Data from: Ice-cover is the principal driver of ecological change in High Arctic lakes and ponds
- Description:
- Recent climate change has been especially pronounced in the High Arctic, however, the responses of aquatic biota, such as diatoms, can be modified by site-specific environmental characteristics. To assess if climate-mediated ice cover changes affect the diatom response to climate, we used paleolimnological techniques to examine shifts in diatom assemblages from ten High Arctic lakes and ponds from Ellesmere Island and nearby Pim Island (Nunavut, Canada). The sites were divided a priori into four groups (“warm”, “cool”, “cold”, and “oasis”) based on local elevation and microclimatic differences that result in differing lengths of the ice-free season, as well as about three decades of personal observations. We characterized the species changes as a shift from Condition 1 (i.e. a generally low diversity, predominantly epipelic and epilithic diatom assemblage) to Condition 2 (i.e. a typically more diverse and ecologically complex assemblage with an increasing proportion of epiphytic species). This shift from Condition 1 to Condition 2 was a consistent pattern recorded across the sites that experienced a change in ice cover with warming. The “warm” sites are amongst the first to lose their ice covers in summer and recorded the earliest and highest magnitude changes. The “cool” sites also exhibited a shift from Condition 1 to Condition 2, but, as predicted, the timing of the response lagged the “warm” sites. Meanwhile some of the “cold” sites, which until recently still retained an ice raft in summer, only exhibited this shift in the upper-most sediments. The warmer “oasis” ponds likely supported aquatic vegetation throughout their records. Consequently, the diatoms of the “oasis” sites were characterized as high-diversity, Condition 2 assemblages throughout the record. Our results support the hypothesis that the length of the ice-free season is the principal driver of diatom assemblage responses to climate in the High Arctic, largely driven by the establishment of new aquatic habitats, resulting in increased diversity and the emergence of novel growth forms and epiphytic species.
Usage Notes:Col Broken stick
Col Pond plot of broken stick model resultsCol Coniss
Col Pond plot of CONISS model resultsCol N2
Col Pond Hill's N2 and chlorophyll a outputCol Pond
Col Pond diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsElison broken stick
Elison Lake plot of broken stick model resultsHigh broken stick
High Lake plot of broken stick model resultsMoraine broken stick
Moraine Pond plot of broken stick model resultsParadise Broken stick
Paradise Pond plot of broken stick model resultsPlateau Pond 2 broken stick
Plateau Pond 2 plot of broken stick model resultsProteus broken stick
Proteus Lake plot of broken stick model resultsSV5 broken stick
SV Pond 5 plot of broken stick model resultsSV8 broken stick
SV Pond 8 plot of broken stick model resultsWest broken stick
West Lake plot of broken stick model resultsElison coniss
Elison Lake plot of CONISS model resultsHigh coniss
High Lake plot of CONISS model resultsMoraine Coniss
Moraine Pond plot of CONISS model resultsParadise Coniss
Paradise Pond plot of CONISS model resultsPlateau pond 2 coniss
Plateau Pond 2 plot of CONISS model resultsProteus coniss
Proteus Lake plot of CONISS model resultsSV5 coniss
SV Pond 5 plot of CONISS model resultsSV8 coniss
SV Pond 8 plot of CONISS model resultsWest coniss
West Lake plot of CONISS model resultsElison N2
Elison Lake Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesHigh N2
High Lake Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesMoraine N2
Moraine Pond Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesParadise N2
Paradise Pond Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesPP2 N2
Plateau Pond 2 Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesProteus N2
Proteus Lake Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesSV5 N2
SV Pond 5 Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesSV8 N2
SV Pond 8 Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesWest N2
West Lake Hill's N2 and Chlorophyll a valuesElison Lake
Elison Lake diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsHigh Lake
High Lake diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsMoraine Pond
Moraine Pond diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsParadise Pond
Paradise Pond diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsPlateau Pond 2
Plateau Pond 2 diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsProteus lake
Proteus Lake diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsSverdrup Pass Ponds
Sverdrup Pond 5 and 8 diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsWest Lake
West Lake diatom raw count data and relative abundances including basionyms and modern taxonomic designationsElison_Lake_July_17_2007-July 16 2011 thermistor
Elison Lake thermistor data from July 17 2007 to July 16 2011Grouping rationale
Additional summary of field notes providing support for grouping rationale.High Lake activity
High Lake 210Pb activity from gamma-datingMoraine activity
Moraine Pond 210Pb activity from gamma-datingParadise activity
Paradise Pond 210Pb activity from gamma-datingPlateau Pond2 activity
Plateau Pond 2 210Pb activity from gamma-datingProteus activity
Protease Lake 210Pb activity from gamma-datingSV Pond 5 activity
SV Pond 5 210Pb activity from gamma-datingSV Pond 8 activity
SV Pond 8 210Pb activity from gamma-datingWater chem additional parameters all sites
Additional water chemistry parameters for all sitesWest activity
West Lake 210Pb activity from gamma-datingHigh Lake dates
High Lake 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodMoraine Pond Dates
Moraine Pond 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodMoraine datesParadise dates
Paradise Pond 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodPlateau Pond2 dates
Plateau Pond 2 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodProteus dates
Proteus Lake 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodSV Pond 5 dates
SV Pond 5 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodSV Pond 8 dates
SV Pond 8 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodWest Lake dates
West Lake 210Pb dates using CRS dating methodSV Ponds 14C dating
SV Pond 5 and 8 14C dates and types of microfossils datedHills N2 script
Hill's N2 R script used to calculate Hill's N2 and rarify species count data (using pre-made packages) - Griffiths, Katherine, Michelutti, Neal, , , , and
- Source Repository:
- Dryad
- Publisher(s):
- Dryad
- Access:
- Public
- URL:
- http://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.g7h7n
- Publication date:
- 2017-03-30
- Keywords:
- Identifier:
- https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g7h7n
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