AN OVERVIEW OF CARBON STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF POLLEN

BIAN Yeping; WENG Chengyu

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1140.2009.03141

2009 Vol. 29, No. 3

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Article navigation > Marine Geology & Quaternary Geology > 2009 > 29(3): 141-148

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BIAN Yeping, WENG Chengyu. AN OVERVIEW OF CARBON STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF POLLEN[J]. Marine Geology & Quaternary Geology, 2009, 29(3): 141-148. doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1140.2009.03141

Citation:

BIAN Yeping, WENG Chengyu. AN OVERVIEW OF CARBON STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF POLLEN[J]. Marine Geology & Quaternary Geology, 2009, 29(3): 141-148. doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1140.2009.03141

AN OVERVIEW OF CARBON STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF POLLEN

State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Received Date: 28 February 2009

Revised Date: 21 March 2009

Abstract

Abstract

Different in photosynthetic ways,plants have their C3 and C4 distinct in ranges of δ13C values, which may be used to indicate modern or ancient environmental and ecological conditions. The measured δ13C values from modern pollen grains show that they are consistent with the values from other tissues of the plants, and therefore may also indicate the photosynthetic pathways and the climatic conditions of the plants. Compared to the plant tissues, chemical compositions of pollen grains are less variable and are formed in a relatively short period, which means they may have higher temporal resolution in reflecting climatic conditions and features of rain-water and CO2 during the blooming period. The preliminary research shows that the pollen δ13C value is nearly linear with the mean temperature of the flowering time. However, more exploring work is needed to confirm this conclusion. More precise reconstruction based on pollen δ13C value also relies on improved experimental technology because some conditional methods may not be applied. Some research has shown that the acetylation methods of pollen preparation may introduce contamination of carbon isotope. A substitution method is the non-carbon containing acid extraction technique to isolate sporopollenin. A spooling-wire microcombustion device interfaced with an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer (SWiM-IRMS) may allow the analysis of δ13C from a single pollen grain, although the error range is still large.
- pollen /
- carbon stable isotope /
- palynology /
- sporopollenin /
- palaeoecology

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References

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