Articles | Volume 17, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5465-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5465-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
13 Nov 2020
Research article |
| 13 Nov 2020
| 13 Nov 2020
From leaf to soil: n-alkane signal preservation, despite degradation along an environmental gradient in the tropical Andes
Milan L. Teunissen van Manen
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED),
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Boris Jansen
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED),
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Francisco Cuesta
Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Medio Ambiente y Salud
(BIOMAS), Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA), Quito, Ecuador
Susana León-Yánez
Escuela de las Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad de
Católica de Ecuador (PUCE), Quito, Ecuador
William D. Gosling
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED),
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Carrie L. Thomas, Boris Jansen, Sambor Czerwiński, Mariusz Gałka, Klaus-Holger Knorr, E. Emiel van Loon, Markus Egli, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
Biogeosciences, 20, 4893–4914, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4893-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4893-2023, 2023
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Peatlands are vital terrestrial ecosystems that can serve as archives, preserving records of past vegetation and climate. We reconstructed the vegetation history over the last 2600 years of the Beerberg peatland and surrounding area in the Thuringian Forest in Germany using multiple analyses. We found that, although the forest composition transitioned and human influence increased, the peatland remained relatively stable until more recent times, when drainage and dust deposition had an impact.
Carrie L. Thomas, Boris Jansen, E. Emiel van Loon, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
SOIL, 7, 785–809, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-785-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-785-2021, 2021
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Plant organs, such as leaves, contain a variety of chemicals that are eventually deposited into soil and can be useful for studying organic carbon cycling. We performed a systematic review of available data of one type of plant-derived chemical, n-alkanes, to determine patterns of degradation or preservation from the source plant to the soil. We found that while there was degradation in the amount of n-alkanes from plant to soil, some aspects of the chemical signature were preserved.
Songyu Yang, Boris Jansen, Samira Absalah, Rutger L. van Hall, Karsten Kalbitz, and Erik L. H. Cammeraat
SOIL, 6, 1–15, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-1-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-1-2020, 2020
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Soils store large carbon and are important for global warming. We do not know what factors are important for soil carbon storage in the alpine Andes or how they work. We studied how rainfall affects soil carbon storage related to soil structure. We found soil structure is not important, but soil carbon storage and stability controlled by rainfall is dependent on rocks under the soils. The results indicate that we should pay attention to the rocks when we study soil carbon storage in the Andes.
Nicolette Tamara Regina Johanna Maria Jonkman, Esmee Daniëlle Kooijman, Karsten Kalbitz, Nicky Rosa Maria Pouw, and Boris Jansen
SOIL, 5, 303–313, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-303-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-303-2019, 2019
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In the urban gardens of Kisumu we interviewed female farmers to determine the sources and scope of their agricultural knowledge. We assessed the impact of the knowledge by comparing the influence of two types of management on soil nutrients. While one type of management was more effective in terms of preserving soil nutrients, the other management type had socioeconomic benefits. Both environmental and socioeconomic effects have to be considered in agricultural training to increase their impact.
Phillip E. Jardine, William D. Gosling, Barry H. Lomax, Adele C. M. Julier, and Wesley T. Fraser
J. Micropalaeontol., 38, 83–95, https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-38-83-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-38-83-2019, 2019
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Many major food crops, including rice, wheat, maize, rye, barley, oats and millet, are domesticated species of grass. However, because grass pollen all looks highly similar, it has been challenging to track grass domestication using pollen in archaeological samples. Here, we show that we can use the chemical signature of pollen grains to classify different grass species. This approach has the potential to help unravel the spread of domestication and agriculture over the last 10 000 years.
Boris Jansen and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
SOIL, 3, 211–234, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-3-211-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-3-211-2017, 2017
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The application of lipids in soils as molecular proxies, also often referred to as biomarkers, has dramatically increased in the last decades. Applications range from inferring changes in past vegetation composition to unraveling the turnover of soil organic matter. However, the application of soil lipids as molecular proxies comes with several constraining factors. Here we provide a critical review of the current state of knowledge on the applicability of molecular proxies in soil science.
María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi, Stéphanie Desprat, Anne-Laure Daniau, Frank C. Bassinot, Josué M. Polanco-Martínez, Sandy P. Harrison, Judy R. M. Allen, R. Scott Anderson, Hermann Behling, Raymonde Bonnefille, Francesc Burjachs, José S. Carrión, Rachid Cheddadi, James S. Clark, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Colin. J. Courtney Mustaphi, Georg H. Debusk, Lydie M. Dupont, Jemma M. Finch, William J. Fletcher, Marco Giardini, Catalina González, William D. Gosling, Laurie D. Grigg, Eric C. Grimm, Ryoma Hayashi, Karin Helmens, Linda E. Heusser, Trevor Hill, Geoffrey Hope, Brian Huntley, Yaeko Igarashi, Tomohisa Irino, Bonnie Jacobs, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Sayuri Kawai, A. Peter Kershaw, Fujio Kumon, Ian T. Lawson, Marie-Pierre Ledru, Anne-Marie Lézine, Ping Mei Liew, Donatella Magri, Robert Marchant, Vasiliki Margari, Francis E. Mayle, G. Merna McKenzie, Patrick Moss, Stefanie Müller, Ulrich C. Müller, Filipa Naughton, Rewi M. Newnham, Tadamichi Oba, Ramón Pérez-Obiol, Roberta Pini, Cesare Ravazzi, Katy H. Roucoux, Stephen M. Rucina, Louis Scott, Hikaru Takahara, Polichronis C. Tzedakis, Dunia H. Urrego, Bas van Geel, B. Guido Valencia, Marcus J. Vandergoes, Annie Vincens, Cathy L. Whitlock, Debra A. Willard, and Masanobu Yamamoto
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 679–695, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, 2017
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The ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka) plotted against a common chronology; 32 also provide charcoal records. The database allows for the reconstruction of the regional expression, vegetation and fire of past abrupt climate changes that are comparable to those expected in the 21st century. This work is a major contribution to understanding the processes behind rapid climate change.
Martina I. Gocke, Fabian Kessler, Jan M. van Mourik, Boris Jansen, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
SOIL, 2, 537–549, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-537-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-537-2016, 2016
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Investigation of a Dutch sandy profile demonstrated that buried soils provide beneficial growth conditions for plant roots in terms of nutrients. The intense exploitation of deep parts of the soil profile, including subsoil and soil parent material, by roots of the modern vegetation is often underestimated by traditional approaches. Potential consequences of deep rooting for terrestrial carbon stocks, located to a relevant part in buried soils, remain largely unknown and require further studies.
Jan M. van Mourik, Thomas V. Wagner, J. Geert de Boer, and Boris Jansen
SOIL, 2, 299–310, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-299-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-299-2016, 2016
Frazer Matthews-Bird, Stephen J. Brooks, Philip B. Holden, Encarni Montoya, and William D. Gosling
Clim. Past, 12, 1263–1280, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1263-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1263-2016, 2016
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Chironomidae are a family of two-winged aquatic fly of the order Diptera. The family is species rich (> 5000 described species) and extremely sensitive to environmental change, particualy temperature. Across the Northern Hemisphere, chironomids have been widely used as paleotemperature proxies as the chitinous remains of the insect are readily preserved in lake sediments. This is the first study using chironomids as paleotemperature proxies in tropical South America.
Saskia D. Keesstra, Johan Bouma, Jakob Wallinga, Pablo Tittonell, Pete Smith, Artemi Cerdà, Luca Montanarella, John N. Quinton, Yakov Pachepsky, Wim H. van der Putten, Richard D. Bardgett, Simon Moolenaar, Gerben Mol, Boris Jansen, and Louise O. Fresco
SOIL, 2, 111–128, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-111-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-111-2016, 2016
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Soil science, as a land-related discipline, has links to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which are demonstrated through the functions of soils and related ecosystem services. We discuss how soil scientists can rise to the challenge both internally and externally in terms of our relations with colleagues in other disciplines, diverse groups of stakeholders and the policy arena. To meet these goals we recommend the set of steps to be taken by the soil science community as a whole.
S. G. A. Flantua, H. Hooghiemstra, M. Vuille, H. Behling, J. F. Carson, W. D. Gosling, I. Hoyos, M. P. Ledru, E. Montoya, F. Mayle, A. Maldonado, V. Rull, M. S. Tonello, B. S. Whitney, and C. González-Arango
Clim. Past, 12, 483–523, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-483-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-483-2016, 2016
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This paper serves as a guide to high-quality pollen records in South America that capture environmental variability during the last 2 millennia. We identify the pollen records suitable for climate modelling and discuss their sensitivity to the spatial signature of climate modes. Furthermore, evidence for human land use in pollen records is useful for archaeological hypothesis testing and important in distinguishing natural from anthropogenically driven vegetation change.
B. A. A. Hoogakker, R. S. Smith, J. S. Singarayer, R. Marchant, I. C. Prentice, J. R. M. Allen, R. S. Anderson, S. A. Bhagwat, H. Behling, O. Borisova, M. Bush, A. Correa-Metrio, A. de Vernal, J. M. Finch, B. Fréchette, S. Lozano-Garcia, W. D. Gosling, W. Granoszewski, E. C. Grimm, E. Grüger, J. Hanselman, S. P. Harrison, T. R. Hill, B. Huntley, G. Jiménez-Moreno, P. Kershaw, M.-P. Ledru, D. Magri, M. McKenzie, U. Müller, T. Nakagawa, E. Novenko, D. Penny, L. Sadori, L. Scott, J. Stevenson, P. J. Valdes, M. Vandergoes, A. Velichko, C. Whitlock, and C. Tzedakis
Clim. Past, 12, 51–73, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-51-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-51-2016, 2016
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In this paper we use two climate models to test how Earth’s vegetation responded to changes in climate over the last 120 000 years, looking at warm interglacial climates like today, cold ice-age glacial climates, and intermediate climates. The models agree well with observations from pollen, showing smaller forested areas and larger desert areas during cold periods. Forests store most terrestrial carbon; the terrestrial carbon lost during cold climates was most likely relocated to the oceans.
Related subject area
Paleobiogeoscience: Organic Biomarkers
Comparison of paleobotanical and biomarker records of mountain peatland and forest ecosystem dynamics over the last 2600 years in central Germany
Hyperspectral imaging sediment core scanning tracks high-resolution Holocene variations in (an)oxygenic phototrophic communities at Lake Cadagno, Swiss Alps
A Holocene temperature (brGDGT) record from Garba Guracha, a high-altitude lake in Ethiopia
Human and livestock faecal biomarkers at the prehistorical encampment site of Ullafelsen in the Fotsch Valley, Stubai Alps, Austria – potential and limitations
The influence of lateral transport on sedimentary alkenone paleoproxy signals
Exploring the use of compound-specific carbon isotopes as a palaeoproductivity proxy off the coast of Adélie Land, East Antarctica
Development of global temperature and pH calibrations based on bacterial 3-hydroxy fatty acids in soils
Lignin oxidation products in soil, dripwater and speleothems from four different sites in New Zealand
Comparison of the U37K′, LDI, TEX86H, and RI-OH temperature proxies in sediments from the northern shelf of the South China Sea
Reconstructing N2-fixing cyanobacterial blooms in the Baltic Sea beyond observations using 6- and 7-methylheptadecane in sediments as specific biomarkers
Highly branched isoprenoids for Southern Ocean sea ice reconstructions: a pilot study from the Western Antarctic Peninsula
Organic signatures in Pleistocene cherts from Lake Magadi (Kenya) – implications for early Earth hydrothermal deposits
Biomarker evidence for the occurrence of anaerobic ammonium oxidation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during Quaternary and Pliocene sapropel formation
Quantification of lignin oxidation products as vegetation biomarkers in speleothems and cave drip water
Ideas and perspectives: hydrothermally driven redistribution and sequestration of early Archaean biomass – the “hydrothermal pump hypothesis”
Ubiquitous production of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) in global marine environments: a new source indicator for brGDGTs
Diploptene δ13C values from contemporary thermokarst lake sediments show complex spatial variation
Improved end-member characterisation of modern organic matter pools in the Ohrid Basin (Albania, Macedonia) and evaluation of new palaeoenvironmental proxies
Assessing the potential of amino acid 13C patterns as a carbon source tracer in marine sediments: effects of algal growth conditions and sedimentary diagenesis
Distribution of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in surface soils of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau: implications of brGDGTs-based proxies in cold and dry regions
Biostratigraphic evidence for dramatic Holocene uplift of Robinson Crusoe Island, Juan Fernández Ridge, SE Pacific Ocean
A laboratory experiment on the behaviour of soil-derived core and intact polar GDGTs in aquatic environments
Transport of branched tetraether lipids from the Tagus River basin to the coastal ocean of the Portuguese margin: consequences for the interpretation of the MBT'/CBT paleothermometer
Bacteriohopanepolyols record stratification, nitrogen fixation and other biogeochemical perturbations in Holocene sediments of the central Baltic Sea
Determination of the molecular signature of fossil conifers by experimental palaeochemotaxonomy – Part 1: The Araucariaceae family
Imbalanced nutrients as triggers for black shale formation in a shallow shelf setting during the OAE 2 (Wunstorf, Germany)
Occurrence and distribution of ladderane oxidation products in different oceanic regimes
Growth phase dependent hydrogen isotopic fractionation in alkenone-producing haptophytes
Carrie L. Thomas, Boris Jansen, Sambor Czerwiński, Mariusz Gałka, Klaus-Holger Knorr, E. Emiel van Loon, Markus Egli, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
Biogeosciences, 20, 4893–4914, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4893-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4893-2023, 2023
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Peatlands are vital terrestrial ecosystems that can serve as archives, preserving records of past vegetation and climate. We reconstructed the vegetation history over the last 2600 years of the Beerberg peatland and surrounding area in the Thuringian Forest in Germany using multiple analyses. We found that, although the forest composition transitioned and human influence increased, the peatland remained relatively stable until more recent times, when drainage and dust deposition had an impact.
Paul D. Zander, Stefanie B. Wirth, Adrian Gilli, Sandro Peduzzi, and Martin Grosjean
Biogeosciences, 20, 2221–2235, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2221-2023, 2023
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This study shows, for the first time, that hyperspectral imaging can detect bacteriochlorophyll pigments produced by green sulfur bacteria in sediment cores. We tested our method on cores from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland, and were able to reconstruct high-resolution variations in the abundance of green and purple sulfur bacteria over the past 12 700 years. Climate conditions, flood events, and land use had major impacts on the lake’s biogeochemical conditions over short and long timescales.
Lucas Bittner, Cindy De Jonge, Graciela Gil-Romera, Henry F. Lamb, James M. Russell, and Michael Zech
Biogeosciences, 19, 5357–5374, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5357-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5357-2022, 2022
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With regard to global warming, an understanding of past temperature changes is becoming increasingly important. Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are membrane lipids used globally to reconstruct lake water temperatures. In the Bale Mountains lakes, we find a unique composition of brGDGT isomers. We present a modified local calibration and a new high-altitude temperature reconstruction from the Horn of Africa spanning the last 12.5 kyr.
Marcel Lerch, Tobias Bromm, Clemens Geitner, Jean Nicolas Haas, Dieter Schäfer, Bruno Glaser, and Michael Zech
Biogeosciences, 19, 1135–1150, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1135-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1135-2022, 2022
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Faecal biomarker analyses present a useful tool in geoarcheological research. For a better understanding of the lives of our ancestors in alpine regions, we investigated modern livestock faeces and Holocene soils at the prehistorical encampment site of Ullafelsen in the Fotsch Valley, Stubai Alps, Austria. Initial results show a high input of livestock faeces and a negligible input of human faeces for this archeological site. Future studies will focus on mire archives in the Fotsch Valley.
Blanca Ausín, Negar Haghipour, Elena Bruni, and Timothy Eglinton
Biogeosciences, 19, 613–627, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-613-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-613-2022, 2022
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The preservation and distribution of alkenones – organic molecules produced by marine algae – in marine sediments allows us to reconstruct past variations in sea surface temperature, primary productivity and CO2. Here, we explore the impact of remobilization and lateral transport of sedimentary alkenones on their fate in marine sediments. We demonstrate the pervasive influence of these processes on alkenone-derived environmental signals, compromising the reliability of related paleorecords.
Kate E. Ashley, Xavier Crosta, Johan Etourneau, Philippine Campagne, Harry Gilchrist, Uthmaan Ibraheem, Sarah E. Greene, Sabine Schmidt, Yvette Eley, Guillaume Massé, and James Bendle
Biogeosciences, 18, 5555–5571, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5555-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5555-2021, 2021
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We explore the potential for the use of carbon isotopes of algal fatty acid as a new proxy for past primary productivity in Antarctic coastal zones. Coastal polynyas are hotspots of primary productivity and are known to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere. Reconstructions of past productivity changes could provide a baseline for the role of these areas as sinks for atmospheric CO2.
Pierre Véquaud, Sylvie Derenne, Alexandre Thibault, Christelle Anquetil, Giuliano Bonanomi, Sylvie Collin, Sergio Contreras, Andrew T. Nottingham, Pierre Sabatier, Norma Salinas, Wesley P. Scott, Josef P. Werne, and Arnaud Huguet
Biogeosciences, 18, 3937–3959, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3937-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3937-2021, 2021
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A better understanding of past climate variations is essential to apprehend future climatic changes. The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of specific organic compounds of bacterial origin, 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH FAs), as temperature and pH proxies at the global level using an extended soil dataset. We show the major potential of 3-OH FAs as such proxies in terrestrial environments through the different models presented and their application for palaeoreconstruction.
Inken Heidke, Adam Hartland, Denis Scholz, Andrew Pearson, John Hellstrom, Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach, and Thorsten Hoffmann
Biogeosciences, 18, 2289–2300, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2289-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2289-2021, 2021
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We analyzed lignin oxidation products (LOPs) in leaf litter and different soil horizons as well as dripwater and flowstone samples from four different cave sites from different vegetation zones in New Zealand using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. We test whether the original source-dependent LOP signal of the overlying vegetation is preserved and can be recovered from flowstone samples and investigate how the signal is altered by the transport from the soil to the cave.
Bingbing Wei, Guodong Jia, Jens Hefter, Manyu Kang, Eunmi Park, Shizhu Wang, and Gesine Mollenhauer
Biogeosciences, 17, 4489–4508, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4489-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4489-2020, 2020
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This research reports the applicability of four organic temperature proxies (U37K', LDI, TEX86H, and RI-OH) to the northern South China Sea shelf. The comparison with local sea surface temperature (SST) indicates the impact of terrestrial input on LDI, TEX86H, and RI-OH proxies near the coast. After excluding samples influenced by terrestrial materials, proxy temperatures exhibit different seasonality, providing valuable tools to reconstruct regional SSTs under different monsoonal conditions.
Jérôme Kaiser, Norbert Wasmund, Mati Kahru, Anna K. Wittenborn, Regina Hansen, Katharina Häusler, Matthias Moros, Detlef Schulz-Bull, and Helge W. Arz
Biogeosciences, 17, 2579–2591, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2579-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2579-2020, 2020
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Cyanobacterial blooms represent a threat to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, causing deoxygenation of the bottom water. In order to understand the natural versus anthropogenic factors driving these blooms, it is necessary to study long-term trends beyond observations. We have produced a record of cyanobacterial blooms since 1860 using organic molecules (biomarkers) preserved in sediments. Cyanobacterial blooms in the Baltic Sea are likely mainly related to temperature variability.
Maria-Elena Vorrath, Juliane Müller, Oliver Esper, Gesine Mollenhauer, Christian Haas, Enno Schefuß, and Kirsten Fahl
Biogeosciences, 16, 2961–2981, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2961-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2961-2019, 2019
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The study highlights new approaches in the investigation of past sea ice in Antarctica to reconstruct the climate conditions in earth's history and reveal its future development under global warming. We examined the distribution of organic remains from different algae at the Western Antarctic Peninsula and compared it to fossil and satellite records. We evaluated IPSO25 – the sea ice proxy for the Southern Ocean with 25 carbon atoms – as a useful tool for sea ice reconstructions in this region.
Manuel Reinhardt, Walter Goetz, Jan-Peter Duda, Christine Heim, Joachim Reitner, and Volker Thiel
Biogeosciences, 16, 2443–2465, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2443-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2443-2019, 2019
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Organic matter in Archean hydrothermal cherts may contain molecular traces of early life. Alteration processes during and after deposition, however, may have obliterated potential biosignatures. Our results from modern analog samples (Pleistocene cherts from Lake Magadi, Kenya) show that biomolecules can survive early hydrothermal destruction in the macromolecular fraction of the organic matter. A conservation of molecular biosignatures in Archean hydrothermal cherts therefore seems possible.
Darci Rush, Helen M. Talbot, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, Ellen C. Hopmans, Ben Douglas, and Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
Biogeosciences, 16, 2467–2479, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2467-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2467-2019, 2019
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Sapropels are layers of sediment that regularly occur in the Mediterranean. They indicate periods when the Mediterranean Sea water contained no oxygen, a gas vital for most large organisms. This research investigated a key process in the nitrogen cycle (anaerobic ammonium oxidation, anammox), which removes nitrogen – an important nutrient to algae – from the water, during sapropel events. Using lipids to trace this process, we found that anammox was active during the no-oxygen times.
Inken Heidke, Denis Scholz, and Thorsten Hoffmann
Biogeosciences, 15, 5831–5845, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5831-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5831-2018, 2018
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We developed a sensitive method to analyze the lignin composition of organic traces contained in speleothems. Lignin is a main constituent of woody plants and its composition contains information about the type of vegetation. This method offers new possibilities to reconstruct the vegetation of past millennia since it combines the advantages of lignin analysis as a highly specific vegetation biomarker with the benefits of speleothems as unique terrestrial climate archives.
Jan-Peter Duda, Volker Thiel, Thorsten Bauersachs, Helge Mißbach, Manuel Reinhardt, Nadine Schäfer, Martin J. Van Kranendonk, and Joachim Reitner
Biogeosciences, 15, 1535–1548, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1535-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1535-2018, 2018
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The origin of organic matter in the oldest rocks on Earth is commonly ambiguous (biotic vs. abiotic). This problem culminates in the case of hydrothermal chert veins that contain abundant organic matter. Here we demonstrate a microbial origin of kerogen embedded in a 3.5 Gyr old hydrothermal chert vein. We explain this finding with the large-scale redistribution of biomass by hydrothermal fluids, emphasizing the interplay between biological and abiological processes on the early Earth.
Wenjie Xiao, Yinghui Wang, Shangzhe Zhou, Limin Hu, Huan Yang, and Yunping Xu
Biogeosciences, 13, 5883–5894, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5883-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5883-2016, 2016
Kimberley L. Davies, Richard D. Pancost, Mary E. Edwards, Katey M. Walter Anthony, Peter G. Langdon, and Lidia Chaves Torres
Biogeosciences, 13, 2611–2621, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2611-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2611-2016, 2016
J. Holtvoeth, D. Rushworth, H. Copsey, A. Imeri, M. Cara, H. Vogel, T. Wagner, and G. A. Wolff
Biogeosciences, 13, 795–816, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-795-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-795-2016, 2016
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Lake Ohrid is situated in the southern Balkans between Albania and Macedonia. It is a unique ecosystem with remarkable biodiversity and a sediment record of past climates that goes back more than a million years. Detailed reconstructions of past climate development and human alteration of the environment require underpinned and so in this study we go the present-day lake vegetation and catchment soils and test new proxies over one of the known recent cooling events of the region 8200 years ago.
T. Larsen, L. T. Bach, R. Salvatteci, Y. V. Wang, N. Andersen, M. Ventura, and M. D. McCarthy
Biogeosciences, 12, 4979–4992, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4979-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4979-2015, 2015
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A tiny fraction of marine algae escapes decomposition and is buried in sediments. Since tools are needed to track the fate of algal organic carbon, we tested whether naturally occurring isotope variability among amino acids from algae and bacteria can be used as source diagnostic fingerprints. We found that isotope fingerprints track algal amino acid sources with high fidelity across different growth conditions, and that the fingerprints can be used to quantify bacterial amino acids in sediment.
S. Ding, Y. Xu, Y. Wang, Y. He, J. Hou, L. Chen, and J.-S. He
Biogeosciences, 12, 3141–3151, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3141-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3141-2015, 2015
P. Sepúlveda, J. P. Le Roux, L. E. Lara, G. Orozco, and V. Astudillo
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Short summary
We measured plant wax in leaves and soils along an environmental gradient in the Ecuadorian Andes. These data show how the wax composition changes as the plant material degrades in different environments. Local temperature is reflected in the wax despite the level degradation. The study results warrant further research into a possible causal relationship that may lead to the development of n-alkane patterns as a novel palaeoecological proxy.
We measured plant wax in leaves and soils along an environmental gradient in the Ecuadorian...
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