Climate-driven changes in water level: a decadal scale multi-proxy study recording the 8.2-ka event and ecosystem responses in Lake Sarup (Denmark)

Topical advances and recent studies in paleolimnological research

“…Luoto (2013) used chironomid assemblages to construct a regional temperature curve for the Little Ice Age in eastern and southern Finland. Lake records from Denmark recorded the 8.2 ka cooling event and its influence on regional climate (Bjerring et al, 2013). In the lowlands of northern Germany, varved lake sediments revealed shifts in primary producer communities in response to variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation, solar activity, and temperature (Zahrer et al, N o n -c o m m e r c i a l u s e o n l y 2013).…”

“…Recent studies reported changes in stratification and mixing patterns in response to climate change (Lennox et al, 2010;Kaufman et al, 2012;Gallaway et al, 2011;Heyng et al, 2012;Stephens et al, 2012a). Shifts between wet and dry climate cycles were shown to cause changes in erosion and sedimentation patterns (Vogel et al, 2010;Holmgren SU et al, 2012;Bjerring et al, 2013). Studies examined the influence of climate on organic matter sources (Heyng et al, 2012), on primary productivity, and on eutrophication (Kaufman et al, 2012;Vogel et al, 2010;Stephens et al, 2012a;Scussolini et al, 2011;Zahner et al, 2013).…”

“…Their study reinforces the importance of understanding lake and watershed linkages for predicting the impact of future climate change on lake ecosystems. Bjerring et al (2013) described changes in Lake Sarup, Denmark in response to the 8.2 ka cooling event. Stable isotope records suggested that water levels decreased around 8.4 ka BP, and inorganic matter accumulation rates increased because of erosion of marginal sediments, which led to increased turbidity, reduced nutrient influx, and changes in algal and macrophyte assemblages.…”

Lake water level variations in Belarus

“…Phase, amplitude and cycle du- is no consensus about the nature of such cycles because objective methods of identification and analysis of cycles of lake water levels are absent. It is considered that such cycles are caused by external (spacephysical) factors or by self-oscillating processes in the atmosphere-hydrosphere system of the Earth, or by natural characteristics of any random sequence (Bjerring et al 2013;Li and Morrill 2013;MacKay and Seglenieks 2013). Figure 3 shows that, according to SAF patterns of annual average lake water level changes, Belorus- Analysis of STAN-diagrams of time series of annual average lake water levels shows that 4 and 11-year cycles are prevailing, and also that 5 and 6-year cycles are present (Fig.…”

Main drivers affecting the Holocene sedimentary record – implications from small lake in Latvia

“…An increasing number of studies show that integration of palaeoecological records of terrestrial and aquatic biota together with lithology and geochemistry from multiple cores gives a wider perspective that enables a more detailed assessment of changes in past environmental conditions. In the most recent developments in paleolimnological studies (Birks, Birks 2006;Bjerring et al 2013;Terasmaa et al 2013;Whitmore, Riedinger-Whitmore 2014), the method of using set of multiple indicators is considered especially important for a reliable reconstruction. The existences of coincident boundaries that are associated with different variables indicate substantial changes in one or more environmental factors, while the existence of zone boundaries that do not coincide with some proxies may be the result of events that are important only for one particular variable (Lotter, Birks 2003).…”