A PALEOECOLOGICAL RECORD OF RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL-CHANGE AT BIG-CREEK MARSH, LONG-POINT, LAKE ERIE

Two sediment cores from Big Creek Marsh, a marsh complex lying behind Long Point in Lake Erie, Ontario, are studied in order to reconstruct the development of the wetland and investigate the impact of European settlement activity, on the ecosystem. A multi-proxy approach is used, with Pb-210 age estimation, loss-on-ignition, pollen and spore counts , microscopic charcoal, diatom counts, and plant macrofossil analysis. These lines of evidence indicate that the marsh has been in existence for less than a millennium, which agrees with what is known of the ev olution of the Long Point spit. The complex nature of marsh developmen t is clearly demonstrated. Both cores appear to contain a predominantl y local record of environmental change, and one core shows evidence fo r cyclic changes in water depths, such as are recorded over longer tim e periods in other Great Lakes marshes. European settlement activity, which had a marked and rapid effect on upland environments, does not s eem to have been important in the development of the marsh ecosystem. However, more recent activity, such as road building has had a locally marked effect on the system.