The Late Vistulian and Holocene evolution of Jezioro Lake: a record of environmental change in southern Poland found in deposits and landforms

Abstract

Jezioro Lake is the only natural lake in southern Poland outside mountainous areas to have existed continuously since the Pleistocene. The record of environmental change in the Late Vistulian (Weichselian) and Holocene is preserved in the deposits and landforms around the lake. This paper presents the results of paleogeographical and paleoecological research that emabled us to reconstruct the history of the Jezioro Lake. At the end of the Vistulian period, the outlet of the lake was blocked by a parabolic dune moving in from the west. Limnic sedimentation was evident in the sediment core at all levels from the Holocene, with remains of Cladocera, Chironomidae larvae, and aquatic plants. The lake did not disappear at that time, although its area decreased by a factor of 12 by the end of the period. Paleobotanical research permitted the reconstruction of sequences of plant communities and changes in nutrient status and water level. An initial oligotrophic lake, as indicated by the presence of Isoe¨tes lacustris L., changed to a eutrophic lake, as indicated by the presence of Potamogeton natans L. and Nuphar sp., then the lake progressed to the present-day dystrophic lake that is surrounded by a swamp. The profile of organic deposits contains a record of environmental change at least since the Younger Dryas in southern Poland.

Postglacial history of vegetation, human activity and lake-level changes at Jezioro Linówek in northeast Poland, based on multi-proxy data

“…For the pollen studies, 1 cm 3 of gyttja or 2 cm 3 of peat, due to the low concentration of pollen in the latter, were used. Each sample was acetolysed following the modified Erdtman method with an addition of hydrofluoric acid (Faegri and Iversen 1989). Pollen taxa were identified and counted using a Zeiss AMPLIVAL light microscope with 4009 and 1,0009 magnifications.…”

“…grew in the lake, which belong to the pioneer plants, and are cold period indicators (Bennike 2000;Birks 2000;Mortensen et al 2011). Both taxa are often found in Late-glacial sediments in westcentral Europe (Guiter et al 2005;Stachowicz-Rybka et al 2009;Fajer et al 2012;Maj and Gałka 2012;Gałka and Sznel 2013). Taking into account the presence of Myriophyllum spicatum pollen and the presence of Batrachium sp.…”

Protocol for acclimatization of in vitro cultured Potamogeton praelongus – aspect of plantlet size and type of substrate

“…Outside the CR, it grows to a depth of several metres in lakes with high water transparency [22,23,26,27]. The species does not prosper in shallow and warmed water, where the stalks become brown and perish at the water surface in extremely hot temperatures.…”

Cadmium contamination of sediments in the water reservoirs in Silesian Upland (southern Poland)

“…Bottom sediments can be considered a good indicator of environmental conditions and processes that take part in the watershed and in close vicinity of water bodies (Tylmann 2004;Fajer et al 2012;Szymczyk 2012;Rzętała et al 2013).…”