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Biogeochemical shifts in hydrologically divergent taiga lakes in response to late Holocene climate fluctuations

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Abstract

We examined functional climate responses of two small taiga lakes in eastern Scandinavia with the aim to compare biogeochemical shifts in the hydrologically different basins over the past 3500 years. Sediment cores from one seepage and one drainage lake were studied for C and N elemental and stable isotopic composition to track organic matter origin, elemental cycles, and trophic structure. Fossil Cladocera assemblages and functional grouping of Chironomidae were determined to understand food web structure, biotic interactions, and habitat quality. In the seepage lake, the warm Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, ~1400 to 1000 cal BP) induced thermal stratification, hypolimnetic anoxia, and increased in-lake production, similar to the 20th century development. The Neoglacial cooling, with a high precipitation period at ~2200 to 2000 cal BP, and the cold Little Ice Age (LIA, ~700 to 300 cal BP) increased terrestrial carbon inputs and reduced productivity. The drainage lake was shallow, productive, and humic during the warm and dry period at ~4000 to 3000 cal BP but cooler and moister climate induced higher lake level with stratification and hypolimnetic anoxia around 2500 cal BP. The MCA was characterized by increased in-lake production and altered food web structure, as the keystone zooplankton taxon Daphnia was extirpated, and LIA by intensified anoxia and reduced planktonic production due to longer ice-cover period. Coherent responses to climate warming included increased planktonic production, stronger stratification, and hypolimnetic anoxia with anaerobic processes in both lakes, but responses to moisture were site-specific and dependent on basin hydromorphology.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Academy of Finland VIOLET project (#287547) and the Doctoral Programme of Biological and Environmental Science of University of Jyväskylä Graduate School for Doctoral Studies. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Jyvaskylä, Finland

    Liisa Nevalainen, E. Henriikka Kivilä & Tomi P. Luoto

  2. Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Tomi P. Luoto

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  1. Liisa Nevalainen
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  2. E. Henriikka Kivilä
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  3. Tomi P. Luoto
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Correspondence to Liisa Nevalainen.

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Nevalainen, L., Kivilä, E.H. & Luoto, T.P. Biogeochemical shifts in hydrologically divergent taiga lakes in response to late Holocene climate fluctuations. Biogeochemistry 128, 201–215 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0203-y

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