The Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability (AEGIS) is a global research consortium supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Paleo-Environmental Genomics Group (PEGG)
Reconstructing past environments using ancient environmental DNA
Led by Mikkel Winther Pedersen, the Paleo Environmental Genomics Group (PEGG) uses ancient environmental DNA to reconstruct past ecosystems and investigate how climate change, environmental processes, and human activity have shaped biodiversity through time.
Our research combines shotgun sequencing and DNA metabarcoding of environmental DNA preserved in natural archives such as sediments and soils. These genetic records allow us to reconstruct past biological communities and address key questions about species distributions, evolution, population structure, and ecosystem dynamics. By integrating genomic, archaeological, and paleoenvironmental data, we aim to better understand the interactions between past humans, environments, and climatic change, and how these processes have influenced biodiversity across long timescales.
Our research spans multiple disciplines, including geology, archaeology, biology, and geography. By extracting and analysing ancient environmental DNA from natural archives, we address fundamental questions about past ecosystems and the processes that shaped them.
Current projects span five continents, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, and focus on reconstructing past environments, understanding speciation processes, and investigating human impacts on ecosystems.
“Developing this emerging research field means constantly exploring and expanding the boundaries of the methods while addressing important scientific questions. We therefore continue to improve and extend the possibilities of environmental ancient DNA research, both in the laboratory and through new computational approaches,” says Mikkel Winther Pedersen, group leader.
Zampirolo, G., Ruter, A., Živaljević, I., Penezić, K., Thomsen, P. F., Orton, D., Kašanin Grubin, M., Antić, N., & Pedersen, M. W. (2025). Ancient DNA reconstruction of late holocene ecosystems within the Carpathian basin from paleo-meanders and archaeological deposits. Scientific Reports 16(4301).
Ngoepe, N., Mwaiko, S., Kishe, M. A., Wienhues, G., Temoltzin-Loranca, Y., King, L., Courtney Mustaphi, C., Grosjean, M., Tinner, W., Matthews, B., Vogel, H., Heiri, O., Jemmi, E., Lürig, M., Pedersen, M. W., Seehausen, O., & Muschick, M. (2025). Fossil evidence for trait diversification in an adaptive radiation. Scientific Reports 15(38824).
Holman, L. E., Bohmann, K., Craig, O. E., Orton, D., Pedersen, M. W., Olsen, M. T., Thurstan, R. H., & Scourse, J. (2025). Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on marine ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 380(1930), 20240026.
Lindahl, A., Epp, L. S., Boessenkool, S., Pedersen, M. W., Brace, S., Heintzman, P. D., Dalén, L., & Díez del Molino, D. (2025). Palaeogenomic inference of biodiversity dynamics across Quaternary timescales. Nature Reviews Biodiversity.
Zampirolo, G., McCarthy, M. L., Živaljević, I., Penezić, K., Vuković, S., Mladenović, T., Marković, D., Marković, N., Radmanović, D., Orton, D., Olsen, M. T., & Pedersen, M. W. (2025). Continuous mitochondrial diversity of Danube sturgeon species over millennia: insights from ancient DNA. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 380(1930).
Holman, L., Zampirolo, G., Gyllencreutz, R., Scourse, J., Frøslev, T., Carøe, C., Gopalakrishnan, S., Pedersen, M. W., & Bohmann, K. (2025). Navigating past oceans: comparing metabarcoding and metagenomics of marine ancient sediment environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology Resources, e14086.
Full list of publications by Mikkel Winther Pedersen.
Swiss National Science Foundation:
Carlsberg Foundation:
European Research Council:
Group members
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ngoepe, Nare | Guest Researcher | ||
| Sawafuji, Rikai | Guest Researcher | +4535328189 | |
| Vogel, Nicola Alexandra | Postdoc |
| Name | Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Isabella Gargano | Erasmus+ student | ||
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Projects
Group Leader
Mikkel Winther Pedersen,
Assistant professor
Phone: +45 2927 5342
E-mail: mwpedersen@sund.ku.dk