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Diatom-inference models for acid neutralizing capacity and nitrate based on 41 calibration lakes in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA

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Abstract

We investigated relationships among modern diatom species composition and physical and chemical characteristics of high-elevation lakes of the Sierra Nevada (California), to develop transfer functions that can be used to infer historic lake conditions. Data were collected from 50 lakes in National Parks and Forests of the central and southern Sierra Nevada. Multivariate statistical methods revealed that acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and nitrate accounted for significant variation in diatom taxa. A training set with 242 modern diatom taxa from a subset of 41 lakes was used to develop transfer functions for ANC and nitrate using weighted averaging techniques. ANC and nitrate calibration ranges were 23.0–137 μEq/L and 0.18–9.5 μM, respectively. Coefficients of determination for the models were: ANC: R2 = 0.76, and R 2jackknife  = 0.44; NO3: R2 = 0.67, and R 2jackknife  = 0.27. The ANC model was applied to the top 50 cm of sediments in Moat Lake to reconstruct ANC from ca. AD 350 to 2005. The reconstruction suggests that ANC declined by about 40 % (101–60 μEq/L) between the 1920s and the 1960s and then recovered to pre-1920s levels during 1980–2000. The magnitude of this ANC excursion was the largest observed during the past 1,600 years. We hypothesize that temporal variations in ANC were influenced by: (1) changes in rates of acid deposition, especially nitric acid and (2) variations in the timing and magnitude of snowmelt runoff.

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Acknowledgments

The first two authors contributed equally to the research and preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Jason Curtis and Jaime Escobar for their generous assistance collecting the long core from Moat Lake and guidance on sediment processing. We thank Kevin Skeen, Steve Sadro, Andrea Heard, Peter Homyak, Tor Skeen, William Vicars, Samuel Lucero-Sickman, Kaitlyn Lucero-Sickman, Paul Sternberg, Katherine Kendrick, Nicole Reid and personnel from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for assistance with calibration lake sampling. We thank Annie Esperanza and Lee Tarnay of the U.S. National Park Service and Joe Gurrieri, and Jeffrey Weise of the U.S. Forest Service for their logistical support of the project. Assistance with the sampling design and 210Pb analyses was provided by Mark Brenner of the Land Use and Environmental Change Institute (LUECI) at the University of Florida. Project funding was provided by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and the University of California, Riverside.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    James O. Sickman, Danuta M. Bennett & Delores M. Lucero

  2. Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-6150, USA

    Danuta M. Bennett

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701, USA

    Thomas J. Whitmore

  4. Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    William F. Kenney

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  1. James O. Sickman
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Correspondence to James O. Sickman.

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Sickman, J.O., Bennett, D.M., Lucero, D.M. et al. Diatom-inference models for acid neutralizing capacity and nitrate based on 41 calibration lakes in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. J Paleolimnol 50, 159–174 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-013-9711-0

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