PALAEOLIMNOLOGY Subfossil diatoms and chironomids along an altitudinal gradient in the High Tatra Mountain lakes: a multi-proxy record of past environmental trends Peter Bitus ˇı ´k Æ Vladimı ´r Kubovc ˇı ´k Æ Elena S ˇ tefkova ´ Æ Peter G. Appleby Æ Marek Svitok Published online: 19 May 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract Multi-proxy approach was used to recon- struct the environmental conditions of remote lakes in the High Tatra Mountains (Slovakia) over the past few centuries (approximately 500–1000 years). Short sed- iment cores (*30 cm) taken from three morpholog- ically similar glacial lakes distributed along altitudinal gradient (subalpine to alpine conditions) were analysed for organic matter content (LOI), diatoms and chironomids. Both descriptive and correlative approaches were used for analysing stratigraphical data. Predictive canonical correspondence analysis and co-correspondence analysis were applied to directly relate physical and biological proxies to each other. The relationship between LOI and biotic proxies was inconsistent across groups and lakes. Concordant patterns in diatom and chironomid composition were found in two non-acidified lakes. Common trends in those assemblages indicated major past environmental events such as the Little Ice Age, air pollution and lake acidification. In contrast, no relationship between the composition of diatom and chironomid assemblages was found in the formerly acidified lake, suggesting different responses of assemblages to acidification. While chironomids showed shifts that are attributable to recovery, diatoms assemblage remained relatively stable throughout the uppermost layers of the sediment record. On the other hand, climatic-driven changes in assemblages detected in the deeper layers were more pronounced in diatoms than in chironomids. Keywords Palaeolimnology Á Alpine lakes Á Organic matter content Á Climate Á Acidification Á Co-correspondence analysis Introduction Intensive study of remote alpine and arctic lakes in the past few decades has revealed an extremely high Guest editors: K. Buczko ´, J. Korponai, J. Padisa ´k & S. W. Starratt Palaeolimnological Proxies as Tools of Environmental Reconstruction in Fresh Water P. Bitus ˇı ´k (&) Research Institute & Faculty of Science, Matthias Belius University, 974 01 Banska ´ Bystrica, Slovakia e-mail: bitusik@fpv.umb.sk V. Kubovc ˇı ´k Á M. Svitok Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Technical University in Zvolen, T. G. Masaryka 2117/24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia V. Kubovc ˇı ´k e-mail: kubovcik@vsld.tuzvo.sk E. S ˇ tefkova ´ Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Du ´bravska ´ cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia e-mail: elena.stefkova@savba.sk P. G. Appleby Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool L69 3 BX, UK e-mail: appleby@liverpool.ac.uk 123 Hydrobiologia (2009) 631:65–85 DOI 10.1007/s10750-009-9802-0