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Early postglacial chironomid succession in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, and its paleoenvironmental significance

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Abstract

Chironomids typical of cold, well-oxygenated, oligotrophic environments are common in late-Pleistocene deposits, but these taxa are rare in Holocene sediments of most small temperate lakes. Hypotheses to explain the demise of these taxa include variations in climate, lake trophic state, lake levels, terrestrial vegetation, and/or sediment composition. In southwestern British Columbia, this demise correlates with palynological evidence for a lodgepole pine decline, and for rapid climatic amelioration, at about 10 000 yr B.P. Faunal changes are poorly correlated with lithological boundaries. The similar timing of the declines among lakes suggests that a regional influence, climate, has possibly been the principal determinant of early chironomid faunal succession.

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Author notes

  1. Ian R. Walker

    Present address: Department of Biology, Queen's University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, V5A 1S6, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Ian R. Walker & Rolf W. Mathewes

  2. Institute for Quaternary Research, Simon Fraser University, V5A 1S6, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Ian R. Walker & Rolf W. Mathewes

Authors
  1. Ian R. Walker
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  2. Rolf W. Mathewes
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Additional information

This is the eleventh of a series of papers to be published by this journal that was presented in the paleolimnology sessions organized by R.B. Davis for the XIIth Congress of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), which took place in Ottawa, Canada in August 1987. Dr. Davis is serving as guest editor of this series.

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Walker, I.R., Mathewes, R.W. Early postglacial chironomid succession in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, and its paleoenvironmental significance. J Paleolimnol 2, 1–14 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00156979

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