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Temperate lake sediments store a substantial amount of organic carbon (OC) over millennia. Despite the importance of quantifying terrestrial carbon budgets for Nature-based Solutions, the long-term accumulation of OC in European temperate lakes is poorly constrained. In this study, we analyzed 30 lake sediment records to generate a preliminary first-order estimate of Holocene OC accumulation rate (OCAR) and OC storage in UK lakes. We also examined the environmental variables that influence OCAR and produced synthesized Holocene records of %OC and z -scores of log-transformed OCAR and sediment accumulation rate (SAR) at 500-year resolution. Based on our estimation, we report an average Holocene OCAR of 7.4 ± 5.5 g C m−2 yr−1 and a Holocene total OC storage of 0.24 ± 0.18 Pg C in UK lakes. Apart from latitude, no relationship was found between the average Holocene OCAR and the various environmental variables (i.e. temperature, precipitation, surface area, catchment area, depth, altitude, and geology type). During the Holocene, OCAR closely resembles variations in SAR, whereas the increase in %OC is likely explained by the warming climate. Early Holocene variations in OCAR were primarily climate-driven. In contrast, the anthropogenic impact on the landscape exerted a predominant influence on OC burial during the middle-late Holocene. Our results improve the current understanding of terrestrial carbon budgets in the UK and demonstrate the under-appreciated importance of lakes as long-term OC stores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide insights into glacier-climate dynamics of the South Shetland Islands (SSI), NW Antarctic Peninsula, we present a new deglaciation and readvance model for the Bellingshausen Ice Cap (BIC) on Fildes Peninsula and for King George Island/Isla 25 de Mayo (KGI) ~62°S. Deglaciation on KGI began after c. 15 cal. ka BP and had progressed to within present-day limits on the Fildes Peninsula, its largest ice-free peninsula, by c. 6.6–5.3 cal. ka BP. Probability density phase analysis of chronological data constraining Holocene glacier advances on KGI revealed up to eight 95% probability 'gaps' during which readvances could have occurred. These are grouped into four stages – Stage 1: a readvance and marine transgression, well-constrained by field data, between c. 7.4 and 6.6 cal. ka BP; Stage 2: four probability 'gaps', less well-constrained by field data, between c. 5.3 and 2.2 cal. ka BP; Stage 3: a well-constrained but restricted 'readvance' between c. 1.7 and 1.5 cal. ka BP; Stage 4: two further minor 'readvances', one less well-constrained by field data between c. 1.3 and 0.7 cal. ka BP (68% probability), and a 'final' well-constrained 'readvance' after <0.7 cal. ka BP. The Stage 1 readvance occurred as colder and more negative Southern Annular Mode (SAM)-like conditions developed, and marginally stronger/poleward shifted westerly winds led to more storms and precipitation on the SSI. Readvances after c. 5.3 cal. ka BP were possibly more frequent, driven by reducing spring/summer insolation at 62°S and negative SAM-like conditions, but weaker (equatorward shifted) Westerlies over the SSI led to reduced storminess, restricting readvances within or close to present day limits. Late Holocene readvances were anti-phased with subaquatic freshwater moss layers in lake records unaffected by glaciofluvial inputs. Retreat from 'Neoglacial' glacier limits and the recolonisation of lakes by subaquatic freshwater moss after 1950 CE is associated with recent warming/more positive SAM-like conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One major challenge in the study of late-Quaternary extinctions (LQEs) is providing better estimates of past megafauna abundance. To show how megaherbivore population size varied before and after the last extinctions in interior Alaska, we use both a database of radiocarbon-dated bone remains (spanning 25–0 ka) and spores of the obligate dung fungus, Sporormiella, recovered from radiocarbon-dated lake-sediment cores (spanning 17–0 ka). Bone fossils show that the last stage of LQEs in the region occurred at about 13 ka ago, but the number of megaherbivore bones remains high into the Holocene. Sporormiella abundance also remains high into the Holocene and does not decrease with major vegetation changes recorded by arboreal pollen percentages. At two sites, the interpretation of Sporormiella was enhanced by additional dung fungal spore types (e.g., Sordaria). In contrast to many sites where the last stage of LQEs is marked by a sharp decline in Sporormiella abundance, in interior Alaska our results indicate the continuance of megaherbivore abundance, albeit with a major taxonomic turnover (including Mammuthus and Equus extinction) from predominantly grazing to browsing dietary guilds. This new and robust evidence implies that regional LQEs were not systematically associated with crashes of overall megaherbivore abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benthic diatoms are commonly used for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in Arctic regions, but interpretation of their ecology remains challenging. We studied epilithic diatom assemblages from the shallow margins of 19 lakes from three areas (coast-inland-ice sheet margin) along a climate gradient in Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland during two periods; shortly after ice-off (spring) and in the middle of the growth season (summer). We aimed to understand the distribution of Arctic epilithic diatoms in relation to water chemistry gradients during the two seasons, to investigate their incorporation into lake sediments and to assess their applicability as palaeoenvironmental indicators. Diatoms were correlated with nutrients in the spring and alkalinity/major ions in the summer, when nutrients were depleted; approximately half of the variance explained was independent of spatial factors. When categorised by functional attributes, diatom seasonal succession differed among regions with the most obvious changes in inland lakes where summer temperatures are warmer, organic nutrient processing is prevalent and silicate is limiting. These conditions led to small, motile and adnate diatoms being abundant in inland lakes during the summer (Nitzschia spp., Encyonopsis microcephala), as these functional attributes are suited to living within complex mats of non-siliceous microbial biofilms. Seasonal succession in silica-rich lakes at the coast was less pronounced and assemblages included Tabellaria flocculosa (indicating more acidic conditions) and Hannaea arcus (indicating input from inflowing rivers). The nitrogen-fixing diatom Epithemia sorex increased from the coast to the ice sheet, negatively correlating with a gradient of reactive nitrogen. The presence of this diatom in Holocene sediment records alongside cyanobacterial carotenoids during arid periods of low nitrogen delivery, suggests that it is a useful indicator of nitrogen limitation. Nitzschia species appear to be associated with high concentrations of organic carbon and heterotrophy, but their poor representation in West Greenland lake sediments due to taphonomic processes limits their palaeoenvironmental application in this region. Proportions of epilithic taxa in lake sediment records of coastal lakes increased during some wetter periods of the Holocene, suggesting that snowpack-derived nutrient delivery may offer diatom taxa living at lake margins a competitive advantage over planktonic diatoms during the “moating” ice melt period. Thus, further research investigating linkages between epilithic diatoms, snowpack and nutrient delivery in seasonally frozen lakes is recommended as these taxa live on the ‘front-line’ during the spring and may be especially sensitive to changes in snowmelt conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A multi-proxy palaeoecological study of the lateglacial and early Holocene sediments of Jansvatnet, Hammerfest, northernmost Norway (70°39′ N) showed that cold and arid conditions prevailed in both the lateglacial interstadial and the Younger Dryas. Terrestrial proxies are macrofossils and pollen. Aquatic proxies are plant and invertebrate macrofossils, pollen, diatoms, and chironomids. Mean July temperatures were reconstructed using pollen and chironomid calibration functions and ecological knowledge of the fossil flora and fauna. Lake-water pH was reconstructed using a diatom pH-calibration function. Above sterile basal deglacial silts, biotic activity was detected around 14600 years ago in the interstadial (chronologically equivalent to the Bølling-Allerød in the Greenland Ice-Core Chronology). Catchment vegetation resembled polar desert and ultra-cold stenothermic chironomids lived in the lake. However, diatom assemblages were diverse and dynamic. In the Younger Dryas stadial, conditions deteriorated. In the early Younger Dryas chironomid-inferred air temperatures (CI-Tjul) fell about 1 °C. Pollen-inferred temperatures (PI-Tjul) did not fall and the terrestrial vegetation hardly changed because of the extreme aridity. The lake water was turbid from suspended clay which diminished aquatic life. Later in the Younger Dryas (ca 12400 cal yr BP) reconstructed mean July temperatures fell by a further 3 °C and were close to the minimum to support life, at around 3–4 °C. However, decreased turbidity allowed moss growth on the lake bottom that provided habitats for invertebrates and diatoms. In the last 200 years of the Younger Dryas temperatures increased by 2–3 °C and terrestrial and aquatic organisms responded quickly. At the start of the Holocene a rapid increase of more than 3 °C in PI-Tjul to 9.5 °C initiated the replacement of sparse arctic tundra by low-arctic dwarf-shrub heath. Simultaneously, a further 2 °C increase in CI-Tjul to 10–11 °C reflected a regime shift in the lake. Aquatic macrophytes rapidly replaced the moss carpet, diatom assemblages stabilised and diatom plankton developed, and cold stenotherm chironomids were replaced by cool-temperate taxa. Productivity increased as CI-Tjul reached a steady maximum of around 12 °C and PI-Tjul reached 10.5 °C at about 10000 cal yr BP. At this time, tree-birch arrived and woodland developed over the catchment. Birch could have immigrated from the south up the west coast or from the east along the Barents Sea coast. Acidophilous aquatic taxa increased as diatom-inferred pH gradually decreased from 7.3 to 6.6. After ca 9380 cal yr BP, the density and extent of birch woodland decreased and species of exposed rocky areas increased, reflecting increased windiness, precipitation, and possibly a small decrease in July temperatures. Birch now formed the arctic tree-line at Jansvatnet. The lateglacial climatic pattern at Jansvatnet resembles patterns detected elsewhere in northern Norway and Svalbard and in marine records from the Norwegian and Barents Seas but contrasts with patterns in southern Norway. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]