A siliceous chrysophycean cyst-based pH transfer function for Central European lakes

The surface sediments of 50 Central European low to high mountain, acid-sensitive lakes were examined for chrysophycean stomatocysts. One hundred and twenty sic siliceous stomatocyst morphotypes were differentiated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), counted and illustrated (light microscopy and SEM). Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that pH is the most important measured variable in explaining the cyst distributions, with a strong correlation to the first axis (r2=-0.78). Simple Weighted Averaging (WA) regression and calibration was performed to generate a transfer function for lake water pH. Finally, the transfer function was evaluated by reconstructing pH for a short annually laminated and 137Cs dated core from Lake Plesne, a strongly acid lake, in the Bohemian Forest. A comparison of the measured and inferred pH values indicates that the model has good predictive power. The cyst-inferred pH and the diatom-inferred pH both indicate that pH was low during the 1970s and that the lake has experienced recovery in recent years.