The potential of Arctica islandica growth records to reconstruct coastal climate in north west Scotland, UK

This paper describes potential methods for reconstructing past marine environmental and climatic variability in Scottish coastal waters through the investigation of annual growth increments measured from shells of the long-lived marine bivalve Arctica islandica (L.). This is accomplished by using a combination of sclerochronological and dendrochronological techniques which were employed to determine the age of specimens and to create growth chronologies. Using negative exponential detrending methods, a preliminary A. islandica master chronology for the Lynn of Lorn, Scotland has been produced. This chronology indicates highly suppressed growth between the mid 1940s and late 1980s. The growth response of this species to the sea surface temperatures in Scottish coastal waters appears to be complex, most notably during recent decades when land-use changes and marine aquaculture may influence shell growth at this site.