Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of Holocene Insect Fossils from Northeastern Labrador, Canada

Abstract

A 2.16-m column of peat from a raised palsa mound near Umiakoviarusek Lake, Okak Bay, Labrador, yielded plant macrofossils and insect fragments ranging in age from 2650 BP to the present. The insect fossils included 70 named taxa of 13 beetle families and 14 families of other insects, arachnids, and Cladocera. The assemblages are dominated by aquatic and semiaquatic taxa, indicative of a wet bog environment with open water. A continuous woodland episode is inferred from assemblages from 2650 to 1000 BP, followed by a possibly colder episode to the present day, as indicated by increases in tundra dwelling taxa. This sequence is in general agreement with the Labrador pollen record from this interval.