Dinoflagellate Cysts as Proxies for Holocene Environmental Change in Estuaries: Diversity, Abundance and Morphology

  • Marianne Ellegaard
  • Barrie Dale
  • Kenneth N. Mertens
  • Vera Pospelova
  • Sofia Ribeiro
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research book series (DPER, volume 20)

Abstract

Dinoflagellates are important components of marine plankton as both primary producers and predators on bacteria and microeukaryotes. About 200 species, most of these estuarine, form a resting stage, called a cyst, as part of their life-cycle. Dinoflagellate cysts are mostly organic, composed of a very resistant material called dinosporin, and are often very well preserved in sediments. Dinoflagellate cysts have in many cases provided excellent records of changes through time in salinity, temperature and nutrients, and have also been used to reconstruct changes in sea ice cover, industrial pollution and coastal proximity through time. These environmental changes can be reconstructed from: (1) changes in dinoflagellate cyst communities; (2) changes in abundance; and (3) morphological variations in individual species. The two main methods for concentrating dinoflagellate cysts from sediment samples are palynological processing with HCl and HF, and density separation. As dinoflagellate cysts are mostly organic, they may be preserved where microfossils composed of silica or calcium carbonate are missing because of dissolution.

Keywords

Organic microfossils Paleoecology Nutrients Salinity Temperature Life-cycle 
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Notes

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the main editor Kaarina Weckström for inviting us to write this contribution.

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© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Marianne Ellegaard
    • 1
  • Barrie Dale
    • 2
  • Kenneth N. Mertens
    • 3
  • Vera Pospelova
    • 4
  • Sofia Ribeiro
    • 5
  1. 1.Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of CopenhagenFrederiksbergDenmark
  2. 2.Department of GeosciencesUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
  3. 3.Ifremer Station de biologie marineConcarneauFrance
  4. 4.School of Earth and Ocean SciencesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaCanada
  5. 5.Department of Marine Geology and GlaciologyGeological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandCopenhagenDenmark

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