Ecology of testate amoebae in peatlands of central China and development of a transfer function for paleohydrological reconstruction

Qin, Yaochen; Mitchell, Edward A. D.; Lamentowicz, Mariusz; Payne, Richard J.; Lara, Enrique; Gu, Yansheng; Huang, Xianyu; Wang, Hongmei

doi:10.1007/s10933-013-9726-6

Cited by 59 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In the last decade, interest in testate amoebae as bioindicators and paleoenvironmental indicators has been growing (Meyer et al, 2012;Qin et al, 2013;Swindles et al, 2015). One characteristic that makes this group of organisms very useful is the high diversity of their test morphologies, which enables their identification down to the species level (Escobar et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological drivers of testate amoeba diversity in tropical water bodies of central Mexico

et al. 2018

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Testate amoebae are unicellular organisms characterized by a shell-like test. Due to their potential use as bioindicators (and paleoindicators), these organisms have been increasingly studied in the last decade, particularly in temperate latitudes. This study's objective was two-fold: to identify the testate amoeba communities sampled from 29 water bodies in Mexico and to determine if their presence and distribution also made them suitable bioindicators for tropical latitudes. A total of 40 taxa were recorded within 12 genera, and six significant variables -oxygen, pH, depth, temperature, conductivity, and total alkalinity -that explained testate amoeba distribution within and among the water bodies were identified through a canonical correspondence analysis. The Q-mode clusters rendered five assemblages, each named after their respective dominant species: 1) Centropyxis aculeata strain "aculeata" assemblage, 2) Difflugia oblonga strain "bryophila" assemblage, 3) diverse assemblage, 4) Cucurbitella tricuspis assemblage, and 5) Difflugia protaeiformis strain "acuminata" assemblage. We found that Cucurbitella tricuspis and the Difflugia protaeiformis strain "acuminata" have similar ecological preferences to those reported previously for temperate lakes, with the former identified as an indicator of eutrophic environments and the latter as an indicator of low oxygen levels. On the other hand, Centropyxis aculeata strain "aculeata" and Arcella vulgaris seem to indicate adverse conditions, but the source of this environmental stress apparently differs from that reported in temperate latitudes. Although this stress source could not be identified in all cases, our study nonetheless demonstrates that testate amoebae in the water bodies of central Mexico could reveal the presence of environmental stress.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological drivers of testate amoeba diversity in tropical water bodies of central Mexico

et al. 2018

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“…During the last two decades, transfer functions have been developed to infer environmental conditions, using testate amoebae assemblages in surface peats from many regions of the world (Amesbury et al 2013;Booth 2007;Payne et al 2008;Qin et al 2013;Swindles et al 2009;Turner et al 2013;Wilmshurst et al 2003;Woodland et al 1998). Some transfer functions have been applied to peat profiles to reconstruct past environmental change quantitatively (Booth 2010;Charman et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Knowledge of testate amoebae ecology throughout the region, however, is still limited (Li et al 2009;Qin et al 2013;Song et al 2014). In the Lesser Khingan Mountains, northeast China, peatlands are widely distributed because of the cold and wet climate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A testate amoebae transfer function from Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in the Lesser Khingan Mountains, NE China

Wang

Hong-yan

et al. 2015

J Paleolimnol

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We present a testate amoebae training set for building a paleohydrology transfer function. Ninety-one samples were collected from three Sphagnum peatlands in the Lesser Khingan Mountains, NE China. Redundancy analysis revealed that depth to the water table (DWT) and moisture content (% water) are the primary factors that control testate amoebae assemblages. Transfer functions for prediction of these two environmental variables were developed. The root mean square error (RMSEP) for DWT and moisture content were 6.74 cm and 1.49 %, respectively, assessed with ''leave-one-out'' cross validation. We applied a more robust cross validation method for clustered structure data, ''leave-one-site-out,'' and the RMSEP of the best performance model increased to 6.90 cm and 1.67 %, but all models still had predictive power. The effect of uneven sampling was tested using new statistical approaches. Greater numbers of samples in the middle range of the gradient yielded smaller RMSEP values than did samples from the extreme wet and dry ends of the spectrum, where there were fewer samples. Our results indicate this training set is a potentially important tool for paleoenvironmental reconstruction in the Lesser Khingan Mountains, NE China. It will contribute to understanding climate change, particularly past monsoon activity, in this region.

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“…It is interesting to note that these re- sults parallel those from peatlands further south in Asia. In peatlands of China many of these 'typical' peatland taxa seem to be rare and studies which have used ordination to test links with hydrology have often found relatively low explained variance (Qin et al 2012(Qin et al , 2013Qin and Xie 2011). It is interesting to speculate whether there are systematic differences in both TA communities and their environmental controls (such as latitudinal effects, geographic isolation or niche-driven community patterns) in Asia than Europe and North America.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the diversity and ecology of testate amoebae in West Siberian peatlands

Mazei¹,

Chernyshov²,

Bukhkalo³

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Testate amoebae are valued for their functional significance and application as indicators of environmental conditions, particularly in peatland ecosystems. Research on testate amoebae has increased dramatically in recent years but there are still large parts of the world which have seen very little research. Here we consider testate amoeba communities of the West Siberian Lowland, the world's largest peatland region and therefore one of the largest potential habitats for testate amoebae. Extensive sampling identified 89 taxa and showed that testate amoeba communities are structured by their physical and biological environment. We identified significant relationships between amoeba communities and both moisture content and vegetation composition. Despite the assemblages containing many widely-distributed species, some taxa considered typical of peatlands (e.g. Archerella flavum and Hyalosphenia papilio) were comparatively rare or absent, paralleling findings further south in Asia. We suggest that testate amoebae in this region deserve further study and may have useful applications in palaeoecological reconstruction and as bioindicators of the impacts of oil and gas extraction.

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Ecology of testate amoebae in peatlands of central China and development of a transfer function for paleohydrological reconstruction

Cited by 59 publications

References 49 publications

Ecological drivers of testate amoeba diversity in tropical water bodies of central Mexico

Ecological drivers of testate amoeba diversity in tropical water bodies of central Mexico

A testate amoebae transfer function from Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in the Lesser Khingan Mountains, NE China

Exploring the diversity and ecology of testate amoebae in West Siberian peatlands

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