A late Holocene paleo-productivity record in the western Gulf of Maine, USA, inferred from growth histories of the long-lived ocean quahog (Arctica islandica)

To investigate environmental variability during the late Holocene in the western Gulf of Maine, USA, we collected a 142-year-old living bivalve ( Arctica islandica ) in 2004, and three fossil A. islandica shells of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and late MWP / Little Ice Age (LIA) period (corrected 14 C AMS = 1030 ± 78 ad ; 1320 ± 45 ad ; 1357 ± 40 ad ) in 1996. We compared the growth record of the modern shell with continuous plankton recorder (CPR) time-series (1961–2003) from the Gulf of Maine. A significant correlation ( r 2 = 0.55; p