivalve mollusk, Arctica islandica reveal new ontogenetic trends and strong links to variability in ocean currents and sea surface temperature over multiple decades.

Kristine Bohmann, of the SEACHANGE team, and colleagues, present an overview of the three main workflows for sample-specific labelling and library preparation in metabarcoding studies on Illumina sequencing platforms; one-step PCR, two-step PCR, and tagged PCR.

Members of the SEACHANGE Copenhagen team publishes a report on the quest to standardise and implement DNA-based aquatic biomonitoring after attending the EU COST Action DNAqua-Net conference in March 2021.