Postglacial chironomid assemblage succession in northernmost Ungava Peninsula,Canada

Sediment cores spanning the postglacial period were recovered from two coastal freshwater basins located 300 km apart in northernmost Ungava (Nunavik, Canada). A basal date from the sequence recovered near Wakeham Bay suggests that the region was ice‐free by as early as 9600 cal. a BP. The initial development of both investigated lacustrine ecosystems was characterised by chironomid assemblages strongly dominated by the Subtribe Tanytarsina. These early postglacial assemblages showed greatly reduced diversity but much greater abundance than during subsequent periods of lake evolution. An abrupt and distinct turnover in sedimentary chironomid assemblage composition and productivity, marked by a switch to a dominance of Orthocladiinae, occurred around 6 ka BP. This turnover likely corresponds with a significant disturbance in the regional environment, which could be linked to the final disappearance of the last remnants of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. These findings, based on the first palaeolimnological investigations undertaken in northernmost Ungava, provide new insights into lateglacial and postglacial faunal recolonisation patterns in aquatic ecosystems of the eastern Canadian Arctic. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance comparison of two biotic indices measuring the ecological status of water bodies in the Southern Baltic and Gulf of Lions

Two biotic indices, ATZI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and Benthic Quality Index (BQI) have been recently introduced within the EC Water Framework Directive to assess the quality of marine habitats: both are based on sensitivity/tolerance classification and quantitative information on the composition of soft-bottom macrofauna. Their performance, especially with regard to sampling effort was assessed based on two data sets collected in Southern Baltic and one from the Gulf of Lions Mediterranean. AMBI was not affected by sampling effort but BQI was. Two modifications were proposed for BQI (i.e., BQI) (1) the removal of the scaling term (i.e., BQI(W)), and (2) the replacement of the scaling term by different scaling term (i.e., BQI(ES)). Both modified BQIs were largely independent of sampling effort. Variability was slightly lower for BQI(W) than for BQI(ES). BQI was highly correlated with BQI(W) and with BQI(ES) both in the Southern Baltic and in the Gulf of Lions. However, the proportions of stations, which were not attributed the same ecological quality status (EcoQ) when using BQI and its two modified forms were always high. Differences in ecological classification were mostly due to the scales used to infer EcoQ. Based on this study we recommend to use BQI(ES) in future studies because it apparently constitutes the best compromise in (1) being independent of sampling effort, (2) limiting the variability in computation in relation with sampling effort, (3) being correlated with BQI and corresponding EcoQ.     

Effects of industrial outfalls on tropical macrobenthic sediment communities in Reunion Island (Southwest Indian Ocean)

Temporal changes in the composition of soft bottom macrobenthic assemblages at Reunion Island (Southwest Indian Ocean) were studied in the context of a long-term environmental monitoring programme studying the impacts of effluents of industrial sugar cane refineries that are transferred to shallow and deep coastal environments by different pathways: surface discharge and deep underground injection. Seven stations (between 20 and 160 m depth) were surveyed between 1994 and 2003 on the industrial zone. One additional station was surveyed on a reference site. Spatio-temporal changes in the composition of macrobenthic communities were assessed using several diversity indices, ABC curves, MDS and associated ANOSIM tests and biotic indices. Among the 171 taxa recorded, polychaetes were dominant (89 species), followed by crustaceans and molluscs. The analysis of spatial changes in the composition of macrobenthos showed the existence of distinct benthic communities along the depth gradient. Temporal changes in macrobenthos composition were most prominent at the shallowest station. They mainly corresponded to the decline of several initially dominant taxa and the increase of the Eunicid polychaete Diopatra cuprea. This station further showed increasing macrofaunal abundance, biomass and sediment organic content over time, concomitant with decreasing sediment grain sizes. In deeper environments, temporal changes were much smaller. Macrofaunal abundance and species richness increased progressively, suggesting a moderate impact on benthic ecosystems resulting from slight enrichments due to effluents rich in organic matter. Our results highlight an original response to disturbance pattern involving opportunistic Eunicidae species (D. cuprea) not previously described. Moreover, they allow for the comparison of the impact on macrofauna caused by industrial effluents exported by two distinct and different pathways in a tropical coastal high-energy marine environment.     

North American transect of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in water beetles from a museum collection

Museum collections contain a wealth of insect remains originating from a wide geographic range, which can be used to investigate their utility as a proxy for environmental isotope ratios. Chitinous remains of insects such as beetles (Coleoptera) are chemically stable and their stable isotope composition is strongly related to that of environmental water in the period of cuticle formation. We present a dataset of chitin ??D and ??¹⁸O in two genera of water beetles from a museum collection containing 40 locations for Helophorus (water scavenging beetles) and 48 locations for Hydroporus (predaceous diving beetles) that were selected from latitudes 27?C82°N in North America. Only two genera were used to minimize inter-sample variation caused by species-specific differences in metabolic effects, feeding strategy, habitat, and life cycle. The isotopic composition of water beetle exoskeletons had a strong latitudinal trend (North?CSouth) from ?160 to +65??? for ??D and from 7 to 34??? for ??¹⁸O, paralleling gradients of isotopes in precipitation. Strong relationships were observed between isotopic composition of beetles and modelled July precipitation (0.71?<?R ²?<?0.82, p?<?0.001). The relationship between ??D and ??¹⁸O in the beetle samples had a systematic offset from the global meteoric water line, which was likely caused by metabolic effects during chitin formation. The offset between ??D values in beetles and in modelled precipitation was 33??? larger, on average, for Hydroporus compared with Helophorus, suggesting fractionation of hydrogen isotopes during passage through the food chain. This trophic level effect was not observed for stable oxygen isotopes. Furthermore, the observed deviations between isotopic composition of water beetles and modelled precipitation at collection sites were not constant and indicated local hydrological deviations from modelled precipitation. The largest deviations were observed for sites in the Southern US and the Arctic that are highly evaporative and at sites in the Rocky Mountains and Coastal Mountains that were fed by snow melt. Our results indicated that the isotopic composition of water beetles from a museum collection was systematically related to ??D and ??¹⁸O values of precipitation at the collection site.     

The formation of boundary clinopyroxenes and associated glass veins in type B1 CAIs

Abstract— We used focused ion beam thin section preparation and scanning transmission electron microscopy (FIB/STEM) to examine the interfacial region between spinel and host melilite for spinel grains in type B1 inclusions from the Allende and Leoville carbonaceous chondrites. Boundary clinopyroxenes decorating spinel surfaces have compositions similar to those of coarser clinopyroxenes from the same region of the inclusion, suggesting little movement after formation. Host melilite displays no anomalous compositions near the interface and late‐stage minerals are not observed, suggesting that boundary pyroxenes did not form by crystallization of residual liquid. Allende spinels display either direct spinel‐melilite contact or an intervening boundary clinopyroxene between the two phases. Spinel‐melilite interfacial regions in a Leoville B1 are more complex, with boundary clinopyroxene, as observed in Allende, but also variable amounts of glass, secondary calcite, perovskite, and an Mg‐, Al‐, OH‐rich and Ca‐, Si‐poor crystalline phase that may be a layered double hydrate. One possible scenario of formation for the glass veins is that open system alteration of melilite produced a porous, hydrated aggregate of Mg‐carpholite or sudoite + aluminous diopside that was shock melted and quenched to a glass. The hydrated crystalline phase we observed may have been a shocked remnant of the precursor phase assemblage, but is more likely to have formed later by alteration of the glass. In the mantle, boundary clinopyroxenes may have been crystallized from Ti‐rich liquids formed by the direct dissolution of perovskite and an associated Sc‐Zr‐rich phase or as a reaction product between dissolving perovskite and liquid. In the core, any perovskite and associated Ti‐enriched liquids that may have originally been present disappeared before the growth of boundary clinopyroxene, and the observed boundary clinopyroxene may have nucleated and grown from the liquid, along with the larger core clinopyroxene.     

Long-term ice sheet–climate interactions under anthropogenic greenhouse forcing simulated with a complex Earth System Model

Several multi-century and multi-millennia simulations have been performed with a complex Earth System Model (ESM) for different anthropogenic climate change scenarios in order to study the long-term evolution of sea level and the impact of ice sheet changes on the climate system. The core of the ESM is a coupled coarse-resolution Atmosphere–Ocean General Circulation Model (AOGCM). Ocean biogeochemistry, land vegetation and ice sheets are included as components of the ESM. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) decays in all simulations, while the Antarctic ice sheet contributes negatively to sea level rise, due to enhanced storage of water caused by larger snowfall rates. Freshwater flux increases from Greenland are one order of magnitude smaller than total freshwater flux increases into the North Atlantic basin (the sum of the contribution from changes in precipitation, evaporation, run-off and Greenland meltwater) and do not play an important role in changes in the strength of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (NAMOC). The regional climate change associated with weakening/collapse of the NAMOC drastically reduces the decay rate of the GrIS. The dynamical changes due to GrIS topography modification driven by mass balance changes act first as a negative feedback for the decay of the ice sheet, but accelerate the decay at a later stage. The increase of surface temperature due to reduced topographic heights causes a strong acceleration of the decay of the ice sheet in the long term. Other feedbacks between ice sheet and atmosphere are not important for the mass balance of the GrIS until it is reduced to 3/4 of the original size. From then, the reduction in the albedo of Greenland strongly accelerates the decay of the ice sheet.     

Characterisation of contemporary local climate change in the mountains of southwest Bulgaria

The Pirin Mountains in southwest Bulgaria spatially mark a transition between the Mediterranean and temperate climate zones. Therefore they are also particularly relevant for research on high mountain climate and the effect of landscape transformation. Historical climate records gathered in the area have been researched, checked and statistically examined. The mountainous climate has been characterised and trends in the evolution of temperature and precipitation since 1931 have been outlined. There are objective evidences for an increasing annual mean temperature, longer vegetative periods and local droughts in spring and autumn. Significant changes also appear in climatic threshold values such as the number of frost change days. This last parameter is very important for the sustainability of mountainous ecosystems.     

Stratigraphic,sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental constraints on the rise of the Urgonian platform in the western Swiss Jura

Urgonian‐type carbonates are a characteristic feature of many late Early Cretaceous shallow‐marine, tropical and subtropical environments. The presence of typical photozoan carbonate‐producing communities including corals and rudists indicates the prevalence of warm, transparent and presumably oligotrophic conditions in a period otherwise characterized by the high density of globally occurring anoxic episodes. Of particular interest, therefore, is the exploration of relationships between Urgonian platform growth and palaeoceanographic change. In the French and Swiss Jura Mountains, the onset and evolution of the Urgonian platform have been controversially dated, and a correlation with other, better dated, successions is correspondingly difficult. It is for this reason that the stratigraphy and sedimentology of a series of recently exposed sections (Eclépens, Vaumarcus and Neuchâtel) and, in addition, the section of the Gorges de l’Areuse were analysed. Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, the evolution of phosphorus contents of bulk rock, a sequence‐stratigraphic interpretation and a correlation of drowning unconformities with better dated sections in the Helvetic Alps were used to constrain the age of the Urgonian platform. The sum of the data and field observations suggests the following evolution: during the Hauterivian, important outward and upward growth of a bioclastic and oolitic carbonate platform is documented in two sequences, separated by a phase of platform drowning during the late Early Hauterivian. Following these two phases of platform growth, a second drowning phase occurred during the latest Hauterivian and Early Barremian, which was accompanied by significant platform erosion and sediment reworking. The Late Barremian witnessed the renewed installation of a carbonate platform, which initiated with a phase of oolite production, and which progressively evolved into a typical Urgonian carbonate platform colonized by corals and rudists. This phase terminated at the latest in the middle Early Aptian, due to a further drowning event. The evolution of this particular platform segment is compatible with that of more distal and well‐dated segments of the same northern Tethyan platform preserved in the Helvetic zone of the Alps and in the northern subalpine chains (Chartreuse and Vercors).