Rapid ecosystem response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period in western Europe, 40–16 ka

Wohlfarth, Barbara; Vereș, Daniel; Ampel, Linda; Lacourse, Terri; Blaauw, Maarten; Preusser, Frank; Andrieu‐Ponel, Valérie; Kéravis, Didier; Lallier-Vergès, Élisabeth; Björck, Svante; Davies, Siwan M.; Beaulieu, Jacques‐Louis de; Risberg, Jan; Hormes, Anne; Kasper, Haino Uwe; Possnert, Göran; Reille, Maurice; Thouveny, Nicolas; Zander, Anja

doi:10.1130/g24600a.1

Cited by 104 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…Mixing indicates higher aeolian activity in the region, and compares well to the interpretation of the Zr/Ti maxima and sand content in Lake Ohrid (Vogel et al, 2010a). Heinrich events are also correlated with relatively cold and dry conditions reported from other Mediterranean records (e.g., Roberts et al, 2008;Wohlfarth et al, 2008;Stein et al, 2009;Castañeda et al, 2010) and inferred from minima in arboreal pollen of Lake Ohrid (cf. Wagner et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Environmental change within the Balkan region during the past ca. 50 ka recorded in the sediments from lakes Prespa and Ohrid

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Lakes Prespa and Ohrid, in the Balkan region, are considered to be amongst the oldest lakes in Europe. Both lakes are hydraulically connected via karst aquifers. From Lake Ohrid, several sediment cores up to 15 m long have been studied over the last few years. Here, we document the first long sediment record from nearby Lake Prespa to clarify the influence of Lake Prespa on Lake Ohrid and the environmental history of the region. Radiocarbon dating and dated tephra layers provide robust age control and indicate that the 10.5 m long sediment record from Lake Prespa reaches back to 48 ka. Glacial sedimentation is characterized by low organic matter content and absence of carbonates in the sediments, which indicate oligotrophic conditions in both lakes. Holocene sedimentation is characterized by particularly high carbonate content in Lake Ohrid and by particularly high organic matter content in Lake Prespa, which indicates a shift towards more mesotrophic conditions in the latter. Long-term environmental change and short-term events, such as related to the Heinrich events during the Pleistocene or the 8.2 ka cooling event during the Holocene, are well recorded in both lakes, but are only evident in certain proxies. The comparison of the sediment cores from both lakes indicates that environmental change affects particularly the trophic state of Lake Prespa due to its lower volume and water depth.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Environmental change within the Balkan region during the past ca. 50 ka recorded in the sediments from lakes Prespa and Ohrid

et al. 2010

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“…4). In Europe, both Les Echets Lake magnetic susceptibility (45) and Eifel maar varve thickness (46) were likely influenced by the Aeolian transport, and in China, the Qinghai Lake dust flux above 25 μm was influenced by the Westerlies (47). The acquisition of more high-resolution and well-dated terrestrial and marine records is thus required to thoroughly evaluate the significance of both IGs and minor LGM oscillations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of Last Glacial climate variability in west-European loess revealed by radiocarbon dating of fossil earthworm granules

Moine

Antoine

Hatté

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

102

103

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The characterization of Last Glacial millennial-timescale warming phases, known as interstadials or Dansgaard-Oeschger events, requires precise chronologies for the study of paleoclimate records. On the European continent, such chronologies are only available for several Last Glacial pollen and rare speleothem archives principally located in the Mediterranean domain. Farther north, in continental lowlands, numerous high-resolution records of loess and paleosols sequences show a consistent environmental response to stadial-interstadial cycles. However, the limited precision and accuracy of luminescence dating methods commonly used in loess deposits preclude exact correlations of paleosol horizons with Greenland interstadials. To overcome this problem, a radiocarbon dating protocol has been developed to date earthworm calcite granules from the reference loess sequence of Nussloch (Germany). Its application yields a consistent radiocarbon chronology of all soil horizons formed between 47 and 20 ka and unambiguously shows the correlation of every Greenland interstadial identified in isotope records with specific soil horizons. Furthermore, eight additional minor soil horizons dated between 27.5 and 21 ka only correlate with minor decreases in Greenland dust records. This dating strategy reveals the high sensitivity of loess paleoenvironments to Northern Hemisphere climate changes. A connection between loess sedimentation rate, Fennoscandian ice sheet dynamics, and sea level changes is proposed. The chronological improvements enabled by the radiocarbon "earthworm clock" thus strongly enhance our understanding of loess records to a better perception of the impact of Last Glacial climate changes on European paleoenvironments

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“…Although the taxonomic resolution of pollen may cause problems for paleocological analyses, there is clear evidence in Europe that vegetation was in part responding to the major climate forcing of Dansgaard-Oeschger (D/O) cycles, Heinrich events, and orbitally driven millennial changes (25). We further note that only a single turnover event (turnover D) can be associated with a similar event in the woolly mammoth.…”

Section: Population History Of Late Pleistocene Collared Lemmingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serial population extinctions in a small mammal indicate Late Pleistocene ecosystem instability

Brace¹,

Palkopoulou

Dalén

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The Late Pleistocene global extinction of many terrestrial mammal species has been a subject of intensive scientific study for over a century, yet the relative contributions of environmental changes and the global expansion of humans remain unresolved. A defining component of these extinctions is a bias toward large species, with the majority of small-mammal taxa apparently surviving into the present. Here, we investigate the population-level history of a key tundra-specialist small mammal, the collared lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus), to explore whether events during the Late Pleistocene had a discernible effect beyond the large mammal fauna. Using ancient DNA techniques to sample across three sites in North-West Europe, we observe a dramatic reduction in genetic diversity in this species over the last 50,000 y. We further identify a series of extinction-recolonization events, indicating a previously unrecognized instability in Late Pleistocene small-mammal populations, which we link with climatic fluctuations. Our results reveal climateassociated, repeated regional extinctions in a keystone prey species across the Late Pleistocene, a pattern likely to have had an impact on the wider steppe-tundra community, and one that is concordant with environmental change as a major force in structuring Late Pleistocene biodiversity. megafauna | palaeogenetics | palaeoclimate | modelling

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Rapid ecosystem response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period in western Europe, 40–16 ka

Cited by 104 publications

References 28 publications

Environmental change within the Balkan region during the past ca. 50 ka recorded in the sediments from lakes Prespa and Ohrid

Environmental change within the Balkan region during the past ca. 50 ka recorded in the sediments from lakes Prespa and Ohrid

The impact of Last Glacial climate variability in west-European loess revealed by radiocarbon dating of fossil earthworm granules

Serial population extinctions in a small mammal indicate Late Pleistocene ecosystem instability

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