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Characterization of sources and temporal variation in the organic matter input indicated by n-alkanols and sterols in sediment cores from Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica

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Abstract

The Antarctic continent is one of the most protected areas on the planet, but is dynamically responding to environmental change on a global scale. Change in the air temperature may affect the organic matter production in the area. Biomarkers such as sterols, n-alkanols and phytol in three sediment cores from Admiralty Bay, Antarctica, were determined to identify the type of organic matter, variation in input and possible relationship with general temperature changes over the past decades. The concentrations ranged from 0.91 to 13.99 μg g−1 (dry weight) of total sterols, 0.20–2.14 μg g−1 of total n-alkanols and 0.13–2.38 μg g−1 of phytol. Cholest-5-en-3β-ol was the most abundant sterol. The fecal sterols, 5β-cholestan-3β-ol and 5β-cholestan-3α-ol, occurred at low concentration (<0.01–0.15 μg g−1), below the baseline values for this region. The lower carbon chain n-alkanols were more abundant, which suggested that algae, bacteria and zooplankton were the primary sources of the sedimentary organic matter. Phytol exhibited little variation across all of the cores, which appears to be the result of degradation. Variation in the concentration of compounds in one core was compared with the variation in mean air temperature (MAT) over time; this preliminary association showed a tendency toward increased concentration during the period in which the MAT was more elevated.

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Acknowledgments

This work is resulted of PALEOANTAR project (Identification of abrupt climate changes in Antarctica during the Upper Quaternary through sedimentary record) supported by the Antarctic Brazilian Program (PROANTAR), the Secretaria da Comissão Interministerial para os Recursos do Mar (SECIRM), Ministério de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (MCTI) and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (Grant codes: 550014/2007-1 and 305763/2011-3 to C.C. Martins, 557044/2009-0 to M.M. Mahiques). We also thank CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior) for a MSc scholarship to E.Wisnieski and for grant by Ciências do Mar-09/2009. We are grateful to R.S. Carreira [Department of Chemistry, Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC-RJ)] and M.C. Bernardes [Department of Geochemistry, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)] for assistance with the preliminary evaluation of this article and the two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments which substantially improved the manuscript. This work contributes to the National Institute of Science and Technology for Environmental Research Antarctic (INCT–APA, CNPq 574018/2008-5 and FAPERJ E-16/170023/2008).

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  1. Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 61, Pontal do Paraná, PR, 83255-976, Brazil

    Edna Wisnieski & César C. Martins

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sistemas Costeiros e Oceânicos (PGSISCO), Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 61, Pontal do Paraná, PR, 83255-976, Brazil

    Edna Wisnieski & Liziane M. M. Ceschim

  3. Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, Praça do Oceanográfico, 191, São Paulo, SP, 05508-120, Brazil

    Márcia C. Bícego, Rosalinda C. Montone, Rubens C. L. Figueira & Michel M. Mahiques

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  1. Edna Wisnieski
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  2. Márcia C. Bícego
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Wisnieski, E., Bícego, M.C., Montone, R.C. et al. Characterization of sources and temporal variation in the organic matter input indicated by n-alkanols and sterols in sediment cores from Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica. Polar Biol 37, 483–496 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1445-6

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