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The disappearance of Sphagnum imbricatum from Butterburn Flow, UKOrganic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 1RU, UK.
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Geography & Environment, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
School of Geography, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Centre for Environmental Change and Quaternary Research, Department of Natural & Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire, Francis Close Hall, Swindon Rd, Cheltenham GL50 4AZ, UK
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK, r.p.evershed{at}bristol.ac.uk The disappearance of the previously abundant moss species Sphagnum imbricatum has been investigated at Butterburn Flow, northern England, using organic geochemical, elemental, macrofossil, pollen and testate amoebae analyses. Variations in the assemblage of peat-forming plants were tracked using the macrofossil distributions as well as the relative chain lengths of n-alkanes and concentrations of 5-n-alkylresorcinols and triterpenols. No significant changes to the vegetation assemblage could be detected prior to the loss of S. imbricatum. Variations in water depth were reconstructed using a testate amoebae transfer function and inferred qualitatively using bulk elemental composition and biomarkers for changing redox conditions in the bog subsurface: the degree of isomerization in the C31 hopanes, and the concentrations of bishomohopanol and archaeol. Pollen analysis reconstructed the landscape surrounding the mire and revealed evidence for human disturbance. The results suggest that bog surface wetness increased with the transition from Sphagnum imbricatum to Sphagnum magellanicum, but the increase was not large and S. imbricatum had previously survived similar periods of wetness. However, the loss of S. imbricatum coincides with increasing human disturbance surrounding the bog, which may have altered nutrient inputs to the bog surface from agriculturally derived dust, to the detriment of S. imbricatum but to the benefit of S. magellanicum and Eriophorum vaginatum. It is proposed here that the stresses imposed by the combination of changing nutrient inputs and a rapidly rising water-table drove the disappearance of S. imbricatum from Butterburn Flow at c. cal. AD 1300.
Key Words: Sphagnum imbricatum • biomarker • macrofossil • late Holocene • peatland • testate amoebae • northern England.
The Holocene, Vol. 18, No. 6,
991-1002 (2008) This article has been cited by other articles:
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