Fig. 7

Principal Coordinate Analysis of sedDNA and sedRNA storage conditions. Principal coordinate analysis of the sedDNA and sedRNA analysis performed on condition As, Af and B using MEGAN. Top: Clustered by treatment, purple shading- Condition As, which was subsampled and sequenced on-site. Blue shading—Condition Af, which was subsampled on site and frozen at − 20 °C, sequencing was performed upon return to the laboratory. Green shading—Condition B which was transported back to the laboratory and stored at 4 °C. After 10 weeks, subsampling and sequencing was performed. Bottom: Clustered by sediment type, brown shading encompasses samples from the organic region of the core, beige shading encompasses samples from the carbonate region of the core and grey shading encompasses samples from the clay region of the core. Squares denote sediment that was visually identified as organic, circles denote sediment that was visually identified as carbonate and triangles denote sediment that was visually identified as clay. Sampling depths are shown in cm beside each symbol. Percentage variation displayed for PC1 and PC2