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Polar Biol (2010) 33:683691 DOI 10.1007/s00300-009-0745-8
ORIGINAL PAPER
Seabirds colonized Ny-lesund, Svalbard, Arctic 9,400 years ago
Linxi Yuan Liguang Sun Nanye Long Zhouqing Xie Yuhong Wang Xiaodong Liu
Received: 31 August 2009 / Revised: 17 October 2009 / Accepted: 19 October 2009 / Published online: 6 November 2009 Springer-Verlag 2009
Abstract A 118-cm-long and well-preserved sediment proWle in a paleo-notch, which was formed by ocean wave action before rising to the terrace, was collected from the
Wrst terrace of Ny-lesund, Svalbard, Arctic. The bottom of this proWle was dated as 9,400 years B.P. based on two radiocarbon dates of fossil mollusc shell fragments. The organic material in the sediment was identiWed by [afii9829]13Corg
C/N plot and [afii9829]15Norg characteristics to be predominantly composed of seabird guano, which was transported from the ocean via preying and excreting by seabirds. These results indicate that seabirds have inhabited Ny-lesund since 9,400 years B.P. after Kongsfjorden was completely deglaciated. This is the Wrst report on Holocene seabird occupation on Ny-lesund and it provides the foundation for understanding the ecological history of seabirds in Sval-bard in Holocene.
Keywords Paleo-notch Sediment Seabird Colonize
Ny-lesund
Introduction
Svalbard is a high Arctic archipelago situated between 7630[H11032] N8030[H11032] N and 10 E35 E. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (2615 ka B.P.), Svalbard was completely covered by the Late Weichselian ice sheet in the Barents Sea (e.g., Landvik et al. 1998). Since 15 ka B.P., the edge of the Late Weichselian ice sheet began to retreat as the climate became warmer and deglaciation began (Svendsen et al. 1996; Landvik et al. 1998). The ice sheet boundary retreated to the western coast of Svalbard between 13 and 12 ka B.P. (Lehman and Forman 1992; Mangerud et al. 1992), and then Svalbard gradually emerged (Forman et al. 2004).
Ny-lesund (N 7855[H11032], E 1156[H11032]) is on Brggerhalvya, western coast of Svalbard, and it is an area sensitive to climate change (Svendsen and Mangerud 1997; Andersson et al. 1999; Forman and Inglfsson 2000; Snyder et al. 2000). Along western Svalbard, an arm of the Gulf Streamthe West Spitsbergen Current (WSC)Xows northward to create the northernmost area of open water in the Arctic (Birks et al. 2004). These currents, coupled with much cyclonic activity, bring western Svalbard an arctic-oceanic climate,...