Response of diatom assemblages to orbital‐ and millennial‐scale climatic variability since the penultimate glacial maximum in the northern limit of the Neotropics

Abstract

ABSTRACTLake Chalco, in Central Mexico, has a long diatom record which provides an excellent opportunity to document the biotic and hydrological responses of this ecosystem to orbital‐ and millennial‐scale climatic variability during the last 150 ka. Detrended correspondence analysis was used to evaluate the ecological turnover and to identify diatom species associations throughout the sequence. Millennial‐scale climatic fluctuations were identified as peaks in freshwater (mostly small Fragilariaceae spp.) or as peaks in salt‐tolerant species. At orbital scales, species turnover involved changes between freshwater assemblages dominated by Stephanodiscus spp. – small Fragilariaceae spp. – Cocconeis placentula, present during low‐evaporation, cool intervals [late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)6, MIS5d, MIS2] against salt‐tolerant taxa, dominated by Stephanocyclus and Cyclotella spp., in higher evaporation, higher salinity conditions (MIS5e, MIS5c–a, MIS4, MIS3, early MIS1). Comparatively, MIS6 and MIS5d seem to have been cooler (~ −6 to −7 °C) and wetter than MIS2 (~ − 4 to −5 °C). In contrast, MIS5e and early MIS1 (11.5–6 ka) had similar warmer, low lake level, saline conditions. In addition, MIS5 was a period of intense climatic change associated with wide‐amplitude orbital forcing that favored a Stephanocyclus–Cyclotella spp. ecological succession (S. meneghinianus, C. tlalocii, C. poyeka, S. quillensis). In contrast, smaller temperature changes were inferred during MIS4 and MIS3.