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Abstract

The origins of the freshwater fauna that inhabits Antarctic lakes are poorly known. The species
present today could be relict species that have survived Quaternary glaciations on the continent, or
Holocene migrants from more temperate regions. One approach to investigating these questions is to study
faunal microfossils in lake sediment. This approach was applied to a 293 cm sediment core from Lake
Boeckella, located at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The microfossils indicated that most of
the metazoan species that occur in the lake today have been present since soon after the lake�s formation
c. 5.5 ka ago. In particular, the centropagid copepod Boeckella poppei (Mra´zek) has been present throughout
the lake�s history, suggesting a local source for this species. The development of biodiversity in the lake with
time was in general more consistent with local (Antarctic) rather than distant (South American) sources,
though an alternative explanation is that dispersal to Antarctica was more efficient in the mid-Holocene.
Evidence of dispersal from extra-continental sites comes from the scattered occurrence throughout the core
of Eubosmina chilensis (Daday), a South American species that does not reach the Antarctic or the sub-
Antarctic islands at present, and which failed to establish a permanent population in the lake.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Gibson, JAE and Rolf, Z
Journal or Publication Title:	The Holocene
ISSN:	0959-6836
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683606hl959rp
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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