Journal
JOURNAL OF PALEOLIMNOLOGY
Volume 59, Issue 4, Pages 397-410Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10933-017-9995-6
Keywords
Chironomid; Holocene; Temperature reconstruction; Northwest England; Instrumental records; Paleolimnology
Funding
- Edge Hill University RDF
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Reliable estimates of Holocene temperatures are important for understanding past climate dynamics, the response of biota to climate change, and validating climate models. Chironomids in lake sediment cores are used widely to quantify past summer temperatures, for which high-latitude and/or high-altitude lakes, remote from human influence, are usually considered appropriate. Temperature inferences from lowland lakes are likely influenced by other variables, specifically eutrophication and industrial pollution, but their reliability has never been tested. We used a Norwegian chironomid-based transfer function (r (2) = 0.91; RMSEP = 1.01 A degrees C) to infer mean July air temperature over the last 200 years, using chironomid assemblages in a core collected from a polluted, nutrient-enriched lake at Speke Hall, Liverpool, England. The chironomid-inferred temperatures correlate significantly with the local instrumental temperature record and follow long-term national temperature trends. These results show that chironomids can be used to produce reliable estimates of past mean July air temperature, even when other variables have also influenced the composition of the chironomid community. These findings underline the value of chironomids as sensitive and reliable quantitative proxies for summer temperature.
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