Taxonomic and ecological characterization of chrysophyte stomatocysts from northwestern Canada

Abstract

Chrysophyte stomatocysts from the surface sediments of 49 lakes located on a north–south transect in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada, were investigated for their potential use as indicators of environmental change in northern latitudes. Photographic plates and descriptions, following International Statospore Working Group guidelines, illustrate 19 new stomatocyst morphotypes. The main patterns of floristic variation in the data set were explored using canonical correspondence analysis, which indicated that gradients of chloride (r2 = 0.73), dissolved inorganic carbon (r2 = 0.63), and surface-water temperature (r2 = 0.55) were important in influencing species assemblages. Compared with the diatom-temperature inference model developed from the same set of lakes, the stomatocysts provided a slightly less robust model. These results suggest that stomatocysts are weakly, though significantly, related to some of the gradients in lake water chemistry in this data set and can provide a complement to other paleoecological markers. Key words: chrysophyte stomatocysts, inference models, northwestern Canada.