Reconstructing C 3  and C 4  vegetation cover using  n -alkane carbon isotope ratios in recent lake sediments from Cameroon, Western Central Africa

Garcin, Yannick; Schefuß, Enno; Schwab, Valérie F.; Garreta, Vincent; Gleixner, Gerd; Vincens, Annie; Todou, Gilbert; Séné, Olivier; Onana, Jean-Michel; Achoundong, Gaston; Sachse, Dirk

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2014.07.004

Cited by 138 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…δ 13 C values continue to rise further into a mid-Holocene maximum from 8.9-6.4 ka (δ 13 C for all compounds ≥ -26‰) and then steadily decrease into the present. In contrast to the glacial period, there is no systematic offset of while those using the C 4 pathway produce much more enriched waxes (-15 to -23‰) (e.g., Chikaraishi and Naraoka, 2003;Garcin et al, 2014). The relatively low δ 13 C values (-29.3 to -32.1‰) found at the core site thus point to a mostly C 3 vegetation community at LLG in the present day.…”

Section: Holocene Samples (~12 Ka-present)mentioning

confidence: 79%

Late Quaternary environmental change in the interior South American tropics: new insight from leaf wax stable isotopes

Fornace

Whitney

Galy

et al. 2016

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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Section: Holocene Samples (~12 Ka-present)mentioning

confidence: 79%

Late Quaternary environmental change in the interior South American tropics: new insight from leaf wax stable isotopes

Fornace

Whitney

Galy

et al. 2016

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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“…Garcin et al (63) found that, among n-alkane homologs commonly measured for carbon isotopes, the concentration of the n-C 31 alkane is nearly identical in C 3 and C 4 plants in Africa, effectively removing plant wax production biases related to plant functional type. However, the significant differences in concentrations of other n-alkane homologs between C 3 plants and C 4 grasses also contain powerful information for reconstructing vegetation.…”

Section: Site Selection and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neogene biomarker record of vegetation change in eastern Africa

Uno

Polissar

Jackson

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

122

103

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The evolution of C4 grassland ecosystems in eastern Africa has been intensely studied because of the potential influence of vegetation on mammalian evolution, including that of our own lineage, hominins. Although a handful of sparse vegetation records exists from middle and early Miocene terrestrial fossil sites, there is no comprehensive record of vegetation through the Neogene. Here we present a vegetation record spanning the Neogene and Quaternary Periods that documents the appearance and subsequent expansion of C4 grasslands in eastern Africa. Carbon isotope ratios from terrestrial plant wax biomarkers deposited in marine sediments indicate constant C3 vegetation from ∼24 Ma to 10 Ma, when C4 grasses first appeared. From this time forward, C4 vegetation increases monotonically to present, with a coherent signal between marine core sites located in the Somali Basin and the Red Sea. The response of mammalian herbivores to the appearance of C4 grasses at 10 Ma is immediate, as evidenced from existing records of mammalian diets from isotopic analyses of tooth enamel. The expansion of C4 vegetation in eastern Africa is broadly mirrored by increasing proportions of C4-based foods in hominin diets, beginning at 3.8 Ma in Australopithecus and, slightly later, Kenyanthropus. This continues into the late Pleistocene in Paranthropus, whereas Homo maintains a flexible diet. The biomarker vegetation record suggests the increase in open, C4 grassland ecosystems over the last 10 Ma may have operated as a selection pressure for traits and behaviors in Homo such as bipedalism, flexible diets, and complex social structure.

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“…We focus on the C 30 acid and C 31 alkane values for our analysis and discussion, because molecular abundances compiled from modern African plants show that C 31 alkane concentrations are most similar in C 3 and C 4 plants [32], and thus make it the most representative homologue of the actual vegetation distribution on the landscape. We assume C 30 acid concentrations between C 3 and C 4 plants are also similar but, to the best of our knowledge, this has not been confirmed (c) n-alkanes from the same sample, KU107, with and odd-over-even preference in the HMW n-alkanes (C 27 -C 35 ).…”

Section: (B) Carbon Isotopes From Plant Waxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…C values ranging from about 238 to 227‰, whereas those from plants with the C 4 pathway range from 224 to 217‰ [30][31][32]. Plant waxes are commonly preserved in sedimentary organic matter where their resistance to diagenetic alteration and isotope exchange makes them an excellent vegetation proxy [33][34][35].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pleistocene palaeovegetation record from plant wax biomarkers from the Nachukui Formation, West Turkana, Kenya

Uno

Polissar

Kahle

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 17 to a discussion meeting issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'. Reconstructing vegetation at hominin fossil sites provides us critical information about hominin palaeoenvironments and the potential role of climate in their evolution. Here we reconstruct vegetation from carbon isotopes of plant wax biomarkers in sediments of the Nachukui Formation in the Turkana Basin. Plant wax biomarkers were extracted from samples from a wide range of lithologies that include fluvial-lacustrine sediments and palaeosols, and therefore provide a record of vegetation from diverse depositional environments. Carbon isotope ratios from biomarkers indicate a highly dynamic vegetation structure (ca 5-100% C 4 vegetation) from 2.3 to 1.7 Ma, with an overall shift towards more C 4 vegetation on the landscape after about 2.1 Ma. The biomarker isotope data indicate ca 25-30% more C 4 vegetation on the landscape than carbon isotope data of pedogenic carbonates from the same sequence. Our data show that the environments of early Paranthropus and Homo in this part of the Turkana Basin were primarily mixed C 3 -C 4 to C 4 -dominated ecosystems. The proportion of C 4 -based foods in the diet of Paranthropus increases through time, broadly paralleling the increase in C 4 vegetation on the landscape, whereas the diet of Homo remains unchanged. Biomarker isotope data associated with the Kokiselei archaeological site complex, which includes the site where the oldest Acheulean stone tools to date were recovered, indicate 61-97% C 4 vegetation on the landscape.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.

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Reconstructing C 3 and C 4 vegetation cover using n -alkane carbon isotope ratios in recent lake sediments from Cameroon, Western Central Africa

Cited by 138 publications

References 46 publications

Late Quaternary environmental change in the interior South American tropics: new insight from leaf wax stable isotopes

Late Quaternary environmental change in the interior South American tropics: new insight from leaf wax stable isotopes

Neogene biomarker record of vegetation change in eastern Africa

A Pleistocene palaeovegetation record from plant wax biomarkers from the Nachukui Formation, West Turkana, Kenya

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