Identifying the Influence of Terrestrial-aquatic Connectivity on Paleoecological Inferences of Past Climate in Arctic lakes

Paleolimnological investigation of the influence of thaw polygons on aquatic productivity in order to understand the influence of landscape connectivity on biological indicators used for paleoclimate reconstruction. Sediment cores from two lakes were examined using paleolimnological methods in the Mackenzie Uplands region northeast of Inuvik, N.W.T. For each lake, subfossil chironomids and elemental and isotopic carbon and nitrogen were analyzed. These data were then used in a chironomid paleotemperature model for reconstructing past temperature.