Supplementary Information for

Harmful algal blooms and cyanotoxins in Lake Amatitlán, Guatemala, coincided

with ancient Maya occupation in the watershed

Matthew Neal Waters1*, Mark Brenner2,3, Jason Hilleary Curtis3, Claudia Suseth
Romero-Oliva4, Margaret Dix4, Manuel Cano5

*Corresponding Author: Matthew N. Waters, mwaters@auburn.edu, 201 Funchess Hall,

Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849

This PDF file includes:

Figures S1 to S4
Table S1

1
 Mag Sus Dates (YBP) Mag Sus Dates (YBP) Mag Sus Mag Sus

0 500 0 500 0 200 400 0 200 400

2000

50 1800

120+/-15 1600

150 1400

1200

Date (BCE/CE)
Depth (cm)

250 845+/-15 1000

1270+/-20 800
1445+/-20
790+/-40 1495+/-20
350 600
1605+/-20

1270+/-20 400
1875+/-25
450 200

1830+/-20 0

2150+/-35 -200
550
Waters et al. Lohse et al. Waters et al. Lohse et al.

Fig. S1. Depth versus AMS 14C dates and magnetic susceptibility for our sediment core
and the core reported by Lohse et al. (40), which were taken at nearby locations. Dates
were calibrated using Calib 8.2 (60) and used in the Bayesian age calculations. Bolded
dates (1270+/-20) were identical in the two cores and enabled correlation of magnetic
susceptibility peaks in the two cores above and below that datum. This, in turn, enabled
projection of radiocarbon dates from the Lohse et al. (40) core onto to corresponding
depths in our sediment sequence (Table 1). Right panels are core dates versus magnetic
susceptibility for our sediment core and the core reported by Lohse et al. (40), which
were taken at nearby locations.

2
 2100
1800

1500
Date BCE/CE

1200

900
600

300
0

-300
-200 80 180 280 380 480 580
Depth (cm)

Fig. S2. Age-depth model generated by the Bacon program in R Studio, using calibrated
AMS 14C dates listed in Table 1 (41). Green dots are dates from our core and red dots are
taken from Lohse et al. (40). Grey area indicates 95% confidence interval.

3
Fig. S3. Scatterplot of principal components 1 and 2 from the principal component
analysis (PCA), utilizing the paleolimnological variables from Fig. 2 and cyanotoxin
analyses. PC1 and PC2 explain 50% and 21% of the dataset, respectively. Sample colors
for Zones I (red), II (green), III (blue), and IV (orange) correspond to the color code for
core Zones in Fig. 2 and were determined using k-means cluster analysis on PC 1 and 2.

4
 Chla/Pheoa Fuco
0 1 0 120
2000
IV
1800

1600
III
1400

1200
Date (BCE/CE)

1000

800 II

600

400

200 I
0

-200

Fig. S4. Date (BCE/CE) versus chlorophyll a/pheophytin a (Chla/pheoa) and

fucoxanthin in the Lake Amatitlán sediment core. Fucoxanthin is reported as nmol
pigment g org-1. The Chla/pheoa ratio serves as a pigment degradation index with higher
values indicating greater pigment preservation. Fucoxanthin is a labile pigment
representative of siliceous algae (29). Ages were assigned using Bayesian statistics and
the Bacon package in R (39). Sediment core Zones (I, II, III and IV) were determined by
k-means cluster analysis on principal components 1 and 2 (Fig. S3).

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Table S1. Eigenvectors for principal components 1 and 2 for each variable used in the
analysis.
Variable Principal Component 1 Principal Component 2
Total Microcystin (Tox) 0.208 -0.250
Phosphorus 0.286 -0.372
Nitrogen 0.364 0.076
Organic Carbon 0.283 0.375
C/N -0.142 0.504
N/P 0.074 0.547
Aphanizophyll 0.388 0.019
Diatoxanthin 0.298 -0.237
Canthaxanthin 0.353 0.127
Beta Carotene 0.371 0.151
Lutein+Zeaxanthin 0.367 0.049