Subfossil Chironomids As Indicators Of Recent Climate Change In Sierra Nevada, California, Lakes

Porinchu, David F.; Potito, Aaron P.; MacDonald, Glen M.; Bloom, Amy M.

doi:10.1657/1523-0430(2007)39[286:scaior]2.0.co;2

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Chironomid larvae are also sensitive to changes in the organic content of bottom sediments (Larocque et al, 2001;Bigler et al, 2006;Porinchu et al, 2007) because it affects their feeding (McGarrigle, 1980;Winnell & White, 1985;Pinder, 1986) and burrowing (Danks, 1971). In the surveyed Rwenzori lakes and pools, sedimentary organic content (LOI) and temperature co-vary strongly (Fig.…”

Section: Magnitude Of Historical Temperature Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hart, 2006;Jiguet et al, 2007;Zaehle et al, 2007) and continental aquatic ecosystems (e.g. O' Reilly et al, 2003;Both & Visser, 2005;Porinchu et al, 2007). Studies also confirm that the warming is amplified in high-elevation regions compared to adjacent lowlands (Diaz & Bradley, 1997), exerting additional stress on mountain ecosystem functioning and biodiversity.…”

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confidence: 95%

“…Over the past 20 years, calibration data sets and quantitative chironomid-temperature inference models have been developed for various north-temperate and boreal regions (e.g. Heiri & Lotter, 2005;Larocque et al, 2006;Porinchu et al, 2007), and now also for tropical Africa . Producing reliable chironomid-inferred temperature estimates is more challenging for the Holocene period than for the period of deglaciation, because expected Holocene temperature variations are close to the prediction error of the temperature inference models employed (usually *1-2°C; Brooks, 2006;Walker & Cwynar, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Limnological and ecological sensitivity of Rwenzori mountain lakes to climate warming

et al. 2010

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An increasing number of studies forecast that anthropogenic climate change poses serious consequences for the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of high-elevation mountain lakes, through a series of both direct and indirect effects. The impacts of future climate warming on alpine ecosystems are of particular concern, given that warming is expected to be most pronounced at high elevations around the globe. Here, we evaluate the limnological and ecological sensitivity of high-elevation lakes in the Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda-D. R. Congo) to climate change. This is done by comparing the species assemblages of larval chironomid remains deposited recently in lake sediments with those deposited at the base of short cores (dated to within or shortly after the Little Ice Age) in 16 lakes. Chironomid-based reconstructions of mean annual air temperature (MATemp) are made using a variety of inference models (with transfer functions based on weighted averaging, weighted-averaging partial least squares, and a weighted modern analogue technique), and two different calibration data sets, one covering the full regional temperature gradient and one comprising only high-elevation Rwenzori lakes and ponds. The reconstructed historical temperature change ranges between a cooling of -2.03A degrees C and a warming of +3.22A degrees C (with n = 16 lakes x 3 models x 2 calibration data sets). However, excluding the atypical mid-elevation lake Mahoma (2,990 m altitude), we find a three-to-one ratio of cases of inferred warming against inferred cooling, and of the 24 Delta MATemp values exceeding 0.60A degrees C, 23 are positive and only one is negative. Chironomid-inferred temperature changes mostly fall within the error range of the regional temperature inference models. A generalized linear mixed model analysis of the combined result from all lakes (except Mahoma) nevertheless indicates significantly warmer MATemp (on average +0.38 +/- A 0.11A degrees C) at present compared to between similar to 85 and similar to 645 years ago. Inferred temperature changes are independent of whether lakes are located in glaciated or non-glaciated catchments, and of the age of the core base, suggesting that at least part of the signal is due to relatively recent, anthropogenic warming. The direction of faunal change at the lakes in relation to established species-environment relationships suggests that part of the observed shifts in species composition reflect lake-specific evolution in habitat features other than temperature, such as nutrients, pH or oxygen regime, which in our present calibration data set co-vary with temperature to a greater or lesser extent. The fairly uniform and marked historical warming trend in Rwenzori lakes documented by this study highlights their ecological vulnerability and their value as early warning systems for detecting the limnological and ecological effects of global warming

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Section: Magnitude Of Historical Temperature Changementioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 95%

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confidence: 99%

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Limnological and ecological sensitivity of Rwenzori mountain lakes to climate warming

et al. 2010

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“…Due to their worldwide distribution and abundance, lifecycle characteristics and mobility, as well as their sensitivity to changes in limnological conditions, chironomids have been an effective tool in reconstructing recent temperature change (Porinchu et al, 2007;Guo et al, 2013). However, studies that have employed chironomids to reconstruct recent climate change have tended to focus on regions situated in either high latitudes or high altitudes, as these areas tend to show a strong response to recent warming (Axford et al, 2009;Porinchu et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing recent climatic and human influences on chironomid communities from two moderately impacted lakes in western Ireland

McKeown

Potito

2015

Hydrobiologia

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This study assessed the influences of climate warming and human impacts on Irish lakes over the late nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries. High-resolution chironomid (Insecta: Diptera) stratigraphies were developed for two low-to mid-elevation lakes in northwest Ireland to determine if lakes with mild-to-moderate human impacts can be used to accurately reconstruct mean July air temperature. Application of an Ireland-based chironomid-inference model to quantitatively estimate July air temperature (r 2 jack = 0.60, RMSEP = 0.57°C) revealed that chironomids can reflect changes in Irish temperature, particularly post-1980 when warming accelerated, although this signal becomes compromised with intensified human impacts. A biotic response to nutrient enrichment and soil erosion from direct human activities was identified through a comparison of chironomid autecology with known catchment changes. Redundancy analysis and time series comparisons were used to identify when faunal turnover is a function of local (nutrient input, erosion) versus extra-regional (climate) drivers over the recent past, and identify any thresholds of human influence within the catchments. This study highlights the importance of careful site selection as moderately impacted sites do not follow a simple scheme, as well as multi-proxy analysis to assess catchment-based human activity for longer term chironomid-based temperature reconstructions in Ireland.

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“…Previous research in the Great Basin has led to the development of a robust midge-based inference model for mean July temperature (MJAT) and surface water temperature (SWT) (Porinchu et al, 2007a;. Application of the water and air temperature inference models to the sub-fossil midge remains extracted from late Quaternary sediment has improved our understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of recent (Porinchu et al, 2007b; and long-term regional climate change in the western USA during the latest Pleistocene and Holocene Potito et al, 2006;Reinemann et al, 2009) as well as the relationship between local thermal conditions and regional and hemispheric climate dynamics (MacDonald et al, 2008). This study is the first attempt to develop a midge-based quantitative reconstruction of MJAT in the continental USA that spans MIS 5.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative midge-based reconstruction of mean July air temperature from a high-elevation site in central Colorado, USA, for MIS 6 and 5

Haskett¹,

Porinchu²

2014

Quat. res.

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Sediments recovered from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site (ZRFS) in Snowmass Village, Colorado (USA) were analyzed for subfossil chironomids (or midges). The midge stratigraphy spans~140-77 ka, which includes the end of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 and all of MIS 5. Notable shifts in midge assemblages occurred during two discrete intervals: the transition from MIS 6 to MIS 5e and midway through MIS 5a. A regional calibration set, incorporating lakes from the Colorado Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and Uinta Mountains, was used to develop a midge-based mean July air temperature (MJAT) inference model (r 2 jack = 0.61, RMSEP = 0.97°C). Model results indicate that the transition from MIS 6 to MIS 5e at the ZRFS was characterized by an increase in MJAT from~9.0 to 10.5°C. The results also indicate that temperatures gradually increased through MIS 5 before reaching a maximum of 13.3°C during MIS 5a. This study represents the first set of quantitative, midge-based MJAT estimates in the continental U.S. that spans the entirety of MIS 5. Overall, our results suggest that conditions in the Colorado Rockies throughout MIS 5 were cooler than today, as the upper limit of the reconstructed temperatures is~2°C below modern July air temperatures.

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Subfossil Chironomids As Indicators Of Recent Climate Change In Sierra Nevada, California, Lakes

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 24 publications

References 27 publications

Limnological and ecological sensitivity of Rwenzori mountain lakes to climate warming

Limnological and ecological sensitivity of Rwenzori mountain lakes to climate warming

Assessing recent climatic and human influences on chironomid communities from two moderately impacted lakes in western Ireland

A quantitative midge-based reconstruction of mean July air temperature from a high-elevation site in central Colorado, USA, for MIS 6 and 5

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