Observations of Ebria tripartita (Schumann) Lemmermann in Baltic sediments

Sediment finds of Ebria tripartita (Schumann) Lemmermann in the Baltic Sea are reported and light and electron micrographs of the remains of the taxon are presented. Stratigraphic ebriid analysis performed on two sediment cores (one from the deep Gotland Basin and the other from the shallow Töölö bay, central Helsinki) provided clear indications of frequency changes of E. tripartita. These changes are apparently related to the variations in trophic status and salinity, yet competition and degree of preservation may also have contributed to the distributions. Due to identification problems, the species may actually be more common in the sediment material of the Baltic Sea than has hitherto been recognized. E. tripartita may have a significant potential as an indicator species in paleolimnological research as more information is gathered about its present-day ecological requirements.     

Global change revealed by palaeolimnological records from remote lakes: a review

Over recent decades, palaeolimnological records from remote sites have provided convincing evidence for the onset and development of several facets of global environmental change. Remote lakes, defined here as those occurring in high latitude or high altitude regions, have the advantage of not being overprinted by local anthropogenic processes. As such, many of these sites record broad-scale environmental changes, frequently driven by regime shifts in the Earth system. Here, we review a selection of studies from North America and Europe and discuss their broader implications. The history of investigation has evolved synchronously with the scope and awareness of environmental problems. An initial focus on acid deposition switched to metal and other types of pollutants, then climate change and eventually to atmospheric deposition-fertilising effects. However, none of these topics is independent of the other, and all of them affect ecosystem function and biodiversity in profound ways. Currently, remote lake palaeolimnology is developing unique datasets for each region investigated that benchmark current trends with respect to past, purely natural variability in lake systems. Fostering conceptual and methodological bridges with other environmental disciplines will upturn contribution of remote lake palaeolimnology in solving existing and emerging questions in global change science and planetary stewardship.     

Application of piezoelectric transducers in simulated rainfall erosivity assessment

Abstract

Rainfall simulators have often been used to mimic natural rainfall for studies of various land-surface and water interaction processes. The characteristics of the simulated rainfall are the main indicators used to judge the performance of the rainfall simulators. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of piezoelectric transducers for measuring and evaluating a dripper-type simulated rainfall drop-size distribution (DSD) and kinetic energy (KE). The directly measured KE was significantly correlated with the estimated KE using the drop-size distribution and empirical rain drop fall velocity relationships. This result emphasizes the potential use of the piezoelectric sensor to directly measure and evaluate rainfall kinetic energy. Also, the relationship between rainfall intensity and KE showed good patterns of agreement between simulated rainfall and natural rainfall.

Citation Abd Elbasit, M. A. M., Yasuda, H. & Salmi, A. (2011) Application of piezoelectric transducers in simulated rainfall erosivity assessment. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(1), 187–194.     

The ecology of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pediastrum</Emphasis> (Chlorophyceae) in subarctic lakes and their potential as paleobioindicators

Subarctic and arctic lakes are the focus of many paleolimnological studies, as they are still among the least impacted lakes by humans. Hence they provide an excellent setting for studies on long-term climatic variability without the overriding effects of direct anthropogenic perturbation. On the other hand, these ecosystems are highly vulnerable to even moderate anthropogenic influence like long-distance airborne transport of nutrients and pollutants. The paleolimnological studies conducted in these areas usually include a multitude of different proxies, but so far only few have used the green algal group of Pediastrum Meyen. These algae, however, preserve well in sediments and can be identified to species level, which lends them potential as a paleo-proxy. In this study we analysed the present Pediastrum assemblages from surface-sediments of 16 subarctic lakes in Finnish Lapland as well as bottom samples from the same sediment cores, which are “spot” samples from the recent past. We found a total of 14 Pediastrum taxa, five of which occurred at moderate to high relative abundances. The majority of the taxa showed distinct relationships to environmental variables measured. Of these, pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) explained most of the variance in the distribution of Pediastrum and generally summarised the main environmental gradients in our data set well. Five of the studied lakes lacked Pediastrum taxa altogether, and Pediastrum occurred at low abundances in four additional lakes. All of these nine lakes have extremely low nutrient concentrations and generally lowest pH and DOC in the data set and were defined by barren catchment areas and scarce lake macrophyte growth. According to a top–bottom analysis of sediment cores, the Pediastrum assemblages of the study lakes have changed moderately, suggesting changed environmental conditions in the lakes. Although these changes appear to be climate-related, more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.     

Pairwise comparisons to reconstruct mean temperature in the Arctic Atlantic Region over the last 2,000 years

Existing multi-proxy climate reconstruction methods assume the suitably transformed proxy time series are linearly related to the target climate variable, which is likely a simplifying assumption for many proxy records. Furthermore, with a single exception, these methods face problems with varying temporal resolutions of the proxy data. Here we introduce a new reconstruction method that uses the ordering of all pairs of proxy observations within each record to arrive at a consensus time series that best agrees with all proxy records. The resulting unitless composite time series is subsequently calibrated to the instrumental record to provide an estimate of past climate. By considering only pairwise comparisons, this method, which we call PaiCo, facilitates the inclusion of records with differing temporal resolutions, and relaxes the assumption of linearity to the more general assumption of a monotonically increasing relationship between each proxy series and the target climate variable. We apply PaiCo to a newly assembled collection of high-quality proxy data to reconstruct the mean temperature of the Northernmost Atlantic region, which we call Arctic Atlantic, over the last 2,000 years. The Arctic Atlantic is a dynamically important region known to feature substantial temperature variability over recent millennia, and PaiCo allows for a more thorough investigation of the Arctic Atlantic regional climate as we include a diverse array of terrestrial and marine proxies with annual to multidecadal temporal resolutions. Comparisons of the PaiCo reconstruction to recent reconstructions covering larger areas indicate greater climatic variability in the Arctic Atlantic than for the Arctic as a whole. The Arctic Atlantic reconstruction features temperatures during the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Climate Anomaly that are comparable or even warmer than those of the twentieth century, and coldest temperatures in the middle of the nineteenth century, just prior to the onset of the recent warming trend.     

Sediment accumulation rates in European lakes since AD 1850: trends,reference conditions and exceedence

Sediment accumulation rate (SAR) is an important physical parameter in all lakes and increases have been observed in many over the last c.100 years. This has been ascribed to changes in land-use and land-management causing accelerated catchment soil erosion and an increase in autochthonous organic matter production. The EU Water Framework Directive requires that assessment of biological, hydromorphological and chemical elements of water quality should be based on the degree to which present day conditions deviate from those expected in the absence of significant anthropogenic influence, termed reference conditions. Currently however, the reference condition for sediment accumulation rate for lakes of different types is undefined. To improve our understanding of the controls on SARs we compiled SAR and lake typology data for 207 European lakes derived from ²¹⁰Pb dated cores to assess how rates have changed through time (in 25 year classes) both overall and for lakes of different types. Seventy-one percent of these sediment cores showed surface SARs higher than “basal” (mainly nineteenth century) rates, 11% showed no change while 18% showed a decline. Lakes were then classified into lake-types using four variables: alkalinity (3 classes), altitude (3 classes), maximum depth (2 classes) and lake area (2 classes). This generated a possible 36 lake classes of which 25 were represented in the dataset. Nine lake-types contained >10 lakes. Little change in SAR occurred prior to 1900 and most increases occurred in more recent periods, in particular 1950–1975 and post-1975. This indicates a general acceleration in SAR in European lakes during the second half of the twentieth century. Reference SARs were estimated for six lake-types with the highest number of sites. European mountain lakes had the lowest reference SAR (0.005 ± 0.003 g cm⁻² yr⁻¹) while lowland, high alkalinity sites had the highest (0.03–0.04 g cm⁻² yr⁻¹). SARs for other lake-types ranged between 0.012 and 0.024 g cm⁻² yr⁻¹. Using the mountain lake-type as an example, the 1850 reference SAR appears to show good agreement with available data for lakes beyond Europe indicating these values may be more broadly applicable. Contemporary SARs in lakes of all classes showed exceedence over their defined reference SAR. This may be partly due to diagenetic processes. Greatest exceedences were found in shallow, low altitude lakes and these are considered to be the ones under the greatest threat from continued elevation of SAR. It is considered that climate change may play a progressively more important role in driving SAR in the future.     

A multi-proxy analysis of climate impacts on the recent development of subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in Finnish Lapland

Responses to recent climatic changes in the sediment of subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in northwestern Finnish Lapland are studied by comparison of various biological and sedimentological proxies with the 200-year long climate record, specifically reconstructed for the site using a data-set of European-wide meteorological data. The multi-proxy evidence of simultaneously changing diatom, Cladocera, and chrysophyte assemblages along with the increased rates of organic matter accumulation and pigment concentrations suggest that the lake has undergone a distinct typological change starting from the turn of the 20th century. This change, indicating an increase in lake productivity, parallels a pronounced rise in the meteorologically reconstructed mean annual and summer temperatures in the region between ca. 1850 and 1930's. We postulate that, during the Little Ice Age, the lake was not, or was only weakly, thermally stratified during summer, whereas the subsequent increase in air and hence epilimnetic water temperatures resulted in the development of the present summer stratification. The increased thermal stability of the lake created more suitable conditions for the growth of phyto- and zooplankton and changed the overall primary production from benthos to plankton. Mineral magnetic and carbonaceous particle records suggest long-distance pollution, particularly since the 1920's, yet the observed changes in lake biota and productivity can hardly be explained by this very minor background pollution; the 20th century species configurations are typical of neutral waters and do not indicate any response to pollution.     

The early holocene hydrosere in a small acid hill-top basin studied using crustacean sedimentary remains

The hydroseral development of a former small lake in Southern Finland was studied by means of subfossil cladoceran remains, diatoms, pollen, plant macrofossils and other sediment data. The diatom analysis shows the lake to have become markedly acid during the Early Holocene. This is reflected in the cladoceran communities in the form of a fall in the proportions of Bosmina longirostris etc. and a reciprocal rise in Bosmina (Eubosmina) longispina, an increase in the proportions of the chydorid species indicative of acidity, and the appearance of certain new morphotypes. The concentrations of both planktonic and littoral species and the numbers of such species increase with acidification. Advancement in the hydroseral succession is reflected in the disappearance of benthic species from the chydorid communities and a pronounced increase in exclusively phytophile species. Sedimentation and the drop in water levels are seen to have led to a spread of helophytes and floating-leaved plants over the water body around 6500–7000 B.P., and a vegetation-filled swamp was created at the site. The zooplankton was practically exterminated, but the concentrations of littoral cladocerans reached their peak at this point. The basin became overgrown completely at the beginning of the Subboreal chronozone (approx. 4600–4800 B.P.), simultaneously with the low-water phase observed in many lakes. It became covered with a Sphagnum stand, and this in turn led to complete destruction of the cladoceran communities. The planktonic/littoral ratio among the Cladocera closely reflected the relation between open water and the macrophyte zone as a function of time. Climatically induced rises and falls in water level are shown to have played a significant role in promoting the advancement of the hydroseral succession.     

Neutral monosaccharides as biomarker proxies for bog-forming plants for application to palaeovegetation reconstruction in ombrotrophic peat deposits

The application of molecular approaches to palaeovegetation reconstruction in peat is still relatively rare, with molecular level studies of carbohydrate organic geochemistry being generally uncommon. In this report, neutral monosaccharides derived via acid hydrolysis were investigated in modern bog-forming plants in order to assess their potential application as biomarkers in peat palaeovegetation reconstruction. The concentrations of major neutral monosaccharides, i.e. glucose (Glu), xylose (Xyl), arabinose (Ara), galactose (Gal), mannose (Man), rhamnose (Rha) and fucose (Fuc), were determined using gas chromatography (GC) for 7 lichens, 10 Sphagnum species and 7 vascular plants collected from three ombrotrophic mires across northern Europe. Based on factor analysis of the modern plant monosaccharide compositions, two carbohydrate proxies: [(Man + Gal):(Ara + Xyl)] and % contributions of Rha and Fuc in total Glu-free monosaccharides [%(Rha + Fuc)], were selected as biomarkers for bog-forming plants. The three plant groups could be separated by [(Man + Gal):(Ara + Xyl)], which showed decreasing values following the order: lichens > Sphagna > vascular plants. The high [%(Rha + Fuc)] in Sphagna allowed their separation from lichens and vascular plants. These two factors were applied as plant group-specific indices to investigate vegetation change in a peat core from Kontolanrahka Bog, Finland. Our findings show strong correspondence with fossil plant abundances from the same core, thereby confirming the potential of carbohydrate compositional parameters as proxies for palaeovegetation reconstruction in peat bogs.