5 Quaternary History of the Great Lakes

Sunday, 20 March 2011
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Conference B

HOLOCENE PALEOLIMNOLOGY IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION- INSIGHTS FROM NON-POLLEN PALYNOMORPHS IN GEORGIAN BAY AND LAKE SIMCOE

Paper number: 5-14
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 11:05 AM – 11:20 AM

Authors

Abstract

Although there have been many published studies of pollen and embryophyte spores from the Great Lakes region, relatively little attention has been paid to non-pollen palynomorphs. The acid-resistant remains of algae (e.g. dinoflagellate cysts, diatoms, Pediastrum) and protists (e.g. testate amoebae./ thecamoebians), animals (e.g.arthropods, rotifers), and fungal spores and hyphae potentially hold a wealth of paleoecological information that can be compared with modern limnological data. The record of non-pollen palynomorphs from two large lake systems, Georgian Bay (an arm of Lake Huron), and Lake Simcoe (just south of Georgian Bay) is interpreted relative to the large-scale climatic, lake level, and water quality changes through the Holocene.