A lake sediment stable isotope record of late-middle to late Holocene hydroclimate variability in the western Guatemala highlands

A palynological perspective on the impacts of European contact: Historic deforestation, ranching and agriculture surrounding the Cuchumatanes Highlands, Guatemala

“…Ecclesiastical administrative areas are depicted and linked to the local parishes through the connected dots its high rainfall variability between the wet and dry seasons (Bouroncle et al 2017). There is currently only one palaeoclimatic reconstruction from the Cuchumatanes Highlands, a high resolution isotope record from Cenote Kail, which suggests that conditions became increasingly wetter during the Little Ice Age (c. 1400-1850 ce) (Stansell et al 2020). These findings are also corroborated by a nearby palaeoclimatic reconstruction using diatoms from Lake Amatitlán (Velez et al 2011).…”

“…This would prevent further reproduction and recovery of the MHWF in this area (Kappelle 2006;Wallace et al 2015). During the Pre-Columbian era Sporormiella influx into Cenote Kail was found to be higher than for most of the Colonial and Post-Colonial Periods (Harvey et al 2019;Stansell et al 2020). This is thought to be due to the higher abundance of native herbivores, such as white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the Baird tapir (Tapirus bairdii) and peccary (Tayassuidae), which were reduced through habitat loss and hunting after European contact.…”

Interhemispheric antiphasing of neotropical precipitation during the past millennium

“…1 B ) (see Materials and Methods ) and analyzed them using a Monte Carlo Principal Component (MCPC) approach ( 27 – 29 ). The records include δ 18 O of ice ( 30 , 31 ), speleothems ( 7 , 15 , 21 , 32 – 44 ), and lake sediment ( 14 , 16 , 17 , 45 – 53 ); carbon isotope (δ 13 C) values of speleothems ( 7 , 15 , 21 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 43 , 44 ); δD of lake sediment ( 18 , 54 ); ocean sediment trace metal concentrations ( 55 ); lake sediment lithology and/or bio/geochemistry ( 56 – 58 ); multiproxy paleolimnological data ( 59 ); diatoms in lake sediment ( 60 ); and ice accumulation data ( 61 ) ( SI Appendix , Table S1 ). Each of the paleoclimate proxies was interpreted by the primary authors to reflect changes in hydroclimate, although they vary in their uncertainties as well as the geographic scale of information provided.…”

Response of a low elevation carbonate lake in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) to climatic and human forcings

“…Further south, the long isotope record from Chichancanab (Hodell et al, 1995) shows that after initial lake filling, the period from ca. 7900 to 3200 cal yr BP has lower values (Hodell et al, 1995), e) L. Puerto Arturo (Wahl et al, 2014), f) Macal Chasm speleothem (Ackers et al, 2016), g) L. Peten Itz a (Curtis et al, 1998), h) Lake Kail (Stansell et al, 2020), i) Grutas del Rey Marcos speleothem (Winter et al, 2020). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)…”

“…7), although with some reduction in precipitation from about 6000 cal yr BP. There are some exceptions to this such as the record from Lake Kail (Guatemala) (Stansell et al, 2020) and Lake Antoine (Grenada) (Fritz et al, 2011, not on figure). The link between the Yaal Chac isotope record and range of potential forcing factors over this period (Fig.…”