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Diatom-based total phosphorus (TP) and pH transfer functions for the Irish Ecoregion

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Abstract

A 72-lake diatom training set was developed for the Irish Ecoregion to examine the response of surface sediment diatom assemblages to measured environmental variables. A variety of multivariate data analyses was used to investigate environmental and biological data structure and their inter-relationships. Of the variables used in determining a typology for lakes in the Irish Ecoregion, alkalinity was the only one found to have a significant effect on diatom assemblages. A total of 602 diatom taxa were identified, with 233 recorded at three or more sites with abundances ≥1%. Generally diatom data displayed a high degree of heterogeneity at the species level and non-linear ecological responses. Both pH and total phosphorus (TP) (in the ranges of 5.1–8.5 and 4.0–142.3 μg l−1 respectively) were shown to be the most significant variables in determining the surface sediment diatom assemblages. The calibration models for pH and TP were developed using the weighted averaging (WA) method; data manipulation showed strong influences on model performances. The optima WA models based on 70 lakes produced a jack-knifed coefficient of determination (r 2 jack) of 0.89 with a root mean squared error (RMSEP) of 0.32 for pH and r 2 jack of 0.74 and RMSEP of 0.21 (log10 μg l−1) for TP. Both models showed strong performances in comparison with existing models for Ireland and elsewhere. Application of the pH and TP transfer functions developed here will enable the generation of quantitative water quality data from the expanding number of palaeolimnological records available for the Irish Ecoregion, and thus facilitate the use of palaeolimnological approaches in the reconstruction of past lake water quality, ecological assessment and restoration.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (project #2002-W-LS/7 and doctoral scholarship #2002_PHD2_34). We thank Phil Jordan, Richard McFaul and Shane Cullinane for help with field work. Thanks also go to Jim Bowman, Alice Wemaëre, Ruth Little, Helen Walsh, Helen Bennion and Ken Irvine. Irene Gregory-Eaves, John Smol and two anonymous reviewers provided constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Guangjie Chen & Catherine Dalton

  2. Faculty of Sciences, University of A Coruña, A Coruna, Spain

    Manel Leira

  3. Museo Tridentino de Scienze Naturali, Limnology and Phycology Section, Via Calepina, 14, I-38100, Trento, Italy

    Manel Leira

  4. School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    David Taylor

  5. Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1B1

    Guangjie Chen

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  1. Guangjie Chen
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Correspondence to Guangjie Chen.

 

 

Appendix 1 WA-inferred pH and TP optima of 233 diatom taxa in the 72-lake training set
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Chen, G., Dalton, C., Leira, M. et al. Diatom-based total phosphorus (TP) and pH transfer functions for the Irish Ecoregion. J Paleolimnol 40, 143–163 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9148-4

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