A multi-proxy analysis of climate impacts on the recent development of subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in Finnish Lapland (original) (raw)
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Hydrobiologia, 2015
Lake Säkylän Pyhäjärvi has been an important fishing site and drinking water source for the local population for centuries. The lake has undergone significant changes: (1) the water level was lowered in the 1600s and in the 1850s; (2) planktivorous coregonid fish were successfully introduced in the early 1900s; (3) nutrient input from intensified agriculture has increased since the 1950s and (4) the effects of the current variable climate on the lake and its catchment have become more evident since the 1990s. We determined the phases of oligotrophication, eutrophication and recovery and elucidated the ecosystem changes by combining palaeolimnological records with detailed neolimnological data. The sedimentary diatom and cladoceran assemblages first showed a relatively eutrophic period followed by oligotrophic periods, linked with the artificial changes in water level and consequent shifts in macrophyte abundance. The oligotrophic period in the early 1900s is thought to represent the target trophic state for the lake. After the 1950s, introduction of vendace resulted in higher planktivory reflected by an increased relative abundance of small-bodied pelagic cladocerans. Signs of eutrophication occurred due to increased nutrient load. During the last 10 years, signs of recovery have been recorded. A complex history such as that of Lake Pyhäjärvi illustrates the difficulties in selecting management targets, and the risk of setting false targets, for lakes based solely on monitoring data-both neolimnological and palaeolimnological approach are needed.
Journal of Paleolimnology, 2002
This study investigated the distribution of subfossil diatom assemblages in surficial sediments of 100 lakes along steep ecological and climatic gradients in northernmost Sweden (Abisko region, 67.07°N to 68.48°N latitude, 17.67°E to 23.52°E longitude) to develop and cross-validate transfer functions for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Of 19 environmental variables determined for each site, 15 were included in the statistical analysis. Lakewater pH (8.0%), sedimentary loss-on-ignition (LOI, 5.9%) and estimated mean July air temperature (July T, 4.8%) explained the greatest amounts of variation in the distribution of diatom taxa among the 100 lakes. Temperature and pH optima and tolerances were calculated for abundant taxa. Transfer functions, based on WA-PLS (weighted averaging partial least squares), were developed for pH (r 2 = 0.77, root-mean-square-error of prediction (RMSEP) = 0.19 pH units, maximum bias = 0.31, as assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation) based on 99 lakes and for July T (r 2 = 0.75, RMSEP = 0.96°C, max. bias = 1.37°C) based on the full 100 lake set. We subsequently assessed the ability of the diatom transfer functions to estimate lake-water pH and July T using a form of independent crossvalidation. To do this, the 100-lake set was divided in two subsets. An 85-lake training-set (based on single limnological measurements) was used to develop transfer functions with similar performance as those based on the full 100 lakes, and a 15-lake test-set (with 2 years of monthly limnological measurements throughout the icefree seasons) was used to test the transfer functions developed from the 85-lake training-set. Results from the intra-set cross-validation exercise demonstrated that lake-specific prediction errors (RMSEP) for the 15-lake test-set corresponded closely with the median measured values (pH) and the estimations based on spatial interpolations of data from weather stations (July T). The prediction errors associated with diatom inferences were usually within the range of seasonal and interannual variability. Overall, our results confirm that diatoms can provide reliable and robust estimates of lake-water pH and July T, that WA-PLS is a robust calibration method and that long-term environmental data are needed for further improvement of paleolimnological transfer functions.
2003
We assess Holocene environmental change at alpine Lake Njulla (688229N, 188429E, 999 m a.s.l.) in northernmost Sweden using sedimentary remains of chironomid head capsules and diatoms. We apply regional calibration sets to quantitatively reconstruct mean July air temperature (using chironomids and diatoms) and lake-water pH (using diatoms). Both chironomids and diatoms infer highest temperatures (1.7-2.38C above present-day estimates, including a correction for glacio-isostatic land up-lift by 0.68C) during the early Holocene (c. 9,500-8,500 cal. yrs BP). Diatoms suggest a decreasing lake-water pH trend (c. 0.6 pH units) since the early Holocene. Using detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA), we compare the Holocene development of diatom communities in Ĺake Njulla with four other nearby lakes (Lake 850, Lake Tibetanus, Vuoskkujavri, Vuolep Njakajaure) located along an altitudinal gradient. All five lakes show similar initial DCCA scores after deglaciation, suggesting that similar environmental processes such as high erosion rates and low light availability associated with high summer temperature appear to have regulated the diatom community, favouring high abundances of Fragilaria species. Subsequently, the diatom assemblages develop in a directional manner, but timing and scale of development differ substantially between lakes. This is attributed primarily to differences in the local geology, which is controlling the lake-water pH. Imposed on the basic geological setting, site-specific processes such as vegetation development, climate, hydrological setting and in-lake processes appear to control lake development in northern Sweden.
The Holocene, 2019
During the Holocene, multiple thermal changes commonly occurred in the northern hemisphere. They are well-recorded in lakes with minimum human impact from the Arctic Circle area. The development of these lakes reflects ecological and climatic changes occurring from the formation of the lakes until present-day times. All environmental fluctuations affect biodiversity and are reflected in the number and composition of species. The goals of this study were to detect the ecological changes in a small Finnish lake using pollen, Cladocera and geochemical analyses. The research area is located within the northern zone of boreal coniferous forest and is the most sparsely populated region of Finland. The lake is located in Kuusamo uplands, E Finland, near the polar circle and over 20 km from the Russian border. Indicators of cold water were found only during the initial stage, after the 8.2 ka event and then the temperature was higher. Trophy was high at the beginning of the lake development...
A two-stage change in lake level during the 8.2-ka event was identified in Lake Sarup, Denmark (55°N), using a multiproxy approach on precise radiocarbon wiggle-matched annually laminated sediments deposited 8740-8060 cal. yr BP. Changes in d 13 C and d 18 O indicated closed lake hydrology driven by precipitation. The isotopic, sedimentary and plant macrofossil records suggested that the lake level started to decrease around 8400 cal. yr BP, the decrease accelerating during 8350-8260 before an abrupt increase during 8260-8210. This pattern shows that the climate anomaly started *150 years before the onset of the 8.2-ka cooling event registered in Greenland ice cores, but was synchronous with hydrologic change in the North American Lake Agassiz drainage. The lake level decrease was accompanied by a higher accumulation rate of inorganic matter and lower accumulation rates of cladoceran subfossils and algal pigments, possibly due to increased turbidity and reduced nutrient input during this drier period. Pigment analysis also showed added importance of diatoms and cryptophytes during this climate anomaly, while cyanobacteria became more important when the water level rose. Moreover, Nymphaeaceae trichosclereids were abundant during the period of algal enrichment. Cladoceran taxa associated with floating leaved plants or benthic habitats responded in a complex way to changes in water level, but the cladoceran assemblages generally reflected deep lake conditions throughout the period. The lake did not return to its pre-8.2-ka event status during the period of analysis, but remained more productive for centuries after the climatic anomaly as judged from the pigment accumulation and assemblage composition. The change to more eutrophic conditions may have been triggered by erosion of marginal deposits. Together, these data confirm the chronology of hydrologic changes and suggest, for the first time, that lake levels exhibited both a decline and an increase in rapid succession in response to the 8.2-ka event in southern Scandinavia.
2002
The purpose of the palaeolimnological research project carried out at Øvre Neådalsvatn was to apply a number of physical and biological proxy-climate analyses to recent sediments and to compare the results of these analyses with instrumental records of climate. Using a radiometric chronology to match the sediment core with the calendar ages of the reconstructed instrumental record, and by time-averaging the instrumental record, the statistical significance of the relationships between each of the sediment-climate proxies and the reconstructed instrumentalclimate measurements were evaluated.
Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2009
The main objectives of this study were to reconstruct the environmental conditions for a small oligotrophic lake during the last two centuries, to determine if the environment of the lake was anthropogenically mediated, and to assess the pre-impact reference conditions with palaeolimnological techniques. A short sediment core from Lake Nohipalu Valgjärv was analysed in detail for diatom assemblages as well as for loss-on-ignition measurements. Accurate chronology of the sediment core was established and evaluated by different independent approaches -210 Pb, 137 Cs, and 241 Am dating, and the distribution of spheroidal fly-ash particles in sediments. Quantitative inference models based on sedimentary diatoms were applied to reconstruct changes in past lake water pH. Before the mid-19th century, Nohipalu Valgjärv was an oligotrophic lake with clear water continuously transparent down to the bottom and with rich benthic diatom flora. Since the early second half of the 19th century, presumably as a result of forest logging around the lake, water transparency decreased and benthic diatom productivity diminished, and the lake did not recover any more to natural baseline conditions. Due to peat mining activities in the Meenikunno bog, the quality of lake water has changed during the last two decades. The lowered lake level, deteriorated light climate, and decreased pH are the most important environmental variables that have influenced the lake ecosystem.
Lake-Sediment Records of Recent Environmental Change on Svalbard: Results of Diatom Analysis
Journal of Paleolimnology, 2000
Surface sediments from 23 lakes on Svalbard were analysed for diatoms. 182 taxa were found but samples generally have a low richness, with the majority of sites dominated by benthic genera such as Fragilaria, Navicula, and Achnanthes. Centric Cyclotella species occur at only three sites. Modern relationships between diatom abundance and water chemistry and other environmental variables were explored numerically and a preliminary transfer function for pH was developed. Lakes fell into three groups on the basis of their diatom assemblages: (1) high pH, high cation, high conductivity sites characterised by Amphora libyca, (2) shallow sites with relatively high nutrient values characterised by Fragilaria species, and (3) more acid and dilute sites with high amounts of snow cover in the catchments characterised by small Achnanthes species and Navicula digitulus. Five sediment cores representing the recent past were also analysed for diatoms. Three shallow sites were dominated by Fragilaria species throughout the period represented by the cores and no shifts in inferred pH were found. At two deeper sites (Arresjøen, Birgervatnet) major assemblage shifts are found which are unrelated to independent evidence for atmospheric contamination. Early (ca. 1200 AD) changes found at both sites are possibly related to the onset of the 'Little Ice Age'. Later changes are neither synchronous nor similar in nature and might be best explained as individual responses to the recovery from the 'Little Ice Age' and subsequent climatic warming.
Ecological Indicators, 2020
Alpine mountain lake biota are adapted to harsh conditions making them particularly vulnerable to global change. However, as each mountain lake has a different limnology, there are supposed to be differential responses and degrees of resilience to climate change. In this study, 23 lakes in the Bavarian-Tyrolian Alps differing in altitude, size and geology were examined for their diatom community response to climate warming. Subfossil data were related to 210 Pb and 137 Cs-dated sediment cores. Correspondence and regression analyses revealed five different assemblage developments depending on lake depth, altitude and origin. Planktic species, especially Cyclotella, dominated deeper and lower-altitude mountain lakes earlier and stronger. This depends on the stability and temperature of the epilimnion which in turn determines the tipping point. Instead, shallow lakes exhibit higher species reorganizations of diatom assemblages. Mountain lakes of lower altitudes or affected by water level fluctuations (WLF) establish complex substrata and Achnanthidium accompanied by epiphytic species or Denticula tenuis in WLF-lakes replace dominating Staurosira. Conversely, alpine shallow lakes lack directional shifts and Staurosira dominate, but approach the tipping point of macrophyte establishment. In a deep doline lake, Diploneis species replace Nitzschia denticula with negligible planktic proportions. In mountain lakes with direct anthropogenic influence, enhanced nutrient supply disguises diatom response to global warming. These findings revealed deep mountain lakes with low nutrient levels to be more resilient to climate change than shallow lakes with a higher trophic status as the onset of the response to rising temperatures is earlier and thus smoother. In conclusion, subfossil diatom analyses can provide a powerful tool for climate change assessment and other anthropogenic impacts on mountain lakes.
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Geosciences
The study focuses on chemical composition of stream and subsurface water in the catchments of two small arctic alpine lakes in the Kilpisjärvi area (northwest Finland). Differences and changes in chemical components of both water types are followed in order to detect spatial variability and impact of environmental factors. To achieve this, ion compositions of subsurface water and streams were measured at 12 sites in the catchments of Lakes Saana and Saanalampi during four years (2008–2010, and again in 2017). In the Lake Saanalampi catchment, the salinity of stream water (7.0 to 12.7 μS·cm−1) corresponded to that of snow. In the catchment of Lake Saana, however, the conductivity in stream water was much higher (40 to 220 μS·cm−1), connected mainly to the increase of SO42− and less with Mg2+ and Ca2+ contents, especially in the western part of the Saana catchment. These results demonstrate that arctic conditions do not preclude intense chemical weathering where conditions are favoura...
Hydrobiologia, 2011
The sediment of Lake Balaton (Hungary) provides important information about the lake's history, particularly with regard to eutrophication. In this study, we used fossil pigment analysis and subfossil Cladocera remains preserved in a dated sediment core to identify trophic stages from *250 BC to present. Dates of the most recent eutrophic events are in good agreement with previously published data. In general, the abundance and diversity of the Cladocera community increased with eutrophication and decreased with oligotrophication. The sediments of Lake Balaton were characterised by Chydoridae remains, of which Alona species were the most abundant. Of these, Alona quadrangularis and Alona affinis accounted for 40 and 20% of the total Cladocera remains, respectively. The trophic state of Lake Balaton varied between mesotrophic and eutrophic regimes. Seven different trophic periods were identified in Lake Balaton on the basis of Sedimentary Pigment Degradation Unit (SPDU) content of the sediment. Eutrophic states were (1) from *250 to *30 BC, (3) between *300 and *590 AD, (5) between 1834 and 1944 and (7) from the 1960s until present. Mesotrophic states were (2) *30 BC to *300 AD, (4) 590-1834, (6) 1944-1960s. Discriminant analysis of the cladoceran data confirmed these historic events, except for the short mesotrophic episode between 1944 and 1960. The first stage of eutrophication of Lake Balaton (*250 to *30 BC) was characterised by extensive macrophyte vegetation, as indicated by the increasing abundance of vegetation-associated Cladocera species (Eurycercus lamellatus, Sida crystallina, Pleuroxus sp.). Intensification of eutrophication was identified since the 1980s, reflected by a high abundance of Bosmina species. The most significant planktivorous fish of Lake Balaton was the Sabre carp (Pelecus cultratus), and when its number decreased, the abundance of Bosmina species increased. This study shows that Cladocera are responsive to trophic state changes, underlining their importance as a tool for the assessment of lake eutrophication.
Inland Waters
Alpine lakes and ponds are unique and vulnerable aquatic habitats inhabited by specific species assemblages. In contrast to alpine streams, the genetic diversity and population structure of the organisms found in alpine standing waters are almost completely unknown. Here we present a population genetic study of a macroinvertebrate species from alpine lakes, the diving beetle Agabus bipustulatus (Linnaeus, 1767). We used partial cytochrome b (Cyt b) mtDNA gene of 560 specimens from 43 lakes and ponds distributed across 20 mountain valleys of the Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians) and their foothills. The aims of this study were to provide detailed genetic metapopulation analysis of A. bipustulatus within a geographically small mountain system, to explore the role of ridges in isolating lake populations, and to test for the applicability of Cyt b in insect population genetic studies. We detected high genetic variability (42 haplotypes), comparable to many large spatial scale studies. There was a star-shaped genetic structure with few dominant haplotypes, which confirmed recent origin, rapid expansion of metapopulation, and multiple colonization of the Tatra Mountain region by A. bipustulatus. The populations within the mountain system differed from each other, suggesting that the Tatra Mountain lakes and ponds were colonized through multiple colonization events, and also that colonization of the region and evolution of metapopulations are to a certain extent influenced by ridge barriers.
The Holocene, 2009
We present a pigment-based quantitative high-resolution (five years) austral summer DJF (December to February) temperature reconstruction for Central Chile back to AD 850. We used non-destructive in situ multichannel reflection spectrometry data from a short sediment core of Laguna Aculeo (33°50′S/70°54′W, 355 m a.s.l., central Chile). Calibration-in-time (period AD 1901—2000, cross-validated with split periods) revealed robust correlations between local DJF temperatures and total sedimentary chlorin (relative absorption band depth (RABD) centred in 660—670 nm RABD660;670: r=0.79, P<0.01; five-years triangular filtered) and the degree of pigment diagenesis ( R660nm/670 nm: r=0.82, P<0.01; five-years triangular filter). Root Mean Squared Error values are small (between 0.24 and 0.34°C) suggesting that most of the reconstructed decadal-scale climate variability is significant. Our data provide quantitative evidence for the presence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly (in this case, wa...
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 2018
Diatom analysis was undertaken on a 200year sediment record in an alpine lake (Popradské pleso, Tatra Mountains, Central Europe). Due to its remote character and well-documented human influence since the mid-nineteenth century, it allows a study of the relationship between anthropogenic pressures and diatom assemblages. Altogether, 122 diatom taxa of 40 genera were identified, and two major taxonomic shifts were revealed in the stratigraphic record. The timing of the first significant shift in~1850 precludes the possibility of being caused by direct human activities, since according to historic documents there was neither continuous human presence nor grazing in the valley before that time. In addition, the direct effect of organic pollution early in the 1960s connected with the operation of a tourist hotel was not clearly reflected in the diatom signal. The diatom-inferred total phosphorus (DI-TP) reconstruction indicated the highest TP content well before the most direct wastewater pollution from a newly built hotel. There was a considerable effect of climate to diatom assemblage structure as well as diatom life forms. Our results suggest that direct organic pollution influenced the diatom communities less than expected, and the main driver of change was climate warming. We hypothesize that it is because of the short residence time of the lake, since it has both strong inlet and outlet, and it has been showed that the inlet had significant effect on benthic communities in the past. At the same time, fish manipulation could have been the reason for some fluctuation in DI-TP unrelated to climate and organic pollution.
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Diatom response to mid-Holocene climate in three small Arctic lakes in northernmost Finnmark
The Holocene
Palaeoclimatic reconstructions from lake sediment biological records can be challenging, due to variation in non-climatic factors, which alter ecosystem responses. To consider this, it is important to replicate a study regionally, so as to gain information on spatial variability of ecosystem response and the influence of site-specific conditions. Previous pollen-based palaeoclimatic records from three well-dated Arctic lake sites highlight the response of regional Scots Pine ( Pinus sylvestris) and Mountain Birch ( Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) forest-tundra transition to Holocene climatic variability and suggest the northernmost Peninsulas of Finnmark to be climatically sensitive. This study analysed dated sediment sequences between c. 3970 and c. 6200 cal. yr BP from these three previously published shallow lakes: Liten Čap’pesjav’ri (LCJ), over Gunnarsfjorden (OGF) and over Kobbkrokvatnet (OKV), for freshwater diatoms. Diatom assemblages showed an increase in the planktonic...
Diatoms as indicators of Holocene climate and environmental change in northern Sweden
Journal of Ecology, 2001
The objective of the thesis was to explore the potential of diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) as indicators of Holocene climate and environmental change in northern Sweden (Abisko region, 68°21'N, 18°49'E). A modern surface-sediment calibration set including 100 lakes was developed and lake-water pH, sedimentary organic content (assessed by loss-on-ignition) and temperature were identified as most powerful environmental variables explaining the variance within the diatom assemblages. Transfer functions based on unimodal species response models (WA-PLS) were developed for lake-water pH and mean July air temperature (July T), yielding coefficients of determination of 0.77 and 0.70, and prediction errors based on leave-one-out cross-validation of 0.19 pH units and 0.96 °C for lake-water pH and July T, respectively. The transfer functions were validated with monitoring data covering two open-water seasons (lake-water pH) and meteorological records covering the 20 th century (July T). The good agreement between diatom-based inferences and measured monitoring data confirmed the prediction ability of the developed transfer functions. Analysing a Holocene sediment core from a lake nearby Abisko (Vuoskkujávri), diatoms infer a linearly decreasing July T trend (1.5 °C) since 6,000 cal. BP, which compares well with inferences based on chironomids and pollen from the same sediment core. The lake-water pH inference shows a pattern of moderate natural acidification (c. 0.5 pH units) since the early Holocene, reaching present-day pH values at c. 5,000 cal. BP. By fitting fossil diatom samples to the modern calibration set by means of residual distance assessment within canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), the early Holocene (between 10,600 and 6,000 cal. BP) was identified as a problematic time-period for diatom-based inferences and, consequently, reconstructions during this period are tentative. Pollen-based inferences also show 'poor' fit between 10,600 and 7,500 cal. BP and chironomids probably provide the most reliable July T reconstruction at Vuoskkujávri, with 'poor' fit only during the initial part of the Holocene (between 10,600 and 10,250 cal. BP). Possible factors confounding diatom-based July T inferences were investigated. Using detrended CCA (DCCA), Holocene sediment sequences from five lakes indicate that during the early Holocene, mainly physical factors such as high minerogenic erosion rates, high temperature and low light availability may have regulated diatom assemblages, favouring Fragilaria species. In all five lakes, diatom assemblages developed in a directional manner, but timing and scale of development differed substantially between lakes. The differences are attributed primarily to the geological properties of the lake catchments (with strong effects on lake-water pH), but other factors such as climatic change, vegetation, hydrologic setting and in-lake processes appear to regulate diatom communities in each lake differently. The influence of long-term natural acidification on diatom assemblages progressively declined during the Holocene with corresponding increase of the influence of climatic factors.
Journal of Paleolimnology, 2017
A sediment core from the Arctic Revvatnet (Hornsund area, SW Spitsbergen, Svalbard) provided data on environmental changes over the last 3100 years. Diatom analysis showing the domination of planktonic Cyclotella forms suggested good edaphic conditions until the middle of the nineteenth century, even during the Little Ice Age. A thermally stratified and relatively stable water column with good mixing allowed small, less heavily silicified Cyclotella sensu lato to develop during this time. The climate warming at the beginning of the twentieth century induced intensification of erosion processes in the catchment of the lake and caused an increase in the sedimentation rate. These processes have caused a lack of thermal stratification by disturbances in the water column and an increase of nutrients, consequently driving changes in the diatom species composition, which became dominated by benthic forms. In this period, almost all planktonic taxa disappeared or abruptly decreased in frequency. Higher temperatures accelerated the melting of nearby glaciers, which caused an increase in the activity of diatoms typical of running waters. Also a few Cladocera species appeared at the first time in the youngest samples.
Journal of Paleolimnology, 2019
We conducted a paleolimnological study to examine how changes in human activity interacted with climate to influence productivity and biodiversity over the past millennium in oligotrophic Lake Atnsjøen, SE Norway. The study included analyses of sediment geochemistry, subfossil diatoms and cladocerans, and macrofossils. Results were compared with the historical record of human activities in the catchment, pollen analysis and paleoclimate inferences from the lake. During the first 750 years of the record (1000 CE-1750 CE), a time of relatively low human activity, lake productivity and biodiversity were strongly related to climate. During the Little Ice Age (1550-1800 CE), lake productivity and diatom diversity were constrained by cold climate. A century of climate warming (1780-1880 CE) initiated an increase in productivity. Accelerated human settlement after 1850 CE, however, had an even stronger impact on productivity, mediated by increased agriculture and/or forestry, which led to greater nutrient loading of the lake. Similarly, diatoms in the lake responded to the rise in temperature, but increasing human activity also had a moderate impact on the diatom community, which displayed weak signs of nutrient enrichment. From 1980-1990 CE onwards, lake productivity declined as a consequence of a recent decrease in human activity and changing land use. The human-induced increase in lake productivity starting ca. 1850 CE propagated through the food web and increased consumer productivity, as reflected by greater accumulation rates of cladocerans, trichopterans and turbellarians. The cladoceran community was likely under top-down control of fish, as indicated by changes in size structure and diversity. Our study showed that increasing human activity during the settlement period had a stronger impact on lake productivity than did climate. Furthermore, the slight human-mediated increase in nutrient loading had different impacts on productivity and biodiversity in the study lake. This study demonstrates that even relatively small changes in human activities in watersheds can have measurable impacts on nutrient-poor lakes.
Holocene aquatic ecosystem change in the boreal vegetation zone of northern Finland
Journal of Paleolimnology, 2011
We studied multiple variables in a sediment core from Lake Kipojärvi, northern Finland, to investigate Holocene ecosystem changes in relation to catchment characteristics and known climate variations. We focused on a forested catchment because previous paleolimnological studies conducted in Fennoscandia focused mainly on subarctic lakes within a range of shifting treeline(s). Data on aquatic macrophytes, diatoms, Cladocera, C:N ratio, organic
A multi-proxy palaeoecological study of Alanen Laanijärvi, a boreal-forest lake in Swedish Lapland
Boreas, 2005
Chironomids, pollen and spores were used to reconstruct Holocene aquatic and terrestrial environments at Alanen Laanijärvi, northern Sweden. Chironomid analysis revealed a pattern of limnological evolution from oligotrophic conditions in a relatively deep lake during 8.6 to 5.5 cal. ka BP, followed by a period of lake shallowing from 5.5 to 2.7 cal. ka BP. Increases in acidity and littoral habitat complexity may have occurred from 2.7 cal. ka BP to the present, though some compositional changes may have resulted from human disturbance. Chironomid-inferred mean July air temperatures range between 9.8 C in the Early Holocene to 11.3 C in the Late Holocene. Limitations on chironomid-based quantitative temperature interpretations may exist because of low taxon richness. Diatoms were recovered from the upper sediments only, from about AD 1800. Pollen and spore analysis revealed an early colonizing vegetation of juniper, sedges and birch soon after local deglaciation, followed by birch forests until about 8.3 cal. ka BP. Alder stands occurred locally to 5.5 cal. ka BP, when pine and spruce forests developed and remain to the present day. These results suggest that little major terrestrial vegetation change may occur in some northern environments with predicted future global warming, where it is predicted to be most severe. Aquatic environments may, however, be greatly affected by a shift in precipitation regime, causing changes in allochthonous organic input, lake depth and possibly the amount of human activity or disturbance in the watershed.
2008
should be assigned to one of five ecological categories defining the degree to which present-day conditions deviate from those uninfluenced or only negligibly impacted by anthropogenic activities (the reference condition). By 2015, all relevant waterbodies must have obtained 'good' ecological quality. 2. We describe the changes in ecological state in 21 Danish lakes using 1850 as a benchmark for reference conditions. Sediment samples representing 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2000 were analysed for diatom and cladoceran subfossils. Ecological status since 1850 was evaluated using correspondence analysis and dissimilarity measures to assess assemblage changes, and existing transfer functions were applied to infer changes in total phosphorous concentrations from diatoms (DI-TP) and submerged macrophyte coverage (SUB-COV) and benthi-planktivorous fish catch per unit effort (BP-CPUE) from cladoceran subfossils. 3. Eighteen lakes underwent significant changes, most markedly during the past 50-100 years, in either or both diatom and cladoceran community structure. Low floristic and faunal alteration was found only in three lakes; these were, however, already nutrient-rich in 1850. 4. In 1850, most lakes were already characterized by high DI-TP (median of 17 lakes = 86 µg TP L -1 ), high inferred BP-CPUE and low inferred SUB-COV, and these eutrophic conditions still prevail. In addition, the accumulation rate of sediment and cladoceran subfossils and the pelagic dominance of diatoms and cladocerans have increased. 5. When applying the thresholds proposed by a recent WFD classification for Danish lakes to the DI-TP values, only one lake could be described as having a 'good' ecological state with a concurrent low community change since 1850, limited to the cladoceran community, however. This suggests that this lake alone may serve as a potential reference site. 6. Synthesis and applications. Our study, demonstrating the potential of a palaeolimnological approach to assess deviations from reference conditions, suggests that Danish reference lakes may be difficult to find, most probably due to the country's long history of cultural impact. Lake managers consequently face great challenges in their endeavour to ensure 'good' ecological state by 2015. Therefore, further restrictions on land-use and nutrient loading in lake catchments are needed as is the initiation of restoration activities to improve the ecological state of the lakes.
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