Climate and human induced hydrological change since AD 800 in an ombrotrophic mire in Pomerania (N Poland) tracked by testate amoebae, macro‐fossils, pollen and tree rings of pine

Abstract

This high‐resolution, multiproxy, palaeoenvironmental study of the Słowińskie Błota raised bog in N Poland, 10 km from the Baltic Sea, covering the last 1200 years reveals different aspects of environmental change in a range of spatial scales from local to regional. Testate amoebae allowed quantitative reconstruction of the local water table using a transfer function based on a training set from N and W Poland. Special attention is paid to the testate amoeba Arcella discoides, which responds to rapid water‐table fluctuations more than to average surface wetness. Macrofossils supported by local pollen tracked the local vegetation dynamics caused by local human impact and disturbance, including nutrients. Regional pollen showed human‐induced landscape change outside the bog. Tree rings of Pinus sylvestris reflected the history of tree establishment and desiccation of the bog. Strong correlations between DCA axes 1 of regional pollen, of macrofossils and of testate amoebae, and a testate‐amoebae‐based water‐table reconstruction that excludes A. discoides, indicate that changes on all spatial scales are linked, which is explained by a strong hydrologic connection between bog and surroundings. The combination of proxies shows that groundwater levels were modified by both human impact and climate change.

Multiproxy study of anthropogenic and climatic changes in the last two millennia from a small mire in central Poland

“…Nevertheless, it is possible that in this part of Europe, the situation was different, and the Medieval Warm Period started earlier. Having no data from this part of Poland, we can compare our results with those obtained from northern Poland, from a Baltic bog in Stą _ zki (Lamentowicz et al, 2009). At this site, the water table remained high until AD 1000-1100, and later, it decreased and became very unstable.…”

A near‐annual palaeohydrological study based on testate amoebae from a sub‐alpine mire: surface wetness and the role of climate during the instrumental period

“…Wilmshurst et al (2002) showed that peatlands in New Zealand were affected by change in forest composition, resulting in strong relationships between water table changes and pollen data. Studies in Poland revealed that moisture changes in raised bogs and kettle-hole bogs were correlated with deforestation phases (Lamentowicz et al, 2007a(Lamentowicz et al, , 2007b(Lamentowicz et al, , 2008b(Lamentowicz et al, , 2008c. There are, however, no indications for deforestation around Mauntschas mire, so wetness and vegetation changes in the mire should rather be interpreted in terms of climate change, although we cannot exclude the influence of minor changes in the surrounding forest on the hydrology.…”

Anthropogenic impacts in North Poland over the last 1300years — A record of Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni and S in an ombrotrophic peat bog

“…The vegetation characteristics (i.e., Sphagnum dominance, see Section 2) described in Herbichowa (1998), and more recently in Lamentowicz et al (2008) and De Vleeschouwer et al (2009) indicate the presence of acidic, nutrient-poor conditions and strongly support the ombrotrophic character of the bog. Moreover, Herbichowa (1998) reported that the dome of the bog is elevated at ca.…”