Martin, Ainsley;
(2001)
The Ecology and Palaeoecology ofnthe Charophyte Lamprothamnium papulosum in U.K. Coastal Lagoons.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Coastal lagoons have been designated a priority habitat in Annex 1 of the EU Habitats Directive as their communities often include rare specialist species entirely restricted to this habitat. Salinity and nutrient concentrations are important factors influencing community structure in these environments, yet records of these variables and associated biological response over time are rare. This project has two main themes: firstly to enhance our limited understanding of the modern ecology of a lagoonal specialist species, the rare brackish charophyte Lamprothamnium papulosum. This was achieved by relating chemical and environmental conditions within U.K. coastal lagoons to species distribution and performance in the field. Secondly, the project builds on previous work reconstructing salinity and nutrients using diatom remains from lake sediments with a view to investigating the palaeoecology of the species. A training-set of diatom distributions and associated water chemistry was developed, and transfer functions designed to quantitatively reconstruct salinity and nutrients in lagoonal sites were also derived. At two sites where L. papulosum had become locally extinct, these diatom-based environmental reconstructions were then compared with charophyte performance inferred from oospore concentrations in corresponding sedimentary layers. This novel approach therefore provided an indication of both salinity and nutrient levels over time and the associated charophyte response. This information, particularly from around the time ofspecies loss, should prove useful in a modem conservation context.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | The Ecology and Palaeoecology ofnthe Charophyte Lamprothamnium papulosum in U.K. Coastal Lagoons |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2001. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211614 |
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