The late-glacial and early-Holocene palaeoecology of cladoceran microfossil assemblages at Krakenes, western Norway, with a quantitative reconstruction of temperature changes

Cladoceran microfossil remains were analysed from a sediment core taken from a lake basin at Krakenes, western Norway. The sequence included immediate post-glacial conditions (ca. 12,300 C-14 BP), the Allerod, Younger Dryas, and early Holocene to approximately 8,500 C-14 BP. The interpretation of changes in the cladoceran assemblages is based on the known ecology of the taxa, the documented environmental history of the study sequence, the variations in the organic content of the sediment, the radiocarbon dates, and the results of analyses of other biotic groups, including diatoms, macrophytes, and chironomids. In addition, a quantitative reconstruction of changes in air temperature is presented for the study period. This reconstruction is based on transfer functions developed from a separate Swiss surface-sediment cladoceran data set. The cladoceran assemblages throughout the sequence are dominated by littoral chydorid taxa. Bosmina, Daphnia, and Simocephalus represent the open-water component of the zooplankton. Chydorus piger and Daphnia were the only immediate post-glacial pioneer taxa. A rapid proliferation of the open-water and littoral cladoceran taxa began with the onset of the Allerod and persisted for approximately 1,000 yrs. At the start of the Younger Dryas a local glacier formed and drained into the lake, causing a sudden decline in chydorid diversity, with only Chydorus sphaericus and Acroperus harpae persisting throughout this period. Chydorid diversity started to recover in the upper Younger Dryas and continued in the early Holocene. Progressive acidification and oligotrophication are also discernible from the cladoceran assemblages present in the Holocene. The reconstructed mean summer air temperature was from 8-21 degrees C, with prediction errors of 1.8-2.5 degrees C. The Allerod was only slightly warmer than the Younger Dryas period, but a progressive increase in temperature is apparent during the early Holocene. In conclusion, the results of this study provide a further demonstration of the value of cladocera as indicators of a variety of palaeoenvironmental parameters, including temperature.