Sub-fossil chironomids as indicators of hydrological changes in the shallow and high-altitude lake Shen Co, Tibetan Plateau, over the past two centuries
Accepted: 20 July 2022
Supplementary: 178
HTML: 130
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Understanding climate and monsoonal dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau is crucial, as recent hydrological changes, evidenced by rising lake levels, will be accelerated by current global warming and may alter aquatic habitats and species inventories. This study combines chironomid assemblages with sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical data of a short sediment core (37.5 cm) from the high-altitude (> 4,733 m asl), saline (9 g L-1) and shallow (~5 m water depth) Shen Co, located in the southern part of the central Tibetan Plateau. The predominantly littoral, species-poor (10 chironomid morphotypes) chironomid assemblages are dominated by salt-tolerant taxa, that are highly sensitive to lake level fluctuations and macrophyte vegetation dynamics, making them ideally suited for tracking lake level changes over time. Results indicate a period (from ca. 1830 to 1921 CE) of drier conditions with low runoff and high evaporation rates in the Shen Co catchment, as indicated by a dominance of low-Mg calcite and dolomite and increased Ca/Fe and Sr/Rb ratios. This resulted in a decline in lake levels, an increase in salinity and the periodic occurrence of desiccation events at the sampling site. The first chironomid morphotype to appear after the dry period is Acricotopus indet. morphotype incurvatus, which indicate still low (<2 m) but rising lake levels after 1921 CE due to increasing runoff and a lower evaporation/precipitation ratio, as reflected by coarser grain size, higher quartz content and increased TN, TOC and Al/Si ratios. A replacement of A. indet. morphotype incurvatus by Procladius is observed as lake level rise continued after 1950 CE. The highest lake level is proposed for the period since 2006 CE. From 1955 to 1960 CE and from 2011 to 2018 CE, the presence of the phytophilic taxon Psectrocladius sordidellus-type supported abundant macrophyte growth. These changes are consistent with climate reconstructions from the northern and central Tibetan Plateau, indicating warmer and wetter climate conditions since the beginning of the 20th century, which have led to an increase in lake level in a number of Tibetan lakes. Our study specifically highlights 1920 and 1950 as years with enhanced precipitation. This can be attributed to the strong, with overlapping multidecadal cycles of Westerlies and monsoon systems. This study demonstrates the significance of studying small, shallow lakes, as they frequently contain aquatic communities that respond more rapidly to the changes in the lake system. In addition, this study expands our understanding of the ecology of Tibetan chironomid morphotypes, highlighting this group’s potential as paleolimnological proxies for investigating past environmental and climatic changes.
Edited by
Diego Fontaneto, CNR-IRSA Water Research Institute, Verbania, ItalySupporting Agencies
Nam Co Observation and Research Station (NAMORS), International Research Training Group, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG grant 317513741 / GRK 2309), Open Access Publication Funds of the Technische Universität BraunschweigHow to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Similar Articles
- Malgorzata Adamczuk, Niche separation by littoral-benthic Chydoridae (Cladocera, Crustacea) in a deep lake - potential drivers of their distribution and role in littoral-pelagic coupling , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 73 No. 3 (2014)
- Iván Hernández-Almeida, Martin Grosjean, Sergi Pla-Rabes, Janusz Filipiak, Alicja Bonk, Wojciech Tylmann, Influence of inter-annual environmental variability on chrysophyte cyst assemblages: insight from a 2-years sediment trap study in lakes from northern Poland , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 76 No. 2 (2017)
- Cristiana Callieri, J. Salvador Hernández-Avilés, Ester M. Eckert, Michela Rogora, Gabriele Tartari, Tommaso Sforzi, Raffaella Sabatino, Roberto Bertoni, Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP), phytoplankton and picocyanobacteria along a littoral-to-pelagic depth-gradient in a large subalpine lake , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 80 No. 3 (2021): Celebratory Issue - 80th Anniversary of the Journal of Limnology
- Marina M. Manca, Carla Bonacina, Norman D. Yan, What have we learned about ecological recovery from liming interventions of acid lakes in Canada and Italy? , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 75 No. s2 (2016): Lake Orta: a new lease on life
- Silvia Giuntini, Clara Tattoni, Alessandra Gagliardi, Alessio Martinoli, Nicola Patocchi, Roberto Lardelli, Adriano Martinoli, Damiano G. Preatoni, Limnology for the ornithologist: effects of Lake Maggiore water level on migratory flows , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 81 No. s2 (2022): Effects of water level management on lake littorals and downstream river areas
- Andrew L. Labaj, Joshua Kurek, Russ C. Weeber, John P. Smol, Long-term changes in invertebrate size structure and composition in a boreal headwater lake with a known minnow introduction , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 72 No. 2 (2013)
- Josef MacLeod, Wendel (Bill) Keller, Andrew M. Paterson, Richard D. Dyer, John M. Gunn, Scale and watershed features determine lake chemistry patterns across physiographic regions in the far north of Ontario, Canada , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 76 No. 1 (2017)
- Hu He, Xiaolong Zhu, Xiaolan Song, Erik Jeppesen, Zhengwen Liu, Phytoplankton response to winter warming modified by large-bodied zooplankton: an experimental microcosm study , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 74 No. 3 (2015)
- Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Joan Navarro, José Antonio Sanchez-Zapata, Francisco Botella, Antonio Delgado, Water quality and avian inputs as sources of isotopic variability in aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrates , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 71 No. 1 (2012)
- Chantal Audet, Shannon MacPhee, Wendel Keller, Colonization of constructed ponds by crustacean zooplankton: local and regional influences , Journal of Limnology: Vol. 72 No. 3 (2013)
<< < 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 > >>
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
-
Paula Echeverría‐Galindo, Sonja Rigterink, Julieta Massaferro, Liseth Pérez, Bernd Wünnemann, Philipp Hoelzmann, Wengang Kang, Nicole Börner, Anja Schwarz, Andreas Laug, Ping Peng, Junbo Wang, Liping Zhu, Antje SchwalbJournal of Quaternary Science : 2023
-
Marco Bertoli, Gianguido Salvi, Rachele Morsanuto, Elena Pavoni, Paolo Pastorino, Giuseppe Esposito, Damià Barceló, Marino Prearo, Elisabetta PizzulDiversity : 2024