Response of Chironomidae to environmental disturbances in a high mountain lake in Patagonia during the last millennium

Through the last millennium, Patagonia has been affected by changing climate conditions and successive volcanic eruptions. Lake Tonček is a high-altitude lake in the Southern Volcanic Zone in the northern Patagonian Andes. We documented the responses of the subfossil chironomid community to the effe...

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Published inQuaternary research Vol. 92; no. 2; pp. 273 - 287
Main Authors Williams, Natalia, Añón Suárez, Diego, Rieradevall, Maria, Rizzo, Andrea, Daga, Romina, Arribére, María A., Ribeiro Guevara, Sergio
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.09.2019
Subjects
Altitude
Climate change
Climatic conditions
Community composition
Ecosystems
Environmental conditions
Lakes
Morphology
Mountain lakes
Precipitation
Research Article
Sediments
Volcanic eruptions
Volcanoes
Argentina
Climate change
Argentina
Bioindicators
Tephra layers
Chironomids
Northern Patagonia
Paleolimnology
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Summary:Through the last millennium, Patagonia has been affected by changing climate conditions and successive volcanic eruptions. Lake Tonček is a high-altitude lake in the Southern Volcanic Zone in the northern Patagonian Andes. We documented the responses of the subfossil chironomid community to the effects of successive volcanic and different conditions in a sedimentary sequence from this lake comprising the last 900 years. The community composition and structure (abundance, diversity, and richness) and the development of morphological anomalies in the chironomid mouthparts were evaluated throughout the core. Both climatic conditions and volcanism affected the chironomid community differentially. The chironomid community changed following short-term climate change patterns, being affecting not only by temperature changes but also by variations in the regional precipitation regime. Decreases in abundance and diversity were only observed in coarse volcanic layers. In these samples, we recorded a high percentage of damaged chironomid mouthparts caused by mechanical wear, breakage or abrasion, possibly due to the increase of mineral particles. Our results represent important baseline data about the responses of chironomid communities to environmental disturbances in high-altitude lakes over long time frames.
ISSN:0033-5894
1096-0287
DOI:10.1017/qua.2019.5