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Abstract
This paper examines the surface-sediment diatom assemblages of 31 shallow, artificial, enriched ponds in southeast England lying along a total phosphorus (TP) gradient (annual mean TP 25-646 μg 1−1), with respect to their species composition, and the role of such waters in generating diatom-chemistry training sets for reconstructing lake nutrient status. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was used to explore the major patterns within the species data and revealed that there are principally two axes, a nutrient axis and a life-form axis. Consequently, there are two major types of diatom assemblage, one dominated by centric taxa of the genera Stephanodiscus and Cyclostephanos, associated with the most nutrient-rich waters, and the other dominated by non-planktonic taxa of the genera Fragilaria and Achnanthes, associated with the shallowest waters.
The small, shallow, artificial nature of these water-bodies with relatively uniform water depth and well-mixed water columns increases the likelihood that the fossil diatom record is of consistent composition and quality across the pond bed, and thus taphonomic problems are minimized in the generation of diatom-chemistry training sets. However, the nature of the surface-sediment diatom *assemblages, particularly where dominance of non-planktonic diatom taxa occurs, presents problems for modelling species response to epilimnetic nutrient concentrations because additional factors influence the diatom distribution. This study highlights both the potential and the weaknesses of shallow, artificial water-bodies for developing diatom-nutrient training sets.
