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Algal pigments in Arctic lake sediments record biogeochemical changes due to Holocene climate variability and anthropogenic global change

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Abstract

In order to better constrain the limnological impacts from recent climate change relative to those of the Holocene, we developed a high-resolution multi-proxy paleoenvironmental record from a small lake on eastern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. Carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic compositions from sediment organic matter, algal pigments, and diatom assemblages are integrated to provide robust indices of paleoclimatic variability. In particular, the ratio between individual carotenoid pigments (lutein:diatoxanthin) reveals a shift in dominant primary production from ‘green’ taxa (chlorophytes, higher plants, and bryophytes) during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) to ‘brown’ taxa (diatoms and chrysophytes) over the mid- to late Holocene. Green pigment abundance appears most sensitive to mean summer temperatures, and their increased relative abundance in the past serves as an indicator of warm times. Regionally, the HTM occurred shortly after local deglaciation (10 ka), persisting until ~7 ka. This timing agrees with that revealed by chironomid assemblages and ice-core records elsewhere in the Canadian Arctic, but is significantly earlier than suggestions from palynology on Baffin Island. This study provides additional evidence that this discrepancy represents the ecesis for higher plant dispersal and colonization on distal, freshly deglaciated landscapes. Pigment and diatom data indicate that mid Holocene cooling began between 7 and 6 ka, intensifying after 3 ka. All proxies show pronounced change after 1.5 ka, with the greatest divergence from average Holocene values occurring during the Little Ice Age (LIA), supporting the growing consensus that the LIA was the coldest multi-centennial interval of the Holocene. In the twentieth century, most proxies, including sedimentary carotenoid ratios, abruptly returned to a similar state as the Holocene Thermal Maximum, while diatom species assemblages present a more muted response. This underscores that anthropogenic alteration of the Earth system has created conditions with no exact analog in the past 10,000 years. Collectively, these results add new information on the dimensions of Arctic lake responses to Holocene climate change, which in turn can be used to reconcile paleoclimate reconstructions from diverse proxies.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation ARCSS 8k project, Nonlinearities in the Arctic climate system during the Holocene (ARC-0909347). Algal pigment analyses received additional funding from a grant awarded to Áslaug Geirsdóttir from the University of Iceland Research Fund. Salary for C. Florian provided by the Doctoral Grant of the University of Iceland. We thank the Inuit of Qikiqtarjuaq as well as the Nunavut Research Institute for field work logistical support and assistance; Kurt Refsnider, Kate Zalzal and Alexis Ault for their help in recovering the cores; Steve DeVogel and Roxane Bowden for excellent laboratory management and assistance with all things HPLC and IRMS related; Mark Graham for sharing algal pigment expertise and helping design the pigment lab at the University of Colorado; Amy Steiker, Sarah Crump and Darren Larsen for insightful discusssion and reading drafts of the manuscript; the Limnological Research Center (LacCore) at the University of Minnesota for archiving sediments; and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). This manuscript has been strengthened by the work of two anonymous reviewers who both provided diligent and detailed comments.

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Florian, C.R., Miller, G.H., Fogel, M.L. et al. Algal pigments in Arctic lake sediments record biogeochemical changes due to Holocene climate variability and anthropogenic global change. J Paleolimnol 54, 53–69 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-015-9835-5

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