Tree-ring stable isotopes in cellulose and lignin methoxy groups reveal different age-related behaviour

0586389 - ÚVGZ 2025 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Wieland, A. - Torbenson, M. - Greule, M. - Urban, Otmar - Čáslavský, Josef - Pernicová, Natálie - Trnka, Miroslav - Büntgen, Ulf - Esper, Jan - Keppler, F.
Tree-ring stable isotopes in cellulose and lignin methoxy groups reveal different age-related behaviour.
Quaternary International. Roč. 693, MAY (2024), s. 38-48. ISSN 1040-6182. E-ISSN 1873-4553
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) EH22_008/0004635
Institutional support: RVO:86652079
Keywords : tree-ring stable isotopes * cellulose * lignin methoxy groups * age trend * pinus heldreichii * northern greece
OECD category: Forestry
Impact factor: 2.2, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618224000491

Tree-ring stable isotopes (TRSI) have the unique ability to capture inter-annual to multi-millennial climate trends and extremes if the appropriate data and methods are combined. However, there is still an ongoing debate about age-related biases in TRSI measurements that potentially affect the fidelity of their chronologies and subsequent climate reconstructions.
Here, we investigate carbon and oxygen TRSI measurements in cellulose (δ13Ccell and δ18Ocell) and carbon and hydrogen ratios in lignin methoxy groups (δ13Cmeth and δ2Hmeth) of more than 60 living and relict pine (Pinus heldreichii) trees from northern Greece that span the period 512–2020 CE continuously. We identified significant (p < 0.01) level offsets between living and relict δ18Ocell values (1.49 mUr) that preclude, among others, the combination of living and relict wood series for reliable age-trend assessment, and we found distinct differences between cellulose and methoxy TRSI chronologies including contrasting recent trends in carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen isotope ratios suggesting that varying environmental signals are retained in the TRSI proxies. Assessments are supported by comparisons with well-established ontogenetic trends in tree-ring width and latewood maximum density to identify significant (p < 0.01) age-trends in relict δ18Ocell values between 50 and 190 years of cambial age, and in relict δ13Cmeth and δ2Hmeth values in tree rings older than 100 years. Relict δ13Ccell values, on the other hand, show increasing values between 50 and 80 years of cambial age (p < 0.01), but no evidence for long-term trends beyond these early stages.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0353931