Abstract
The use of hydrogen isotope ratios (δ2H) of sedimentary n-alkanes from leaf waxes has become an important tool for reconstructing paleoenvironmental and ancient hydrologic conditions. Studies of modern plant waxes can elucidate driving ecological mechanisms behind geologic deposits. Here, we used a transect across the North American Monsoon region of the western USA from Tucson, Arizona to Salt Lake City, Utah to study variations in leaf wax δ2H among co-occurring plants. Three co-occurring life forms were selected: perennial shrub (rabbit brush, Chrysothamnus nauseosus; sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata); tree (Gambel’s oak tree, Quercus gambelii); and annual (sunflower, Helianthus annuus). Our results showed that the distributions and abundances of n-alkanes in perennial plants were similar across all sites and generally did not vary with environmental conditions (e.g., precipitation and temperature). In contrast, variations in n-alkane δ2H were significantly correlated with the fraction of the annual precipitation coming during the summer monsoon period. We use a modified Craig–Gordon model to speculate on the possible drivers of the δ2H values of leaf wax n-alkanes of plants across the region. The model results suggest that the most likely explanation for variation in wax δ2H values was a combination of seasonal source water usage and subsequent environmental conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Susan Bush for invaluable help in the field and Brad Erkkila in the laboratory. Additionally the manuscript was improved with helpful comments from three anonymous reviewers as well as discussions with Rosemary Bush. All analyses were performed at the University of Utah. This research was supported by NSF IOS grant 1052551 (to J. E. and B. T.).
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M. A. B., B. J. T., and J. R. E. originally formulated the research idea; M. A. B. conducted the fieldwork; M. A. B. and B. H. generated the isotopic data; M. A. B. performed the statistical analyses; M. A. B. wrote the manuscript with input from B. J. T., B. H., and J. R. E. All authors agree to this submission and vouch that this work has not been submitted in full or in part to any other journal.
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Berke, M.A., Tipple, B.J., Hambach, B. et al. Life form-specific gradients in compound-specific hydrogen isotope ratios of modern leaf waxes along a North American Monsoonal transect. Oecologia 179, 981–997 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3432-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3432-1