Ecological and environmental controls on plant wax production and stable isotope fractionation in modern terrestrial Arctic vegetation

Lindberg, Kurt R.; Thomas, Elizabeth K.; Raynolds, Martha K.; Bültmann, Helga; Raberg, Jonathan H.

doi:10.5194/bg-23-2503-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2503-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2503-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 7

Research article

|

15 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 15 Apr 2026

Ecological and environmental controls on plant wax production and stable isotope fractionation in modern terrestrial Arctic vegetation

Kurt R. Lindberg, Elizabeth K. Thomas, Martha K. Raynolds, Helga Bültmann, and Jonathan H. Raberg

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2503-2026-supplement

Data sets

Plant wax n-alkanoic acid and n-alkane carbon chain-length distributions and stable carbon and hydrogen isotope ratio data from terrestrial Arctic vegetation (2003-2021) Kurt Lindberg et al. https://doi.org/10.18739/A20P0WS80

Model code and software

Arctic terrestrial plant wax code and data Authors/Creators (Version v1.0.2) Kurt Lindberg https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17924824

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Short summary

Plant waxes are an important tool for inferring past changes in vegetation and the water cycle. However, the mechanisms governing plant wax production and stable isotope values are not well understood in the Arctic. We found that terrestrial Arctic plant waxes are not significantly influenced by environmental parameters including latitude, temperature, precipitation amount, humidity, and elevation. These findings agree with our understanding of plant waxes in other regions of the world.