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Climate and human land-use as a driver of Lake Narlay (Eastern France, Jura Mountains) evolution over the last 1200 years: implication for methane cycle

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Abstract

This study aims at reconstructing the limnological conditions of Lake Narlay, a lake of which a previous study has shown major changes in the trophic reliance on methane of the benthic food web. The evolution of environmental and limnological conditions in and around Lake Narlay is reconstructed using combined analyses of subfossil chironomid remains, sedimentary pigments and organic carbon accumulation rates; whereas potential driving factors are reconstructed by pollen and coprophilous analyses and the use of climate paleo-records. The results suggest a complex combination of climate and anthropogenic pressure to explain the 1200 years of ecological trajectory of Lake Narlay. This ecological trajectory seems to be firstly control by climatic variability, because the colder event of the Little Ice Age induces a significant impact on chironomid assemblage, organic matter influx, and lake productivity. In a more recent time, the anthropogenic control seems to become predominant. The intensification of the agro-pastoral practices in the catchment area of Lake Narlay seems to induce the degradation of the oxygen conditions at the water/sediment interface. In addition, the present study gives also lines of evidence that the human intensification in the watershed of Lake Narlay seems to be the main cause of the major change in the contribution of biogenic methane to the benthic food web. However, the transition stage between the two trophic pathways (from absence to transfer of biogenic methane) involves a progressive change with intermediate limnological conditions, making the assessment of a tipping point in the temporal evolution difficult. Better knowledge of the relationships between the temporal evolution of limnological conditions and the activation of the trophic reliance on methane will require the study of other sites with different conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This study is a part of the “Zone Atelier Arc Jurassien”. Financial support for this study was provided by the Conseil Regional de Franche-Comté and OREAS project. We thank Julien Didier (Chrono-Environnement, Besançon) for assistance in pollen preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Simon Belle, Valérie Verneaux, Laurent Millet & Michel Magny

  2. Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques des Ecosystèmes Limniques, UMR INRA 42, Chambéry, France

    David Etienne

  3. Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, CNR, Verbania Pallanza, Italy

    Andrea Lami & Simona Musazzi

  4. Laboratory for Climate Science and Environment, UMR CNRS 8212, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Jean-Louis Reyss

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  1. Simon Belle
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Correspondence to Simon Belle.

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10933_2015_9864_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

ESM1 The stratigraphic diagram shows the temporal evolution of the five dominant chironomid taxa (Nar13_P1 core). The data are expressed as a percentage of the total chironomid (%). Dendrogram based on chironomid assemblages, constructed by hierarchical clustering analysis (Bray-Curtis distance, CONISS linkage method). The dashed line indicates significant changes according to the broken-stick model. Zonation on the right corresponds to the HC accumulation rates zonation. (PDF 384 kb)

10933_2015_9864_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

ESM2 Temporal evolution of coprophilous fungi, cereals, API and relative abundance based on the AP/TLP ratio. Dendrogram based on spores data expressed in relative abundance, and constructed by hierarchical clustering analysis (Bray-Curtis distance, CONISS linkage method). The dashed line indicates significant changes according to the broken-stick model. Zonation on the right indicates the beginning of the intensification (ca. 1550) based on pollen accumulation rates. (PDF 372 kb)

10933_2015_9864_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

ESM3 Depth’s age distribution of changes which producing at 39.5 cm in the Nar10_P1 core (change in spores data; Fig. 4) and at 41 cm for the Nar13_P1 core (change in chironomid data; Fig. 2). (PDF 240 kb)

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Belle, S., Verneaux, V., Millet, L. et al. Climate and human land-use as a driver of Lake Narlay (Eastern France, Jura Mountains) evolution over the last 1200 years: implication for methane cycle. J Paleolimnol 55, 83–96 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-015-9864-0

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