Using novel palaeolimnological techniques to define lake conservation objectives (Phase 2)

This is the final report to Natural England on Contract No: SAE03/02/054 ‘Using novel palaeolimnological techniques to define lake conservation objectives: Phase 2’. The primary objective of this project is to use existing and recently developed palaeoecological techniques to define reference conditions and assess the condition of selected SSSIs in England, and thereby to assist in the setting of conservation objectives and management goals. The project is divided into four main tasks. Task 1 involved the collection, processing and dating of cores from the study sites and was reported in Phase 1 (Bennion et al., 2008a). Here, in Phase 2, we describe the results of Tasks 2 and 3 which involve macrofossil analyses of cores from five sites: Aqualate Mere, Over Water, Hornsea Mere, Cunswick Tarn and Sunbiggin Tarn. For the latter two marl lakes, a new method for identifying the charophyte oospores was applied. For Over Water, diatom analysis was also conducted and a diatomphosphorus transfer function was applied to assess changes in water quality