Linking testate amoeba assemblages to paleohydrology and ecosystem function in Holocene peat records from the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
Peat cores from boreal bog and fen sites in the Hudson Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario, Canada, were analysed to calculate Holocene carbon accumulation rates, and to show how testate amoeba taxonomic assemblages, inferred depths to water table, and four morpho-traits that may be linked to function (mixotrophy, aperture size, aperture position, and biovolume) changed since peatland initiation. Carbon accumulation rates were on average higher for the Holocene in the fen record (19.4 g C m−2 yr−1) in comparison with the bog record (15.7 g C m−2 yr−1), which underwent a fen-to-bog transition around 6900 cal yr BP. Changes in rates of carbon accumulation were most strongly driven by changes in rates of peat vertical accretion, with more rapid rates in the fen record. Carbon accumulation rates were highest following peatland initiation when reconstructed water tables were highest, and in the late Holocene, when water table positions were variable. Taxa with larger biovolumes and apertures were generally more abundant when reconstructed water tables were higher, most notably following peatland initiation. Mixotrophic taxa were more prevalent in drier conditions and in the bog record. Changing frequencies of morpho-traits suggest that testate amoebae may occupy a higher trophic position in the microbial food web during wetter periods, signaling the possibility of internal feedbacks between peatland ecohydrology and critical ecosystem functions including long-term carbon accumulation.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
Data availability statement
All testate amoeba data and radiocarbon dates have been archived in the Neotoma Paleoecology Database.
References
Amesbury MJ, Booth RK, Charman DJ, et al. (2018) Towards a Holarctic synthesis of peatland testate amoeba ecology: Development of a new continental-scale palaeohydrological transfer function for North America and comparison to European data. Quaternary Science Reviews 201: 483–500.
Andrews JT, Peltier WR (1989) Quaternary geodynamics in Canada. In: Fulton RJ (ed.) Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland, vol 1. Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada, pp. 543–572.
Bennett KD (1996) Determining the number of zones in a biostratigraphical sequence. New Phytologist 132: 155–170.
Blaauw M, Christen JA (2011) Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis 6(3): 457–474.
Booth RK (2001) Ecology of testate Amoeba (Protozoa) in two lake superior coastal wetlands: Implications for paleoecology and environmental monitoring. Wetlands 21(4): 564–576.
Booth RK (2007) Testate amoebae as proxies for mean annual water-table depth in Sphagnum-dominated peatlands of North America. Journal of Quaternary Science 23(1): 43–57.
Booth RK, Lamentowicz M, Charman DJ (2010) Preparation and analysis of testate amoebae in peatland palaeoenvironmental studies. Mires and Peat 7(2): 1–7.
Bunbury J, Finkelstein SA, Bollmann J (2012) Holocene hydro-climatic change and effects on carbon accumulation inferred from a peat bog in the Attawapiskat River watershed, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada. Quaternary Research (United States) 78(2): 275–284.
Bush E, Lemmen DS (2019) Canada’s changing climate report. Report, Government of Canada, Ottawa.
Chambers FM, Beilman DW, Yu Z (2011) Methods for determining peat humification and for quantifying peat bulk density, organic matter and carbon content for palaeostudies of climate and peatland carbon dynamics. Mires and Peat 7: 1–10.
Charman D, Hendon D, Woodland WA (2000) The Identification of Testate Amoebae (Protozoa: Rhizopoda) in Peats. London: Quaternary Research Association.
Charman DJ, Blundell A, Alm J, et al. (2007) A new European testate amoebae transfer function for palaeohydrological reconstruction on ombrotrophic peatlands. Journal of Quaternary Science 22(3): 209–221.
Charman DJ, Beilman DW, Blaauw M, et al. (2013) Climate-related changes in peatland carbon accumulation during the last millennium. Biogeosciences 10(2): 929–944.
Creevy AL, Andersen R, Rowson JG, et al. (2017) Testate amoebae as functionally significant bioindicators in forest-to-bog restoration. Ecological Indicators 84: 274–282.
Fournier B, Lara E, Jassey VE, et al. (2015) Functional traits as a new approach for interpreting testate amoeba palaeo-records in peatlands and assessing the causes and consequences of past changes in species composition. The Holocene 25(9): 1375–1383.
Garneau M, Van Bellen S, Magnan G, et al. (2014) Holocene carbon dynamics of boreal and subarctic peatlands from Québec, Canada. The Holocene 24(9): 1043–1053.
Glaser PH, Hansen BCS, Siegel DI, et al. (2004) Rates, pathways and drivers for peatland development in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, northern Ontario, Canada. Journal of Ecology 92(6):1036–1053.
Grimm EC (1987) Constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Computers and Geosciences 13(1): 13–35.
Hargan KE, Ruhland KM, Paterson AM, et al. (2015) Long-term successional changes in peatlands of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada inferred from the ecological dynamics of multiple proxies. The Holocene 25: 92–107.
Hargan KE, Finkelstein SA, Rühland KM, et al. (2020) Post-glacial lake development and paleoclimate in the central Hudson Bay Lowlands inferred from sediment records. Journal of Paleolimnology 64: 25–46.
Jassey VEJ, Meyer C, Dupuy C, et al. (2013) To what extent do food preferences explain the trophic position of heterotrophic and mixotrophic microbial consumers in a Sphagnum peatland? Microbial Ecology 66(3): 571–580.
Jassey VEJ, Signarbieux C, Hättenschwiler S, et al. (2015) An unexpected role for mixotrophs in the response of peatland carbon cycling to climate warming. Scientific Reports 5: 16931.
Juggins S (2003) C2: Software for ecological and palaeocological data analysis and visualisation. Newcastle upon Tyne: The University of Newcastle.
Juggins S (2013) Quantitative reconstructions in palaeolimnology: New paradigm or sick science? Quaternary Science Reviews 64: 20–32.
Juggins S (2015) Rioja: Analysis of quaternary science data, R package. Available at: http://cran.r-project.org/package=rioja (accessed 18 February 2019).
Klinger LF (1996) The myth of the classic hydrosere model of bog succession. Arctic and Alpine Research 28(1): 1–9.
Koenig I, Schwendener F, Mulot M, et al. (2017) Response of Sphagnum testate amoebae to drainage, subsequent re-wetting and associated changes in the moss carpet – results from a three year mesocosm experiment. Acta Protozoologica 56(3): 191–210.
Koenig I, Mulot M, Mitchell EAD (2018) Taxonomic and functional traits responses of Sphagnum peatland testate amoebae to experimentally manipulated water table. Ecological Indicators 85: 342–351.
Kurina IV, Li H, Barashkov DR (2020) Use of testate amoebae to infer paleohydrology during fen and fen-bog transition stages of ombrotrophic mire development. Journal of Paleolimnology 63(2): 147–158.
Lamarre A, Magnan G, Garneau M, et al. (2013) A testate amoeba-based transfer function for paleohydrological reconstruction from boreal and subarctic peatlands in northeastern Canada. Quaternary International 306: 88–96.
Lamentowicz M, Kajukało-Drygalska K, Kołaczek P, et al. (2020) Testate amoebae taxonomy and trait diversity are coupled along an openness and wetness gradient in pine-dominated Baltic bogs. European Journal of Protistology 73: 125674.
Lévesque PEM, Denil H, Larouche A (1988) Guide to the Identification of Plant Macrofossils in Canadian Peatlands. Ottawa: Land Resource Research Centre, Research Branch. Agriculture Canada.
Loisel J, Van Bellen S, Pelletier L, et al. (2014) A database and synthesis of northern peatland soil properties and Holocene carbon and nitrogen accumulation. The Holocene 24(9): 1028–1042.
Magnan G, Garneau M (2014) Climatic and autogenic control on Holocene carbon sequestration in ombrotrophic peatlands of maritime Quebec, eastern Canada. The Holocene 24(9): 1054–1062.
Mann ME, Zhang Z, Rutherford S, et al. (2009) Global signatures and dynamical origins of the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly. Science 326(5957): 1256–1260.
Martini IP (2006) The cold-climate peatlands of the Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada: Brief overview of recent work. Developments in Earth Surface Processes 9(C): 53–84.
McAndrews JH, Riley JL, Davis AM (1982) Vegetation history of the Hudson Bay Lowland: A postglacial pollen diagram from the Sutton Ridge. Le Naturaliste Canadien 109: 597–608.
Mitchell EAD, Charman DJ, Warner BG (2008) Testate amoebae analysis in ecological and paleoecological studies of wetlands: Past, present and future. Biodiversity and Conservation 17(9): 2115–2137.
Nichols JE, Peteet DM (2019) Rapid expansion of northern peatlands and doubled estimate of carbon storage. Nature Geoscience 12(11): 917–921.
O’Reilly B, Finkelstein S, Bunbury J (2014) Pollen-derived paleovegetation reconstruction and long-term carbon accumulation at a fen site in the Attawapiskat River Watershed, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 46(1): 6–18.
Packalen MS, Finkelstein SA, McLaughlin JW (2014) Carbon storage and potential methane production in the Hudson Bay Lowlands since mid-Holocene peat initiation. Nature Communications 5: 1–8.
Packalen MS, Finkelstein SA, McLaughlin JW (2016) Climate and peat type in relation to spatial variation of the peatland carbon mass in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada. Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences 121(4): 1104–1117.
Payne RJ, Creevy A, Malysheva E, et al. (2016) Tree encroachment may lead to functionally-significant changes in peatland testate amoeba communities. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 98: 18–21.
Reimer PJ, Bard E, Bayliss A, et al. (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4): 1869–1887.
Riley JL (2011) Wetlands of the Hudson Bay Lowlands: An Ontario Overview. Toronto: Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Roulet NT, Lafleur PM, Richard PJH, et al. (2007) Contemporary carbon balance and late Holocene carbon accumulation in a northern peatland. Global Change Biology 13(2): 397–411.
Swindles GT, Holden J, Raby CL, et al. (2015) Testing peatland water-table depth transfer functions using high-resolution hydrological monitoring data. Quaternary Science Reviews 120: 107–117.
Van Bellen S, Magnan G, Davies L, et al. (2018) Testate amoeba records indicate regional 20th-century lowering of water tables in ombrotrophic peatlands in central-northern Alberta, Canada. Global Change Biology 24(7): 2758–2774.
Yu Z, Loisel J, Brosseau DP, et al. (2010) Global peatland dynamics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Geophysical Research Letters 37(13): 1–5.
Zhang H, Amesbury MJ, Ronkainen T, et al. (2017) Testate amoeba as palaeohydrological indicators in the permafrost peatlands of north-east European Russia and Finnish Lapland. Journal of Quaternary Science 32(7): 976–988.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: November 20, 2020
Issue published: March 2021
Keywords
Data availability statement
Data is available for this article. View more information
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Article usage*
Total views and downloads: 349
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 8 view articles Opens in new tab
Crossref: 14
- Exploring testate amoebae as taxonomic and functional bioindicators to inform peatland habitat status and blanket bog restoration
- Peat Depth and Carbon Storage of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada
- Changes in size of key indicators used in palaeolimnological studies: A critical review
- Environmental associations and the paleoecological significance of the genus Pyxidicula Ehrenberg,1838 and Pyxidicula muskegii sp. nov. in the Hudson and James Bay region peatlands, Canada
- Study on Holocene environmental evolution based on grain size end-member model: A case study of two outcrop sections in Salawusu River Basin
- Hydroclimate Changes Based on Testate Amoebae in the Greater Khingan Mountains’ Peatland (NE China) during the Last Millennium
- Long-Term Carbon Accumulation in Temperate Swamp Soils: a Case Study from Greenock Swamp, Ontario, Canada
- Reconstruction of wetland development across a postglacial chronosequence based on palynomorph and carbon/nitrogen modern analogues
- Holocene carbon storage and testate amoeba community structure in treed peatlands of the western Hudson Bay Lowlands margin, Canada
- The unrecognized importance of carbon stocks and fluxes from swamps in Canada and the USA
- View More
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
I am signed in as:
View my profileSign out
I can access personal subscriptions, purchases, paired institutional access and free tools such as favourite journals, email alerts and saved searches.
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
