Climate-Induced Shifts in Alpine Diatom Communities: Linking Neoecological and Paleoecological Approaches to Incorporate Responses to Trophic Forcing
Beartooth Mountains, Glacier National Park
Climate-Induced Shifts in Alpine Diatom Communities: Linking Neoecological and Paleoecological Approaches to Incorporate Responses to Trophic Forcing
Jasmine Saros, Andrea Nurse
Field assistants from CCI: Carmen Daggett, Courtney Wigdahl, Randall Perry
July 2007, August 2007, August 2008, July 2009
Diatom fossils from lake sediments in the central and northern Rocky Mountains indicate that various Cyclotella species have increased during the 20th century. This increase is often attributed to climate change, but the mechanisms involved here have not yet been tested. To decipher the mechanisms by which climate change has altered diatom community structure, we are coupling paleoecological analyses with experimental approaches. Fossil records from lake sediments are being used along with tree rings to provide information on climate trends over the last 2,000 years. A series of laboratory and field experiments are also being used to assess the mechanisms by which climate-related parameters drive changes in these diatoms.