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Environmental changes during the past ~ 400 years in alpine Lake Son-Kul, central Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan: evidence from sedimentary lipid biomarker records

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Abstract

Environmental and ecological changes recorded in lake sediments can provide valuable information about natural versus anthropogenic effects on the environment, especially in alpine lakes, which are commonly regarded as sensitive indicators of both local and global environmental changes. To reconstruct the past ~ 400 years of environmental history of alpine Lake Son-Kul, central Tienshan, Kyrgyzstan, we measured lipid biomarkers (n-alkanes [n-ALKs] and n-alkanoic acids [n-FAs]) and other geochemical variables (total organic carbon [TOC] and total nitrogen [TN]) in a 210Pb- and 137Cs-dated sediment core. Stratigraphic shifts in lipid biomarkers, TOC and TN indicate three principal environmental stages in the lake over the past four centuries. Stage I (~ 1600–1900 AD) was characterized by relatively lower and stable terrestrial organic matter (OM) and limited aquatic primary productivity. A period of shallow-water conditions was revealed by increased abundances in long-chain n-FAs ca. 1775 AD. Stage II (~ 1900–1960 AD) was characterized by increased allochthonous OM inputs, indicating marked development of terrestrial vegetation caused by elevated temperatures. In stage III (~ 1960–2011 AD), allochthonous OM inputs and aquatic primary productivity in the lake increased significantly compared to previous stages. Warm and dry conditions may be responsible for the rapid increase in allochthonous OM inputs and changes in herbaceous plant communities during the interval ~ 1960–1983 AD. A pesticide spill in 1976 caused a reduction in aquatic macrophytes, as recorded by biomarker indexes, e.g. Paq, LPTP. In addition, greater human-mediated nutrient loading was responsible for increasing phytoplankton productivity, especially in recent decades.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the CAS Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia for assistance with this work. We also are grateful to Haiao Zeng and Long Ma for field help and Mark Brenner for precious language editing of the manuscript and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U2003202) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pan-Third Pole Environment Study for a Green Silk Road (Grant No. XDA2006030101; 2017ZYKG01).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nan**g Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nan**g, 210008, China

    Hongliang Zhang, **glu Wu, Qianyu Li & Miao **

  2. Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China

    **glu Wu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Hongliang Zhang, **glu Wu & Miao **

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  1. Hongliang Zhang
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Zhang, H., Wu, J., Li, Q. et al. Environmental changes during the past ~ 400 years in alpine Lake Son-Kul, central Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan: evidence from sedimentary lipid biomarker records. J Paleolimnol 68, 265–278 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-022-00246-9

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