Greenway, H, Holmes, J and Burn, M (2024) The response of ostracod faunal assemblages to hydrology, lake level and carbon cycling in a Jamaican marl lake: a palaeolimnological investigation. Journal of Micropalaoeontology, 43 (1). pp. 81-91.

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Abstract

Ostracod taxa from shallow freshwater lakes are sensitive to a range of limnological factors including temperature, hydrological habitat, lake level and the distribution of aquatic plants. Ostracod assemblages preserved in Quaternary lake sediments can be used to reconstruct limnological change and are therefore potentially valuable palaeoenvironmental proxies. However, lack of autecological information about some taxa may limit the validity of such reconstructions. We use fossil ostracod
assemblages recovered from radiocarbon-dated Late Holocene sediments from Wallywash Great Pond, a small, shallow and freshwater lake in Southwest Jamaica, to reconstruct limnological change over the past ~1800 years. We circumvent ongoing taxonomic and ecological uncertainties associated with the identification of fossil ostracod taxa by drawing on observations of the ecology of ostracods found living in Jamaican water bodies. By combining this information with limnological data from the extant lake, and with sedimentological and isotopic data from the lake sediments, we show that a published
interpretation of ostracod assemblages for the Late Quaternary of Wallywash Great Pond is simplistic, at least for the Late Holocene section of the sediment record. We conclude that changes in ostracod assemblages are linked to variations in the input of undersaturated groundwater to the northern part of the lake from which the core was recovered. These variations, which were driven by changes in the precipitation/evaporation ratio (effective moisture), also controlled sedimentation, with reduced effective moisture and a decline in undersaturated groundwater input favouring marl precipitation, whereas organic sediments are linked to increased effective moisture and enhanced groundwater input. Our findings suggest that the dramatic shifts in ostracod assemblages at this site are a complex response
to changes in hydrology, sedimentology and carbonate saturation rather than being a simple indicator of
lake-level change. Combining ostracod assemblage data with the results of other palaeolimnological analyses also allows more detailed reconstructions to be made for this lake and such a multiproxy approach is recommended for similar lakes elsewhere.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GB Physical geography G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Divisions:	Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Copernicus
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	15 Apr 2024 15:43
Last Modified:	28 May 2024 12:45
DOI or ID number:	10.5194/jm-43-81-2024
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/23028

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