A high-resolution paleolimnological record from Lake Brazi (TDB-1; 45°23’47″N, 22°54’06″E, 1740 m a.s.l.), a small, glacial lake in the Retezat (South Carpathian Mountains, Romania) provides a sensitive record of the impacts of late glacial climatic change on siliceous algal assemblages. The sequence, ranging from 15,700 cal yr BP to 9500 cal yr BP, suggests that the most significant changes in diatom assemblages took place at 12,800 and 10,400 cal yr BP, when alkaliphilous fragilarioid taxa were replaced by acidophilous diatoms. Altogether eight zones were distinguished with sharp and rapid changes of diatom assemblages. The paper discusses the application of siliceous algae in multi-proxy paleolimnological analyses, demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of this proxy and presents the story of floristic discovery of unique diatom assemblages, the closest recent analogs of which are found in the arctic region.
Antoniades, D., P.B. Hamilton, M.S.V. Douglas, J.P. Smol 2008: Diatoms of North America: The Freshwater Floras of Prince Patrick, Ellef Ringnes and northern Ellesmere Islands from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. — In: Lange-Bertalot, H. (ed.): Iconographia Diatomologica, 17. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G. 649 pp.
R.W. Batterbee 1986 Diatom analysis B.E. Berglund Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology John Wiley and Sons Chichester, New York, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapor 527 570.
Bennett K.D. 2005: Psimpoll Manual. — 〈http://www.kv.geo.uu.se/psimpoll.html〉 (accessed 12th February 2008).
S. Björck M.J.C. Walker L.C. Cwynar S. Johnsen K.L. Knudsen J.J. Lowe B. Wohlfarth intimate members 1998 An event stratigraphy for the Last Termination in the North Atlantic region based on the Greenland ice-core record: a proposal by the INTIMATE group Journal of Quaternary Science 13 283 292.
K. Buczkó E.K. Magyari M. Braun M. Bálint 2009 Late Glacial and Holocene diatoms from glacial lake Taul dintre Brazi, Retezat Mts, Romania A. Lotter H. Cremer M. Mullen R. Vasiliauskiené H. Hooghart The joint 40th Meeting of the Dutch-Flemish Society of Diatomists (NVKD) and 3rd Cetral Europen Diatom Meeting (CE-DiatoM) Hollandia Utrecht 36 39.
K. Buczkó N. Ognjanova-Rumenova E. Magyari 2010 Taxonomy, morphology and distribution of some Aulacoseira taxa in glacial lakes in the South Carpathian region Polish Botanical Journal 55 149 163.
G. Clarke M. Kernan A. Marchetto S. Sorvari J. Catalan 2005 Using diatoms to assess geographical patterns of biological and limnological change in high-altitude European lakes from pre-industrial times to the present day Aquatic Sciences 67 224 236.
Committee on Abrupt Climate Change National Research Council. 2002 Definition of Abrupt Climate Change Abrupt climate change: inevitable surprises National Academy Press Washington, D.C..
R.M.M. Esposito S.A. Spaulding D.M. McKnight B. Van de Vijver K. Kopalová D. Lubinski B. Hall T. Whittaker 2008 Inland diatoms from the McMurdo Dry Valleys and James Ross Island, Antarctica Botany 86 1378 1392.
Fallu, M.A., N. Allaire, R. Pienitz 2000: Freshwater Diatoms from northern Québec and Labrador (Canada). Species-environment relationships in lakes of boreal forest, forest-tundra and trunda regions. — In: Lange-Bertalot, H., P. Kociolek (eds): Bibliotheca Diatomologica 45. J. Cramer Series.
O. Heiri A.F. Lotter G. Lemcke 2001 Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results Journal of Paleolimnology 25 101 110.
B. Ilyashuk E. Gobet O. Heiri A.F. Lotter J.F.N. van Leeuwen W.O. van der Knaap E. Ilyashuk F. Oberli B. Ammann 2009 Late Glacial environmental and climatic changes at the Maloja Pass, Central Swiss Alps, as recorded by chironomids and pollen Quat Sci Rev. 28 1340 1353.
A.F. Lotter 2003 Multi-proxy climatic reconstructions A. MacKay R. Battarbee J. Birks F. Oldfield Global Change in the Holocene Arnold London 373 383.
A.F. Lotter H.J.B. Birks W. Hofmann A. Marchetto 1997 Modern Diatom, Cladocera, Chironomid, and Chrysophyte cyst assemblages as quantitative indicators for the reconstruction of past environmental conditions in the Alps. I. Climate Journal of Paleolimnology 18 395 420.
A.F. Lotter H.J.B. Birks W. Hofmann A. Marchetto 1998 Modern Diatom, Cladocera, Chironomid, and Chrysophyte cyst assemblages as quantitative indicators for the reconstruction of past environmental conditions in the Alps. II. Nutrients Journal of Paleolimnology 19 443 463.
A.W. Mackay D.B. Ryves R.W. Battarbee R.J. Flower D. Jewson P. Rioual M. Sturm 2005 1000 years of climate variability in central Asia: assessing the evidence using Lake Baikal (Russia) diatom assemblages and the application of a diatom-inferred model of snow cover on the lake Global and Planetary Change 46 281 297.
D.G. Mann S.J. Thomas K.M. Evans 2008 Revision of the diatom genus Sellaphora: a first account of the larger species in the British Isles Fottea 8 15 78.
E.K. Magyari M. Braun K. Buczkó K. Hubay M. Bálint 2009 Radiocarbon chronology of glacial lake sediments in the Retezat Mts (S Carpathians, Romania): a window to Lateglacial and Holocene climatic and palaeoenvironmental changes Central European Geology 52 225 248.
Magyari, E.K., G. Jakab, M. Braun, M. Bálint, K. Buczkó: Rapid responses of high-mountain vegetation to Lateglacial and Early Holocene climatic oscillations — a case study from the South Carpathian Mountains, Romania. in prep.
L. St. Péterfi 1974 Preliminary notes on the subfossil and recent diatom flora of the Zanoguta peat bog from the Retezat Mountains Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Cluj, Series Biologia 19 5 17.
R. Pienitz J.P. Smol H.J.B. Birks 1995 Assessment of freshwater diatoms as quantitative indicators of past climatic change in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada Journal of Paleolimnology 13 21 49.
A. Poulícková J. Špacková M.G. Kelly Duchoslav D.G. Mann 2008 Ecological variation within Sellaphora species complexes (Bacillariophyceae): specialists or generalists? Hydrobiologia 614 373 386.
A.U. Reuther P. Urdea C. Geiger S. Ivy-Ochs H.P. Nille P.W. Kubik K. Heine 2007 Late Pleistocene glacial chronology of the Pietrele Valley, Retezat Mountains, Southern Carpathians constrained by 10Be exposure ages and pedological investigations Quaternary International 164–65 151 169.
D.B. Ryves R. Battarbee S.C. Fritz 2009 The dilemma of disappearing diatoms: incorporating dissolution into paleoenvironmental modelling and reconstructions Quaternary Science Reviews 28 120 136.
R. Schmidt C. Kamenik C. Kaiblinger M. Hetzel 2004 Tracking Holocene environmental changes in an alpine lake sediment core: application of regional diatom calibration, geochemistry, and pollen Journal of Paleolimnology 32 177 196.
R. Schmidt C. Kamenik R. Tessadri K.A. Koinig 2006 Climatic changes from 12,000 to 4,000 years ago in the Austrian Central Alps tracked by sedimentological and biological proxies of a lake sediment core Journal of Paleolimnology 35 491 505.
P.A. Siver P.B. Hamilton K. Stachura-Suchoples J.P. Kociolek 2005 Diatoms of North America: The freshwater flora of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA H. Lange-Bertalot Iconographia diatomologica, vol. 14 Koeltz Scientific Books Koeningstein, Liechtenstein.
J.P. Smol 2008 Pollution of Lakes and Rivers: A Paleoenvironmental Perspective 2nd Edition Blackwell Publishing Oxford.
E.F. Stoermer J.P. Smol 1999 The diatoms: Applications for the environmental and Earth Sciences Cambridge University Press Cambridge.
A.P. Wolfe 2002 Climate modulates the acidity of Arctic lakes on millennial time scales Geological Society of America 30 215 218.