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This paper describes our recent attempt to isolate and analyse DNA from old plant remains of the common peatmoss Sphagnum fuscum retrieved from a peat core collected in the mire Fuglmyra, in central Norway. DNA was recoverable and usable from subfossilized (10-450 years old) plant remains of the peatmoss. A chloroplast (trnL) and two nuclear (ITS2 and RAPDf) regions were co-amplified from 80 samples of different ages. The RAPDf region was the only variable one with three different haplotypes found among five samples. Comparison of the ancient sequences with modern sequences found in the extant population occurring at the same site ascertained a genetic link between modern and fossil samples of this species. This retrieval of ancient DNA from subfossilized moss remains isolated from peat cores has important implications for the palaeoecology of peatmosses by allowing direct estimates of plant population dynamics in space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes our recent extraction of ancient DNA (aDNA) from Holocene pollen and discusses the potential of the technique for elucidating timescales of evolutionary change. We show that plastid DNA is recoverable and usable from pollen grains of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris from 10 ka and 100 years ago. Comparison of the ancient sequences with modern sequences, obtained from an extant population, establish a first genetic link between modern and fossil samples of Scots pine, providing a genetic continuity through time. One common haplotype is present in each of the three periods investigated, suggesting that it persisted near the lake throughout the postglacial. The retrieval of aDNA from pollen has major implications for palaeoecology by allowing (i) investigation of population-level dynamics in time and space, and (ii) tracing ancestry of populations and developing phylogenetic trees that include extinct as well as extant taxa. The method should work over the last glacial oscillation, thus giving access to ancestry of populations over a crucial period of time for the understanding of the relationship between speciation and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]