The palaeoecological history of the Praz-Rodet bog (Swiss Jura) based on                 pollen, plant macrofossils and testate amoebae (Protozoa)

We investigated the developmental and hydrological history of a Sphagnum-dominated, kettle peatland in Upper Michigan using testate amoebae, plant macrofossils, and pollen. Our primary objective was to determine if the paleohydrological record of the peatland represents a record of past climate variability at subcentennial to millennial time scales. To assess the role of millennial-scale climate variability on peatland paleohydrology, we compared the timing of peatland and upland vegetation changes. To investigate the role of higher-frequency climate variability on peatland paleohydrology, we used testate amoebae to reconstruct a high-resolution, hydrologic history of the peatland for the past 5100 years, and compared this record to other regional records of paleoclimate and vegetation. Comparisons revealed coherent patterns of hydrological, vegetational, and climatic changes, suggesting that peatland paleohydrology responded to climate variability at millennial to sub-centennial time scales. Although ombrotrophic peatlands have been the focus of most high-resolution peatland paleoclimate research, paleohydrological records from Sphagnum-dominated, closed-basin peatlands record high-frequency and low-magnitude climatic changes and thus represent a significant source of unexplored paleoclimate data.

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Hydrological dynamics and fire history of the last 1300 years in western Siberia reconstructed from a high-resolution, ombrotrophic peat archive

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2015.09.002 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 84 (3) ◽

pp. 312-325 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Mariusz Lamentowicz ◽

Michał Słowiński ◽

Katarzyna Marcisz ◽

Małgorzata Zielińska ◽

Karolina Kaliszan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fire History ◽

Western Siberia ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Testate Amoebae ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Ice Age ◽

Fire Activity ◽

Dry Conditions ◽

History Of ◽

In Fire

Siberian peatlands provide records of past changes in the continental climate of Eurasia. We analyzed a core from Mukhrino mire in western Siberia to reconstruct environmental change in this region over the last 1300 years. The pollen analysis revealed little variation of local pine-birch forests. A testate amoebae transfer function was used to generate a quantitative water-table reconstruction; pollen, plant macrofossils, and charcoal were analyzed to reconstruct changes in vegetation and fire activity. The study revealed that Mukhrino mire was wet until the Little Ice Age (LIA), when drought was recorded. Dry conditions during the LIA are consistent with other studies from central and eastern Europe, and with the pattern of carbon accumulation across the Northern Hemisphere. A significant increase in fire activity between ca. AD 1975 and 1990 may be associated with the development of the nearby city of Khanty-Mansiysk, as well as with the prevailing positive Arctic Oscillation.

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A great response from small ecosystem â€“ the last 500 years of history of a kettle hole mire in W Russia

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-495 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Agnieszka Mroczkowska ◽

Piotr Kittel ◽

Katarzyna Marcisz ◽

Ekaterina Dolbunova ◽

Emilie Gauthier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Average Rate ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Testate Amoebae ◽

Plant Succession ◽

Peat Bogs ◽

Kettle Hole ◽

History Of ◽

Palaeoenvironmental Changes

Peatlands are natural geoarchives which record within organic deposits a picture of the past environmental changes. Depending on the preserved proxy, we are able to reconstruct various aspects of palaeoenvironmental changes, e.g. using pollen (vegetation composition), plant macrofossils (local vegetation changes), testate amoebae and zoological remains (hydrological changes) or XRF scanning (geochemical changes). Here, we investigated changes in land use and climate of western Russia using a range of biotic and abiotic proxies. This part of Europe is characterized by a continental climate, which makes this region very sensitive to climate change, in particular to precipitation fluctuations. Furthermore, in the last two centuries strong human impact in that area has been noticed. &#160;The Serteya kettle hole mire (55&#176;40'N 31&#176;30'E) is situated in the Smolensk Oblast in Western Dvina Lakeland. Study site is located close to the range of plant communities belonging to the hemiboreal zone, making it an ideal position to trace the plant succession of Eastern Europe. Preliminary dating of the material proves that the average rate of biogenic deposits in the reservoir was approx. 1 m per 600 years. The majority of the European peatlands was in some sense transformed as a result of drainage and land use practices in their basins. Serteya kettle hole mire allowed us to accurately track how a small ecosystem responds to palaeoenvironmental changes. Preliminary results will show the major fluctuations of the mire hydrology accompanied by the changes in the land use in the region. Our goal is also to determine the resistance and resilience of peat bogs to disturbances.

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Vegetation and climate history of Quebec’s mixed boreal forest suggests greater abundance of temperate species during the early- and mid-Holocene

Botany ◽

10.1139/cjb-2017-0182 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 96 (7) ◽

pp. 437-448 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Émilie Larochelle ◽

Martin Lavoie ◽

Pierre Grondin ◽

Pierre-Luc Couillard

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forests ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Temperate Species ◽

White Pine ◽

Yellow Birch ◽

Climate History ◽

History Of ◽

Suitable Habitats

Today, scattered disjunct stands of two temperate species, yellow birch and white pine, are present north of their continuous distributional range in southern Quebec (Canada) at topographical locations that offer protection from severe fires. This study tested whether these species had populations more numerous and widespread millennia ago when the climate was presumably warmer. Specifically, this research involved the analyses of pollen, plant macrofossils, and charcoal fragments of two sites within the western part of Quebec’s balsam fir – paper birch bioclimatic domain: a forest humus deposit from a yellow birch stand (local scale), and a peatland (regional scale). Fossil data suggest that white pine was more abundant regionally between 7500 and 5000 cal. BP, before coming rare under subsequent cooler conditions. Likewise, yellow birch was more abundant regionally between 7700 and 1500 cal BP. Its subsequent decline and the local disappearance of white pine by ∼200 cal. BP may both be explained by the severe fires that occurred in recent centuries, as well as the rarity of suitable habitats for these species. The sustained presence of temperate species in mixed boreal forests is the result of the combined action of climate, natural disturbances and habitat characteristics.

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Small peatland with a big story: 600-year paleoecological and historical data from a kettle-hole peatland in Western Russia

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/09596836211033224 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095968362110332

Author(s):

Agnieszka Mroczkowska ◽

Piotr Kittel ◽

Katarzyna Marcisz ◽

Ekaterina Dolbunova ◽

Emilie Gauthier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Impact ◽

Human Activities ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Climatic Variability ◽

Testate Amoebae ◽

The Past ◽

Kettle Hole ◽

Rapid Changes ◽

History Of ◽

Physical And Chemical

Peatlands are important records of past environmental changes. Based on a multiproxy analysis, the main factors influencing the evolution of a peatland can be divided into autogenic and allogenic. Among the important allogenic factors, apart from climate change, are deforestation and drainage, which are directly associated with human impact. Numerous consequences arise from these processes, the most important of which are physical and chemical denudation in the catchment and the related hydrological disturbances in the catchment and peatland. The present study determined how human activities and the past climatic variability mutually influenced the development of a small peatland ecosystem. The main goals of the study were: (1) to trace the local changes of the peatland history over the past 600 years, (2) to investigate their relationship with changes in regional hydroclimate patterns, and (3) to estimate the sensitivity of a small peatland to natural and human impact. Our reconstructions were based on a multiproxy analysis, including the analysis of pollen, macrofossils, Chironomidae, Cladocera, and testate amoebae. Our results showed that, depending on the changes in water level, the history of peatland can be divided into three phases as follows: 1/the phase of stable natural conditions, 2/phase of weak changes, and 3/phase of significant changes in the catchment. Additionally, to better understand the importance of the size of catchment and the size of the depositional basin in the evolution of the studied peatland ecosystem, we compared data from two peatlands – large and small – located close to each other. The results of our study indicated that “size matters,” and that larger peatlands are much more resilient and resistant to rapid changes occurring in the direct catchment due to human activities, whereas small peatlands are more sensitive and perfect as archives of environmental changes.

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Resilience of plant and testate amoeba communities after climatic and anthropogenic disturbances in a Baltic bog in Northern Poland: Implications for ecological restoration

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683616652704 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 130-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Mariusz Gałka ◽

Kazimierz Tobolski ◽

Aleksandra Górska ◽

Mariusz Lamentowicz

Keyword(s):

Human Impacts ◽

Testate Amoebae ◽

Ice Age ◽

Testate Amoeba ◽

Raised Bogs ◽

The Past ◽

Ombrotrophic Peatland ◽

History Of ◽

Climate Cooling

This study explores the history of the development of Sphagnum communities in an ombrotrophic peatland – Bagno Kusowo – over the past 650 years, based on high-resolution plant macrofossil and testate amoebae analysis. Our research provided information related to the length of peatland existence and the characteristics of its natural/pristine state before the most recent human impacts. Changes in the Sphagnum communities before human impact could have resulted from climate cooling during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA). In this cold and unstable hydrological period, among vascular plants, Eriophorum vaginatum and Baeothryon caespitosum dominated in the peatland vegetation. Peat-forming Sphagnum communities survived the drainage conducted during the 20th century at the Bagno Kusowo bog. We provide three important messages through this study: (1) testate amoebae reflect similar hydrological trends in two peat cores despite considerable microhabitat variability, (2) average long-term water level 10 cm below the surface should be a target for active bog conservation and (3) sites like Bagno Kusowo are extremely important to preserve the remains of pristine biodiversity (including genetic diversity of plants and protists) that was completely removed from most of the raised bogs in Europe due to human activities, for example, drainage.

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Reconstructing peatland water tables using transfer functions for plant macrofossils and testate amoebae: A methodological comparison

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2011.05.024 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 268 ◽

pp. 34-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

M. Väliranta ◽

A. Blundell ◽

D.J. Charman ◽

E. Karofeld ◽

A. Korhola ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transfer Functions ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Testate Amoebae ◽

Water Tables ◽

Methodological Comparison

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Wykorzystanie analizy ameb skorupkowych do rekonstrukcji ekstremalnych zmian w hydrologii stanowiska Płotycze koło Sobiboru

Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska sectio B – Geographia Geologia Mineralogia et Petrographia ◽

10.17951/b.2015.70.2.45 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 70 (2) ◽

pp. 45

Author(s):

Joanna Jarosz ◽

Magdalena Suchora ◽

Anna Piróg

Keyword(s):

Historical Data ◽

Testate Amoebae ◽

Peat Bog ◽

Northwestern Part ◽

Data Mapping ◽

Dominant Group ◽

Peat Core ◽

The Past ◽

Gis Tools ◽

History Of

The study focused on reconstruction of the extreme hydrological changes within the bog surrounding the lake Płotycze near Sobibór over the past 200 years. The site has been located within the reserve „Three Lakes”, in the Sobibór Landscape Park. The main aim was to determine the intensity of these changes and to determine the extent to which allogeneic and indigenous factors resulted in the functioning of peat bog. Analysis consisted of 0.60 m peat core extracted from the northwestern part of the bog, including the youngest periods in the history of the bog. This section, as follows directly from historical data, is also a carrier of data on intensive human impact on the area. As a research method testate amoebae analysis was used. These organisms belong to the dominant group of peat microorganisms. The results obtained enabled to determine two main paleohydrology phases in the last 200 years of the peat bog history. These phases have been correlated with historical data and with the results of previous studies carried out in the peat bog, i.e. reconstruction of water level changes based on data mapping using GIS tools and the study of plant communities.

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Postglacial Fire Frequency and its Relation to Long-Term Vegetational and Climatic Changes in Yellowstone Park

The UW National Parks Service Research Station Annual Reports ◽

10.13001/uwnpsrc.1993.3173 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

pp. 146-152

Author(s):

Cathy Whitlock

Keyword(s):

Lake Sediment ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Natural Disturbance ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Fire Frequency ◽

Environmental Perturbations ◽

Human Perturbation ◽

Long Term Effect ◽

History Of

The Paleoecologic recod provides unique insights into the response of communities to environmental perturbations of different duration and intensity. Climate is a primary agent of environmental change and its long-term effect on the vegetation of the Yellowstone/Grand Teton region is revealed in a network of pollen records (Whitlock, 1993). Fire frequency is controlled by climate, and as climate changes so too does the importance of fire in shaping spatial patterns of vegetation. The prehistoric record of Yellowstone's Northern Range, for example, shows the response of vegetation to the absence of major fires in the last 150 years (Whitlock et al., 1991; Engstrom et al., 1991). In longer records spanning the last 14,000 years, periods of frequent fire are suggested by sediments containing high percentages of fire-adapted trees, including lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir, and high amounts of charcoal (Bamosky et al., 1987; Millspaugh and Whitlock, 1993; Whitlock, 1993). The primary research objective has been to study the vegetational history of Yellowstone and its sensitivity to hanges in climate and fire frequency. This information is necessary to understand better the relative effects of climate, natural disturbance, and human perturbation on the Yellowstone landscape. Fossil pollen and plant macrofossils from dated-lake sediment cores provide information on past vegetation and climate. The frequency of charcoal particles and other fire indicators in dated lake-sediment cores offer evidence of past fires.

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Vegetation dynamics and Fire History in Färnebofjärden National Park, Central Sweden

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683620961513 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 28-37

Author(s):

Gina E Hannon ◽

Karen Halsall ◽

Chiara Molinari ◽

Erin Stoll ◽

Diana Lilley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

National Park ◽

Fire History ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Natural Fire ◽

Disturbance Factor ◽

Long Time ◽

History Of ◽

Flooding Events

Palaeoecological studies can identify past trends in vegetation communities and processes over long time scales. Pollen, plant macrofossils and charcoal analyses are used to reconstruct vegetation over the last 6400 years and provide information about former human impact and disturbance regimes in Färnebofjärden National Park, Central Sweden. Three specific conservation planning topics were addressed: (1) the changing ratio of conifers to broadleaved trees; (2) the origin and history of the river meadows and the biodiverse Populus tremula meadows; (3) the role of fire in the maintenance of biological values. Early diverse mixed broadleaved forest assemblages with pine were followed by significant declines of the more thermophilic forest elements prior to the expansion of spruce in the Iron Age. The rise to dominance of spruce was a ‘natural’ process that has been exaggerated by anthropogenic disturbance to artificially high levels today. The initial river meadow communities were facilitated by fire and frequent flooding events, but subsequent dynamics have more definitely been supported by human activities. Rural abandonment during the last 100 years has led to woody successions. Fire has been a continual disturbance factor with an influence on conservation issues such as Picea abies dominance and the maintenance of diverse, non-forest communities. Present occurrence of fire is unusually low, but natural fire frequencies are increasing in the region.

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