Paleohydrology inferred from diatoms in northern latitude regions (original) (raw)
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Journal of Quaternary Science, 2014
Inference models from diatoms preserved in lake sediments can be used to reconstruct long-term pH changes to better understand the process of lake ontogeny. An expanded diatom training set was developed using taxonomically harmonized modern assemblages in surface sediments of 171 lakes spanning a variety of geological and climatic settings across the Canadian Arctic. Lake-water pH emerged as a significant variable and the most influential in structuring diatom assemblages. The resulting two-component weighted-averaging partial least squares pH inference model performs strongly, even after identifying effects of spatial autocorrelation at distances <20 km. The model was then applied to three dated Holocene diatom stratigraphies from Arctic regions of contrasting bedrock geology and buffering capacity, and the significance of the pH reconstructions was assessed. At Lake CF3 in a poorly buffered catchment, a gradual but significant pH decline begins 5000 years after lake inception, coincident with regional Late Holocene cooling. Reconstructions for two well-buffered, more alkaline sites were not significant, probably due to poor analogues and other factors driving changes in diatom assemblages. Due to sparse soil and vegetation in these and other Arctic basins, bedrock composition is the most important regulator of Holocene pH, and only in poorly buffered lakes does pH primarily represent a climate signal.
PLOS One, 2010
Background: Although arctic lakes have responded sensitively to 20 th -century climate change, it remains uncertain how these ecological transformations compare with alpine and montane-boreal counterparts over the same interval. Furthermore, it is unclear to what degree other forcings, including atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen (Nr), have participated in recent regime shifts. Diatom-based paleolimnological syntheses offer an effective tool for retrospective assessments of past and ongoing changes in remote lake ecosystems.
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.
Écoscience, 2021
ABSTRACT The Arctic has warmed significantly over the past decades. However, the evolution of Arctic climate during the Holocene remains to be clarified in more detail, and regional factors controlling aquatic ecosystem evolution need to be better defined to grasp the sensitivity of lakes to rapid environmental change. Nettilling Lake was studied for changes in sedimentary diatom assemblages over the last 5 000 years. Lake water pH was reconstructed by applying a diatom-based lake water pH inference model. We hypothesized that the changes in diatom assemblages were driven by variations in lake water transparency and attendant water turbidity associated with the input of fine suspended solids from glacial meltwaters. Reduced underwater light resulted in greater abundance of planktonic over benthic taxa from ca. 5 000 to 3 000 yrs. cal. BP, followed by less turbid conditions and proliferation of benthic taxa during regional cooling. The lake water was slightly alkaline throughout the Holocene, ranging between pH 7.1 and 7.7. Our results support the notion that hydrological processes, dependent on climate variations, have a first-order influence on the regulation of the lake water pH through glacial meltwater inputs, which will likely continue to control the lake's long-term chemical and biological evolution.
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...
Journal of Quaternary Science, 2014
Inference models from diatoms preserved in lake sediments can be used to reconstruct long-term pH changes to better understand the process of lake ontogeny. An expanded diatom training set was developed using taxonomically harmonized modern assemblages in surface sediments of 171 lakes spanning a variety of geological and climatic settings across the Canadian Arctic. Lake-water pH emerged as a significant variable and the most influential in structuring diatom assemblages. The resulting two-component weighted-averaging partial least squares pH inference model performs strongly, even after identifying effects of spatial autocorrelation at distances <20 km. The model was then applied to three dated Holocene diatom stratigraphies from Arctic regions of contrasting bedrock geology and buffering capacity, and the significance of the pH reconstructions was assessed. At Lake CF3 in a poorly buffered catchment, a gradual but significant pH decline begins 5000 years after lake inception, coincident with regional Late Holocene cooling. Reconstructions for two well-buffered, more alkaline sites were not significant, probably due to poor analogues and other factors driving changes in diatom assemblages. Due to sparse soil and vegetation in these and other Arctic basins, bedrock composition is the most important regulator of Holocene pH, and only in poorly buffered lakes does pH primarily represent a climate signal.
Journal of Paleolimnology, 2009
We inferred late Holocene lake-level changes from a suite of near-shore gravity cores collected in Lake 239 (Rawson Lake), a headwater lake in the Experimental Lakes Area, northwestern Ontario. Results were reproduced across all cores. A gravity core from the deep central basin was very similar to the near-shore cores with respect to trends in the percent abundance of the dominant diatom taxon, Cylcotella stelligera. The central basin, however, does not provide a sensitive site for reconstruction of lakelevel changes because of the insensitivity of the diatom model at very high percentages of C. stelligera and other planktonic taxa. Quantitative estimates of lake level are based on a diatom-inferred depth model that was developed from surficial sediments collected along several depth transects in Lake 239. The lake-level reconstructions during the past *3,000 years indicate that lake depth varied on average by ±2 m from present-day conditions, with maximum rises of *3-4 m and maximum declines of *3.5-5 m. The diatom-inferred depth record indicates several periods of persistent low levels during the nineteenth century, from *900 to 1100 AD, and for extended periods prior to *1,500 years ago.
Reconstructing lake ice cover in subarctic lakes using a diatom-based inference model
Geophysical Research Letters, 2014
A new quantitative diatom-based lake ice cover inference model was developed to reconstruct past ice cover histories and applied to four subarctic lakes. The used ice cover model is based on a calculated melting degree day value of +130 and a freezing degree day value of À30 for each lake. The reconstructed Holocene ice cover duration histories show similar trends to the independently reconstructed regional air temperature history. The ice cover duration was around 7 days shorter than the average ice cover duration during the warmer early Holocene (approximately 10 to 6.5 calibrated kyr B.P.) and around 3-5 days longer during the cool Little Ice Age (approximately 500 to 100 calibrated yr B.P.). Although the recent climate warming is represented by only 2-3 samples in the sediment series, these show a rising trend in the prolonged ice-free periods of up to 2 days. Diatom-based ice cover inference models can provide a powerful tool to reconstruct past ice cover histories in remote and sensitive areas where no measured data are available.
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2002
The distribution of modern diatom assemblages in surficial sediments of 64 Labrador (Canada) lakes across broad vegetational biomes was studied in order to explore speciesenvironment relationships and to develop transfer functions for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The study sites were situated along a latitudinal gradient (51°27' to 57°37' N) and classified according to six catchment vegetation types: wetland (peatland) forest, spruce/fir forest, lichen woodland, foresttundra, coastal tundra, and tundra. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that among 28 environmental variables determined for each site, water colour and alkalinity accounted for most of the variance in the diatom data. Using weighted-averaging partial least squares techniques, we developed transfer functions for inference of water colour (CLR) (r2jack= 0.85, root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) = 0.18log(CLR + 1) or 1.51 Pt units) and alkalinity (ALK) (r2jack= 0.63, RMSEP = 0.25log(ALK + ...