Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction?
Peatland testate amoebae are widely used to reconstruct paleohydrological/climatic changes, but many species are also known to respond to pollutants. Peatlands around the world have been exposed to anthropogenic and intermittent natural pollution through the late Holocene. This raises the question:...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge University Press
2012
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/24641 |
| _version_ | 1855538366119936000 |
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| author | Payne, R.J. Mitchell, E.A.D. Hung Nguyen-Viet Gilbert, D. |
| author_browse | Gilbert, D. Hung Nguyen-Viet Mitchell, E.A.D. Payne, R.J. |
| author_facet | Payne, R.J. Mitchell, E.A.D. Hung Nguyen-Viet Gilbert, D. |
| author_sort | Payne, R.J. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Peatland testate amoebae are widely used to reconstruct paleohydrological/climatic changes, but many species are also known to respond to pollutants. Peatlands around the world have been exposed to anthropogenic and intermittent natural pollution through the late Holocene. This raises the question: can pollution lead to changes in the testate amoeba paleoecological record that could be erroneously interpreted as a climatic change? To address this issue we applied testate amoeba transfer functions to the results of experiments adding pollutants (N, P, S, Pb, O3) to peatlands and similar ecosystems. We found a significant effect in only one case, an experiment in which N and P were added, suggesting that pollution-induced biases are limited. However, we caution researchers to be aware of this possibility when interpreting paleoecological records. Studies characterising the paleoecological response to pollution allow pollution impacts to be tracked and distinguished from climate change. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace24641 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publishDateRange | 2012 |
| publishDateSort | 2012 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| publisherStr | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace246412024-11-15T08:53:01Z Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? Payne, R.J. Mitchell, E.A.D. Hung Nguyen-Viet Gilbert, D. environment Peatland testate amoebae are widely used to reconstruct paleohydrological/climatic changes, but many species are also known to respond to pollutants. Peatlands around the world have been exposed to anthropogenic and intermittent natural pollution through the late Holocene. This raises the question: can pollution lead to changes in the testate amoeba paleoecological record that could be erroneously interpreted as a climatic change? To address this issue we applied testate amoeba transfer functions to the results of experiments adding pollutants (N, P, S, Pb, O3) to peatlands and similar ecosystems. We found a significant effect in only one case, an experiment in which N and P were added, suggesting that pollution-induced biases are limited. However, we caution researchers to be aware of this possibility when interpreting paleoecological records. Studies characterising the paleoecological response to pollution allow pollution impacts to be tracked and distinguished from climate change. 2012-09 2012-10-29T20:05:49Z 2012-10-29T20:05:49Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/24641 en Limited Access Cambridge University Press Payne, R.J., Mitchell, E.A.D., Hung Nguyen-Viet and Gilbert, D. 2012. Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? Quaternary Research 78(2): 170-173. |
| spellingShingle | environment Payne, R.J. Mitchell, E.A.D. Hung Nguyen-Viet Gilbert, D. Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? |
| title | Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? |
| title_full | Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? |
| title_fullStr | Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? |
| title_short | Can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction? |
| title_sort | can pollution bias peatland palaeoclimate reconstruction |
| topic | environment |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/24641 |
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