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Ecology and paleoenvironmental application of testate amoebae in peatlands of the high-elevation Colombian páramo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Bing Liu
Affiliation:
Earth & Environmental Science Department, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, GD, China.
Robert K. Booth*
Affiliation:
Earth & Environmental Science Department, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA
Jaime Escobar
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería Civil y Ambiental, Universidad del Norte, Km 5 Vía Puerto Colombia, Colombia Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archaeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama
Zhiqiang Wei
Affiliation:
Earth & Environmental Science Department, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, GD, China.
Broxton W. Bird
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Andres Pardo
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Estratigrafía, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia
Jason H. Curtis
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
Jun Ouyang
Affiliation:
School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, GD, China.
*
*Corresponding author e-mail address: rkb205@lehigh.edu

Abstract

We investigated the ecology and paleoecology of testate amoebae in peatlands of the Colombian páramo to assess the use of testate amoebae as paleoenvironmental indicators. Objectives were to (1) identify environmental controls on testate amoebae, (2) develop transfer functions for paleoenvironmental inference, and (3) examine testate amoebae in a Holocene peat core and compare our findings with other proxy records. Results from 96 modern samples indicate that testate amoebae are sensitive to pH and surface moisture, and cross-validation of transfer functions indicates potential for paleoenvironmental applications. Testate amoebae from the Triunfo Peatland in the Central Cordillera provided a proxy record of pH and water-table depth for the late Holocene, and inferred changes were correlated with peat C/N measurements during most of the record. Comparison with a lake-level reconstruction suggests that at least the major testate amoeba–inferred changes were driven by climate. Our work indicates that testate amoebae are useful paleoenvironmental indicators in high-elevation tropical peatlands.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2019 

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