Influence of plant growth form, habitat and season on leaf-wax n-alkane hydrogen-isotopic signatures in equatorial East Africa
Open access
Autor(in)
Alle anzeigen
Datum
2019-04-11Typ
- Other Conference Item
ETH Bibliographie
yes
Altmetrics
Abstract
Leaf-wax n-alkanes are produced by terrestrial plants, and through long-term preservation in sediments their stable hydrogen-isotopic signature (δ²Hwax) provides useful information on past hydrological variation for paleoclimate reconstructions. However, gaps remain in our understanding of the isotopic relationships between the leaf waxes and the plants' source water. In this study, we investigated the influence of plant growth form, habitat and season on the distribution patterns and δ²Hwax values of 14 plant species (among which are two grasses, five trees and seven shrubs) sampled during four successive dry and wet seasons in three distinct habitats around Lake Chala in equatorial East Africa. Variation in δ²Hwax was analyzed with linear mixed-effect models and compared with the associated values of xylem water (δ²Hxylem), leaf water (δ²Hleaf) and biosynthetic hydrogen fractionation (εbio) (Figure 1). Our results show that plant growth form was the most important driver of modern-day δ²Hwax variability in the study area, and that differences in δ²Hwax between habitats to a large extent reflect the representation of the three major growth forms in those habitats. Individual plant species appear to express substantial species-specific isotopic fractionation that cannot be attributed to the tested external factors but rather seem to depend on intrinsic (e.g., plant phenological and biosynthesis-related) factors. For the purpose of calibrating δ²Hwax signatures against vegetation types, it is thus crucial to analyze representative samples of the plant communities present in the study area. Our results further indicate that paleohydrological studies in regions receiving rain from multiple moisture sources must take into account possible seasonal bias in the δ²Hwax signature relative to annual rainfall (Figure 1), due to unequal use of those moisture sources by the plants (De Wispelaere et al., 2017). Finally, the strong influence of plant growth form on δ²Hwax values argues for systematic evaluation of δ²Hwax variation in paleo-records in conjunction with independent proxy data on changes in vegetation composition. Differences in n-alkane distribution patterns (average chain length, carbon preference index and C31/(C29+C31) ratio) among trees, shrubs and grasses may provide such a proxy, and can be produced from the same leaf-wax n-alkane dataset used to determine δ²Hwax. Mehr anzeigen
Persistenter Link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000394692Publikationsstatus
publishedZeitschrift / Serie
Geophysical Research AbstractsBand
Seiten / Artikelnummer
Verlag
CopernicusKonferenz
Organisationseinheit
09646 - Dötterl, Sebastian / Dötterl, Sebastian
03868 - Eglinton, Timothy I. / Eglinton, Timothy I.
Förderung
174300 - Sources and proportions of modern and aged organic carbon eroded from soils under different land-use within catchments in Nepal – Insights from compound-specific 13C & 14C analysis and novel mixing models (SNF)
Anmerkungen
Conference lecture held on April 11, 2019ETH Bibliographie
yes
Altmetrics