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Response of littoral chironomid communities and organic matter to late glacial lake—level, vegetation and climate changes at Lago dell’Accesa (Tuscany, Italy)

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Abstract

This study focuses on the response of lacustrine littoral chironomid communities to late glacial changes in limnological, environmental and climate conditions in the Mediterranean context. Late glacial chironomid (Diptera: Chironomidae) assemblages, organic petrography and geochemistry were analysed in a sediment core from the littoral zone of Lago dell’Accesa (Tuscany, Italy), where the lake-level fluctuations and the vegetation history have been previously reconstructed. Comparison of the chironomid stratigraphy to other proxies (pollen assemblages, organic petrography and geochemistry, lake-level) and regional climate reconstruction suggested the predominant influence of lake-level changes on the littoral chironomid fauna. The main lowering events that occurred during the Oldest and the Younger Dryas were followed by higher proportions of taxa typical of littoral habitats. A complementary study of organic matter suggested the indirect impact of lake-level on the chironomids through changes in humic status and habitat characteristics, such as the type of substrate and aquatic macrophyte development. Several chironomid taxa, such as Glyptotendipes, Microtendipes and Cricotopus type patens, were identified as possible indicators of low lake-level in the late glacial records. Nevertheless, this study suggested that parallel analyses of organic matter and chironomid assemblages may be needed to circumvent misinterpretation of littoral chironomid assemblage stratigraphy. There was a weak response of the chironomid assemblages to small lake-level lowerings that corresponded to the Older Dryas and Preboreal oscillations. A higher level of determination, e.g. to the species group level, may be necessary to increase the sensibility of the indicators to lake-level changes.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this study was provided by the French CNRS (Program ECLIPSE). The authors express their sincere thanks to Mouna el Mekki and Didier Kéravis for technical assistance and to James Dat for his help with the English language. Many thanks also to Gaute Velle and the anonymous reviewer for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Chrono-Ecologie, UMR 6565 CNRS, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Université de Franche-Comté, 25030, Besançon cedex, France

    Laurent Millet, Boris Vannière, Michel Magny, Gilles Bossuet & Elena Ortu

  2. Laboratoire EDYTEM, UMR 5204, CISM, Université de Savoie, 73376, Le Bourget du Lac cedex, France

    Laurent Millet

  3. Laboratoire de Biologie Environnementale, EA 3184 USC INRA, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Université de Franche-Comté, 25030, Besançon cedex, France

    Valérie Verneaux

  4. Institut des Sciences de la Terre d’Orléans, UMR 6113 CNRS, Université d’Orléans, Géosciences, BP 6759, 45067, Orléans Cedex 2, France

    Jean Robert Disnar & Fatima Laggoun-Défarge

  5. Laboratoire de Géosciences, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Université de Franche-Comté, 25030, Besançon cedex, France

    Anne Véronique Walter-Simonnet

  6. Laboratoire IMEP, UMR 6116, Europôle Méditerranéen de l’Arbois, Bat. Villemin, BP 80, 13545, Aix-en-Provence cedex 4, France

    Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu

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  1. Laurent Millet
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  2. Boris Vannière
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  3. Valérie Verneaux
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Correspondence to Laurent Millet.

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Millet, L., Vannière, B., Verneaux, V. et al. Response of littoral chironomid communities and organic matter to late glacial lake—level, vegetation and climate changes at Lago dell’Accesa (Tuscany, Italy). J Paleolimnol 38, 525–539 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9088-z

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