On the purification of α-cellulose from resinous wood for stable isotope (H, C and O) analysis

α-Cellulose was isolated from four samples of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). Each sample was divided into two portions. One portion had the resins removed by solvent extraction prior to removal of lignins by treatment with acidic sodium chlorite solution and treatment with sodium hydroxide solution to remove hemicelluloses. The other portion was processed in the same way apart from the solvent extraction step. The isolated wood constituents were characterised by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR/FT-IR) spectroscopy. The infrared spectra of the resulting α-cellulose samples were identical indicating that treatment with acidic sodium chlorite and sodium hydroxide was sufficient to remove resins. The values of the stable isotope ratios (carbon, oxygen and hydrogen) for each pair of α-cellulose sub-samples also showed no significant differences within the reproducibility of the methods. The implication of these studies demonstrate that the customary step of resin extraction from pine is unnecessary if sodium chlorite and sodium hydroxide are used for the isolation of α-cellulose following the technique described in this paper. In addition, the study demonstrates that the oxygen isotope ratio of the water used for cellulose extraction does not influence the stable isotope values in the α-cellulose obtained. The importance of isotopic homogeneity within the cellulose sample is also highlighted

Northern European trees show a progressively diminishing response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations

In order to predict accurately how elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations will affect the global carbon cycle, it is necessary to know how trees respond to increasing CO2 concentrations. In this paper we examine the response over the period AD 1895 – 1994 of three tree species growing across northern Europe to increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations using parameters derived from stable carbon isotope ratios of trunk cellulose. Using the isotope data we calculate values of intrinsic water-use efficiency (IWUE) and intercellular CO2 concentrations in the leaf (ci). Our results show that trees have responded to higher levels of atmospheric CO2 by increasing IWUE whilst generally maintaining constant ci values. However, the IWUE of most of the trees in this study has not continued to rise in line with increasing atmospheric CO2. This behaviour has implications for estimations of future terrestrial carbon storage

Mesolithic exploitation patterns in the Central Pennines A palynological study of Soyland Moor

11.00SIGLEAvailable from British Library Lending Division - LD:1863.1856(BAR-BS--139) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

A 500-year record of summer near-ground solar radiation from tree-ring stable carbon isotopes

Tree-ring stable carbon isotope ratios (d(13)C) in environments of low moisture stress are likely to be controlled primarily by photosynthetic rate. Therefore, sunshine, rather than temperature, represents the more direct controlling factor. Temperature reconstructions based on tree-ring d(13)C results thus rest on the assumption that temperature and sunshine are strongly coupled. This assumption is tested using a d(13)C series from pine trees in NW Norway, where there are long (>100 yr) records of both summer temperature and cloud cover. It is demonstrated that when summer temperature and d(13)C diverge, summer temperature and cloud cover also diverge, and that cloud cover/sunshine may provide a stronger and more consistent parameter with which to calibrate tree-ring d(13)C series in this area. When a 500-year reconstruction of summer cloudiness is compared with a published reconstruction of summer temperatures in northern Sweden based on tree-ring maximum densities, the two time-series are largely parallel, with high levels of annual-decadal coherence. We identify, however, three distinct periods of lower frequency divergence: two (AD 1600-1650 and ad 1900-1927) when we propose summers were cool but sunny and one during the first half of the sixteenth century when summers were warm but cloudy. These episodes where temperature and sunshine decouple may represent large-scale changes in circulation as recorded in the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index. Strongly negative values of the summer AO index, as occurred during the early twentieth century, are associated with persistent high pressure over northern Norway and Fennoscandia, bringing cool summers with clear skies. Long reconstructions of cloudiness (near-ground radiation), based on tree-ring d(13)C series from suitable sites, would be extremely valuable for testing General Circulation Models (GCMs), because the generation of cloud is a strong control on temperature evolution, but remains a major source of uncertainty

Beyond CO2-fixation by Rubisco - an interpretation of 13C/12C variations in tree rings from novel intraseasonal studies on broad-leaf trees

Evidence is presented for a very specific, seasonally recurring tri-phase carbon isotope pattern in tree rings of broad-leaf deciduous tree species. It is derived from highly resolved intra-annual measurements of 13C/12C ratios of wood and cellulose from tree rings of Fagus sylvatica, Populus nigra, Quercus petraea and Morus alba. Investigations on δ13C from buds and leaves of Fagus sylvatica revealed a similar tri-phase δ13C pattern. At the very beginning of a growing season, the δ13C trend of tree rings and foliage shows a marked increase of up to 5‰. The maximum δ13C-value of each vegetation period always occurs in young heterotrophic leaves shortly after bud burst and persistently in the early wood of each tree ring, when growth depends on carbon reserves. Thereafter, δ13C profiles represent the autotrophic stage of the leaves, which show different patterns of variation, by and large characterized by a decline. The minimum δ13C-value always shows up in the late wood of each tree ring. At the very end of each tree ring δ13C-values start rising again. This increase in δ13C marks the gradual switch-over to storage-dependent growth and can also be observed in senescent leaves. Seasonal changes of more than 4‰ were measured, whereas contiguous δ13C values rarely differed from each other by more than 0.3‰. This tri-phase pattern cannot be explained by the common model of carbon isotope fractionation during photosynthesis. It appears to be primarily an indication of seasonal changes in down-stream processes of the carbohydrate metabolism. Environmental influences on the carbon isotope fractionation during photosynthesis are presumably of secondary importance and expressed by certain peculiarities showing up during the autotrophic phase, i.e. the mid-section of the seasonal δ13C pattern