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Assemblages and paleo-diet variability of subfossil Chironomidae (Diptera) from a deep lake (Lake Grand Maclu, France)

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Abstract

The heterogeneity of the subfossil chironomid deposition (in terms of assemblages and paleo-diet) has to be studied to assess the reliability of paleolimnological interpretations (i.e., spatial representativeness). We collected 31 cores in the deepest part of Lake Grand Maclu (Jura, France) with the aim of assessing the spatial structures at two spatial scales: a sediment core surface (31.7 cm2) and 4 m2 in the deepest zone of the lake. The results showed that chironomid assemblages exhibited a uniform distribution at the two spatial scales studied. Moreover, a sediment core surface was very reliable for assessing the biodiversity (Simpson’s index) of the deepest part with more than 95% of the overall diversity sampled on average. However, δ 13C values of Chironomus anthracinus-type remains revealed a spatial pattern in the contribution of carbon sources to its biomass. We suggest that a heterogeneous distribution of microbial biomass (such as methane-oxidizing bacteria) could induce a spatial pattern (patch) in food availability for chironomid larvae. We recommend increasing the number of head capsules analyzed in spectrometry to reduce this potential bias due to patterns and to improve upscaling results from individual downcore records to the entire deepwater basin.

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Acknowledgments

This study is a part of “Zone Atelier Arc Jurassien.” The Conseil Regional de Franche-Comté provided financial support for this study. We thank Christian Hossann and Claude Bréchet (INRA Nancy, Champenoux) for their assistance in the stable isotope analysis and Maxime Mermet (Chrono-Environnement, Besançon) for technical assistance during the survey. We also extend our gratitude to the three anonymous reviewers for their comments that greatly improved an early version of the manuscript, and Daniel Borcard for constructive discussions about spatial analysis.

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  1. Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249, Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France

    Simon Belle, Laurent Millet, François Gillet, Valérie Verneaux & Michel Magny

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  1. Simon Belle
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  2. Laurent Millet
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  3. François Gillet
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  4. Valérie Verneaux
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  5. Michel Magny
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Correspondence to Simon Belle.

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Belle, S., Millet, L., Gillet, F. et al. Assemblages and paleo-diet variability of subfossil Chironomidae (Diptera) from a deep lake (Lake Grand Maclu, France). Hydrobiologia 755, 145–160 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2222-4

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