Environmental controls on modern chironomid faunas from NW Iceland and implications for reconstructing climate change

Reconstructing climate change quantitatively over millennial timescales is crucial for understanding the processes that affect the climate system. One of the best methods for producing high resolution, low error, quantitative summer air temperature reconstructions is through chironomid analyses. We analysed over 50 lakes from NW and W Iceland covering a range of environmental gradients in order to test whether the distribution of the Icelandic chironomid fauna was driven by summer temperature, or whether other environmental factors were more dominant. A range of analyses showed the main environmental controls on chironomid communities to be substrate (identified through loss-on-ignition and carbon content) and mean July air temperature, although other factors such as lake depth and lake area were also important. The nature of the Icelandic landscape, with numerous volcanic centres (many of which are covered by ice caps) that produce large quantities of ash, means that relative lake carbon content and summer air temperature do not co-vary, as they often do in other chironomid datasets within the Arctic as well as more temperate environments. As the chironomid–environment relationships are thus different in Iceland compared to other chironomid training sets, we suggest that using an Icelandic model is most appropriate for reconstructing past environmental change from fossil Icelandic datasets. Analogue matching of Icelandic fossil chironomid datasets with the Icelandic training set and another European chironomid training set support this assertion. Analyses of a range of chironomid-inferred temperature transfer functions suggest the best to be a two component WA-PLS model with r ² _jack = 0.66 and RMSEP = 1.095°C. Using this model, chironomid-inferred temperature reconstructions of early Holocene Icelandic sequences show the magnitude of temperature change compared to contemporary temperatures to be similar to other NW European chironomid sequences, suggesting that the predictive power of the model is good.     

萨拉乌苏河流域米浪沟湾剖面主元素记录的末次间冰阶气候波动

 位于鄂尔多斯高原萨拉乌苏河米浪沟湾剖面是重建毛乌素沙地晚更新世以来古气候的理想地点。其末次间冰阶(MIS3)层序含4种沉积相,划分为19个沉积单元,构成9.5个风成的砂丘砂与河流相、湖相和古土壤交替的沉积旋回。主元素分析结果显示,该剖面MIS3层序中河流相、湖相和古土壤的Al2O3、TOFE、CaO、MgO、K2O、Na2O、TiO2含量明显高于古风成砂, 而SiO2则相反, 构成与沉积旋回相应的9.5个元素波动旋回。这些元素旋回指示了该地末次间冰阶至少经历了10次温湿(W事件)和9次冷干(C事件)气候波动,且可划分为MIS3e(58.90~49.50 ka BP)、MIS3d(49.50~40.70 ka BP)、MIS3c(40.70~36.90 ka BP)、MIS3b(36.90~27.00 ka BP)和MIS3a(27.00~22.30 ka BP)等5个亚段。其中, 19次冷/暖波动可与格陵兰GRIP冰芯δ18O冰段/间冰段大致对应, 5个亚段与我国古里雅冰芯和V23-81冷性浮游有孔虫数代表的北大西洋地区气候也具有较好的可比性。     

腾格里沙漠南缘末次间冰期5e亚段的微量元素特征及其反映的古气候

腾格里沙漠南缘土门剖面TMS5e层段由16层风成砂、11层湖积黄土和5层湖相沉积构成,其年代相当于深海氧同位素5e。分析结果表明,TMS5e的10种微量元素的含量依次为PMnSrRbVCrZnNiCuNb。就平均值来看,古流动沙丘砂的各微量元素含量最低,其次为古半固定-固定沙丘砂,但两者的各微量元素含量都明显低于整个TMS5e层段相应平均值;黄土状亚砂土微量元素含量稍低于整个TMS5e层段相应平均值;湖相沉积和湖积黄土的各微量元素含量相差较小,且明显都高于整个TMS5e层段、古流动沙丘砂和黄土状亚砂土的平均值。土门剖面TMS5e层段的微量元素指示的MIS5e腾格里沙漠南缘的气候是不稳定的,经历了14.5次暖湿与冷干交替的气候波动,且可划分为TMS5e5(139~129.30ka BP)、TMS5e4(129.30~124ka BP)、TMS5e3(124~119.50ka BP)、TMS5e2(119.5~116.5ka BP)和TMS5e1(116.5~113.70ka BP)等5个亚段,分别可与格陵兰GRIP冰芯氧同位素所反映的MIS5e5、MIS5e4、MIS5e3、MIS5e2、MIS5e1等气候波动在性质和相位上相对应。     

Development of a chironomid-based air temperature inference model for the central Canadian Arctic

Subfossil midge remains were identified in surface sediment recovered from 88 lakes in the central Canadian Arctic. These lakes spanned five vegetation zones, with the southern-most lakes located in boreal forest and the northern-most lakes located in mid-Arctic tundra. The lakes in the calibration are characterized by ranges in depth, summer surface-water temperature (SSWT), average July air temperature (AJAT) and pH of 15.5 m, 10.60°C, 8.40°C and 3.69, respectively. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that maximum depth, pH, AJAT, total nitrogen-unfiltered (TN-UF), Cl and Al capture a large and statistically significant fraction of the overall variance in the midge data. Inference models relating midge abundances and AJAT were developed using different approaches including: weighted averaging (WA), weighted averaging-partial least squares (WA-PLS) and partial least squares (PLS). A chironomid-based inference model, based on a two-component WA-PLS approach, provided robust performance statistics with a high coefficient of determination (r ² = 0.77) and low root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP = 1.03°C) and low maximum bias. The use of a high-resolution gridded climate data set facilitated the development of the midge-based inference model for AJAT in a region with a paucity of meteorological stations and where previously only the development of a SSWT inference model was possible. David Porinchu and Nicolas Rolland contributed equally to the work.     

Participatory 3-dimension mapping: A tool for encouraging multi-caste collaboration to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction

This article reflects upon the use of participatory 3-dimensional mapping (P3DM) for facilitating the collaboration of different castes in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). Unequal power relationships amongst upper and lower castes has indeed been identified has a major driver of people's vulnerability to natural hazards, including the negative effects of climate change, in Nepal and elsewhere in South Asia. However, this does not prevent the members of all these castes, including the lowest untouchables, to display significant capacities in facing these natural hazards and changes in climate patterns. It is therefore similarly important to harness those capacities and address the unequal power relationships underpinning vulnerability. Achieving these goals requires fostering dialogue amongst upper and lower castes as well as with other stakeholders of DRR and CCA, e.g. scientists, NGOs, government agencies, which often tend to work with a single caste because it is easier. P3DM provides a platform for such a dialogue as it makes the knowledge of every caste tangible and credible to others. This proves essential in both assessing and planning for reducing the risk of disasters and adapting to climate change. This article particularly documents activities conducted in a small village of the Terai plain of Nepal frequently affected by flooding.