This NAISS project proposal is for storage of data from three projects funded by the KAW and the BNP Paribas Foundations under the research theme of 'Sedimentary paleogenomics': "Reconstructing biotic responses to multiple periods of abrupt climate warming using deep-time ancient DNA from marine and terrestrial sediments" Goal and Summary: To investigate the consequences of climate changes over multiple glacial-interglacial transitions on the biodiversity of marine and terrestrial Arctic biomes. I will apply cutting-edge ancient DNA techniques to sediments from North America and the Arctic Ocean basin to test the magnitude of ecological changes across multiple glacial-interglacial transitions over the past 450,000 years. The study will test whether ecological changes across glacial-interglacial transitions are comparable and can therefore serve as a model for predicting changes associated with ongoing climate warming. "First Contact - a multidisciplinary assessment of the impact of human arrival on faunal biodiversity" We here propose a groundbreaking new research programme that aims to investigate one of the great unresolved questions regarding human activity and palaeoecology: how did the expansion of modern humans during the last 70 thousand years affect local populations of wild animals? To examine this, we will use an interdisciplinary approach integrating archaeological, geological and palaeogenomic methods. More specifically, we will generate large-scale multi-species population genomic and sedimentary DNA datasets from several localities across the Northern Hemisphere and combine these with archaeological data and chronometric dating to: (1) Establish a refined chronology of regional human arrival across the Northern Hemisphere. (2) Test the hypothesis that wildlife demography was affected by human arrival and subsequent demographic expansions. (3) Explore the timing, rate, and faunal biodiversity consequences of human-induced landscape modifications. (4) Investigate how the arrival of domesticated animals affected resident wildlife populations. (5) Assess the extent of pathogen transmission from humans and domestics into wildlife populations. "Fluxes from Land to Ocean: How Coastal Habitats in the Arctic Respond (FLO CHAR)" FLO CHAR will resolve our understanding of climate induced land-ocean matter fluxes, permafrost thaw, and associated impacts on the most rapidly changing ecosystem on Earth, the Arctic coastal environment. FLO CHAR will deliver key datasets on the magnitude and impacts of land-ocean fluxes to coastal waters in the rapidly changing Arctic. By identifying the biogeochemical and physical characteristics of the water column and surface sediments as well as the properties of coastal subsea permafrost, the results will improve our understanding of climate change impact on near-shore and coastal ecosystems, including their biodiversity. Communities in the ISR of northern Canada rely upon traditional food harvesting, including marine mammals, fish, and invertebrates as key sources of nutrition, and to support local economies. FLO CHAR will provide unique knowledge that will contribute to the sustainable management of these important resources. In order to carry out this project, we bring together a diverse team of experienced and early-career scientists from Europe and North America with exceptional working experience in the Arctic.