CHRYSOPHYCEAN STOMATOCYST FLORA FROM ELK LAKE, CLEARWATER COUNTRY, MINNESOTA

The paleoecological record preserved in the varved sediments of Elk Lake, Clearwater County, Minnesota, has been used by a large number of researchers to reconstruct past environmental and climatic conditions that have occurred at this important reference site. As part of this interdisciplinary effort, we used die International Statospore Working Group (ISWG) taxonomic guidelines to describe the chrysophycean flora that Elk Lake supported over the last 10 400 years. In total, we identified 56 stomatocyst morphotypes using scanning electron and light microscopy. Over one-third of these morphotypes had not been previously recorded.