Sclerochronological records of Arctica islandica from the inner German Bight

Sclerochronological records of interannual shell growth variability were established for eight modern shells (26 to 163 years of age) of the bivalve Arctica islandica, which were sampled at one site in the inner German Bight. The records indicate generally low synchrony between individuals. Spectral...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Holocene
Main Authors: Epplé, Valérie M., Brey, Thomas, Witbaard, Rob, Kuhnert, Henning, Pätzold, Jürgen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0959683606hl970rr
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0959683606hl970rr
Description
Summary:Sclerochronological records of interannual shell growth variability were established for eight modern shells (26 to 163 years of age) of the bivalve Arctica islandica, which were sampled at one site in the inner German Bight. The records indicate generally low synchrony between individuals. Spectral analysis of the whole 163-yr masterchronology indicated a cyclic pattern with a period of 5 and 7 years. The masterchronology correlated poorly to time series of environmental parameters over the last 90 years. High environmental variability in time and space of the dynamic and complex German Bight hydrographic system results in an extraordinarily high ‘noise’ level in the shell growth pattern of Arctica islandica.