Reconstruction of methane flux from lakes: development and application of a new approach (RECONMET)
Within the ERC Starting Grant Project RECONMET the stable carbon isotopic composition of aquatic invertebrate remains will be studied to provide information on past changes in the importance of methane as a carbon source for aquatic foodwebs. The project will study lake ecosystems in Switzerland, Finland, Germany, and Sweden to assess the extent to which the distinct carbon isotopic composition of methane can be traced in organic invertebrate remains from lakes with different methane concentrations and output. The aim is to develop carbon isotopic measurements on organic invertebrate remains as a new approach for reconstructing past changes in foodweb structure, methane availability, and methane fluxes in lakes.
Fieldwork at Lake Glimmeren, Sweden, to measure methane concentrations and obtain sediment samples for C-13 analysis
Oliver Heiri, Päivi Rinta, Jos Schilder, Tabea Stötter, Marina Morlock, Maarten van Hardenbroek
Markus Leuenberger (OCCR), Paul Bodelier (NIOO Wageningen), Jonathan Grey (Queen Mary University London), Roger Jones (University of Jyväskylä), Paula Kankaala (University of Eastern Finland), David Bastviken (University of Linköping), Beth Okamura (Natural History Museum London)
Marina Morlock has completed her MSc thesis with the title Stable carbon isotopes of cladoceran and bryozoan remains in Lake Gerzensee: implications for their use to reconstruct past methane abundance. In January 2015 she started as a PhD student in the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology group of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern
Tabea Stötter has defended her PhD thesis on January 30 2015. The title of the thesis is Methane-derived carbon in recent and ancient lake sediments - Analyses of lipids and invertebrate remains
Päivi Rinta has defended her PhD thesis on December 12 2014. The title of the thesis is Lacustrine methane cycling in different environments - Observations from a multi-lake survey and a sediment record
Jos Schilder has defended his PhD thesis on July 11 2014. The title of the thesis is Methanogenic carbon in Daphnia tissue as an indicator of lacustrine methane budgets - observarions from the field, experiments and the fossil record.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 239858
Types of Chitinous Remains
Chironomid head capsule
Heiri, O; Ilyashuk, B; Millet, L; Samartin, S; Lotter, AF
Stacking of discontinuous regional palaeoclimate records: Chironomid-based summer temperatures from the Alpine region The Holocene 25 (1): 137-149 JAN 2015
Heiri, O; Brooks, SJ; Renssen, H; Bedford, A; Hazekamp, M; Ilyashuk, B; Jeffers, ES; Lang, B; Kirilova, E; Kuiper, S; Millet, L; Samartin, S; Toth, M; Verbruggen, F; Watson, JE; van, Asch, N; Lammertsma, E; Amon, L; Birks, HH; Birks, HJ; Mortensen, MF; Hoek, WZ; Magyari, E; Muñoz, Sobrino, C; Seppä, H; Tinner, W; Tonkov, S; Veski, S; Lotter, AF
Validation of climate model-inferred regional temperature change for late-glacial Europe Nature Communications: 4914 SEP 2014
van Hardenbroek, M; Lotter, AF; Bastviken, D; Andersen, TJ; Heiri O
Taxon-specific δ13C analysis of chitinous invertebrate remains in sediments from Strandsjön, Sweden Journal of Paleolimnology 52 (1-2) 95-105 AUG 2014
Tinner, W; Colombaroli, D; Heiri, O; Henne, P; Steinacher, M; Untenecker, J; Vescovi, E; Allen, J; Carraro, G; Conedera, M; Joos, F; Lotter, AF; Luterbacher, J; Samartin, S; Valsecchi, V
The past ecology of Abies alba provides new perspectives on future responses of silver fir forests to global warming Ecological Monographs 83 (4): 419–439 NOV 2013
Muñoz Sobrino, C; Heiri, O; Hazekamp, M; van der Velden, D; Kirilova, EP; García-Moreiras, I; Lotter, AF
New data on the Lateglacial period of SW Europe: A high resolution multiproxy record from Laguna de la Roya (NW Iberia) Quaternary Science Reviews 80: 58-77 NOV 2013
Catalan, J; Pla-Rabés, S; Wolfe, SP; Smol, JP; Rühland, KM; Anderson, NJ; Kopáček, J; Stuchlík, E; Schmidt, R; Koinig, KA; Camarero, L; Flower, RJ; Heiri, O; Kamenik, C; Korhola, A; Leavitt, PR; Psenner, R; Renberg, I
Global change revealed by palaeolimnological records from remote lakes: a review Journal of Paleolimnology 49 (3): 513-535 MAR 2013
Schilder, J; Bastviken, D; van Hardenbroek, M; Kankaala, P; Rinta, P; Stötter, T; Heiri, O
Spatial heterogeneity and lake morphology affect diffusive greenhouse gas emission estimates of lakes Geophysical Research Letters 40 (24): 5752–5756 NOV 2013
Eggermont, H; Heiri, O
The chironomid-temperature relationship: expression in nature and palaeoenvironmental implications Biological Reviews 87: 430-456 2012
Heiri, O; Schilder, J; van Hardenbroek, M
Stable isotopic analysis of fossil chironomids as an approach to environmental reconstruction: state of development and future challenges Fauna Norvegica 31: 7-18 2012
van Hardenbroek, M; Heiri, O; Parmentier, FJW; Bastviken, D; Ilyashuk, BP; Wiklund, JA; Hall, RI; Lotter, AF
Evidence for past variations in methane availability in a Siberian thermokarst lake based on δ13C of chitinous invertebrate remains Quaternary Science Reviews 66: 74-84 2012
van Hardenbroek, M; Lotter, AF; Bastviken, D; Duc, NT; Heiri, O
Relationship between δ13C of chironomid remains and methane flux in Swedish lakes Freshwater Biology 57: 166-177 2012
Heiri O. New challenges call for new approaches: An example focusing on past production of methane in lakes. Academia Europaea 26th Annual Conference. 16-18.7.2014, Barcelona, Spain. Invited presentation.
Heiri, O. Stable carbon isotopes in chitinous invertebrate remains: Reconstruction of past methane availability and food web changes in lake ecosystems. Department of Biology, University of Fribourg. 13.5.2014, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Heiri, O. Reconstructing methane production and methane availability in lakes using δ13C of individual sediment components. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research Plenary Meeting, 10.2.2014, Bern Switzerland.
Heiri, O. Environmental reconstruction and transfer functions: A discussion of some recent criticism of the approach. 12th international Subfossil Chironomid Workshop 10-13.6.13, New Forrest, UK.
Rinta, P; D. Bastviken, M. van Hardenbroek, M. Leuenberger, J. Schilder, T. Stötter, O. Heiri. Late summer CH4 and DIC concentrations and δ13C in small European lakes. AGU Fall Meeting, 9.-13.12.2013, San Francisco, USA.
Schilder, J; D. Bastviken, M. van Hardenbroek, P. Kankaala, P. Rinta, T. Stötter, O. Heiri. Diffusive methane flux from lakes has a distinct within-lake spatial distribution. European Geosciences Union General Assembly, 7-12.04.2013, Vienna, Austria.
Stötter, T; M. van Hardenbroek, P. Rinta, J. Schilder, C.J. Schubert, O. Heiri. Can lipids in lake sediments help to reconstruct changes in methane availability and methane fluxes in boreal and temperate lakes? American Geophysical Union General Assembly, 9.-13.12.2013, San Francisco, USA.
Stötter, T; M. van Hardenbroek, P. Rinta, J. Schilder, C.J. Schubert, O. Heiri. Can lipids in lake sediments help to reconstruct changes in methane availability and methane fluxes in boreal and temperate lakes? 12th International NCCR Climate Summer School, 1.-6.9.2013, Grindelwald, Switzerland.
Stötter, T; M. van Hardenbroek, P. Rinta, J. Schilder, C.J. Schubert, O. Heiri. Can lipids in lake sediments help to reconstruct changes in methane availability and methane fluxes in boreal and temperate lakes? Conference on isotopes “Isotopes of Carbon, Water, and Geotracers in Paleoclimate Research”, 26.-28.8.2013, Bern, Switzerland.
Heiri, O. Carbon isotope analysis of invertebrate remains: A new approach for reconstructing variations in methane availability in lakes? EAWAG Dübendorf, 11.9.2012, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Heiri, O. Methan in Feuchtgebieten - Emissionen in der Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft. Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Bern, 27.11.2012. Bern, Switzerland. Oral presentation.
Rinta, P; M. van Hardenbroek, J. Schilder, T. Stötter, O. Heiri. Exploring methane in central and northern European lakes. 11th International NCCR Climate Summer School, 9.-14.09.2012, Monte Verita, Switzerland.