Advances in Earth Science ›› 2019, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (1): 20-33. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2019.1.0020

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An Overview of the Applications of Lipid Carbon Isotope Compositions in the Paleoenvironmental and Paleoecological Reconstructions in Lacustrine and Peat Deposits

Xianyu Huang 1, 2( ),Yiming Zhang 1   

  1. 1. HuBei Key Laboratory of Critical Zone Evolution, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
  • Received:2018-11-27 Revised:2018-12-29 Online:2019-01-10 Published:2019-03-05
  • About author:Huang Xianyu(1981-), male,Yangxin County, Hubei Province, Professor. Research areas include peat lipids and global change. E-mail: xyhuang@cug.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China “Response of peatland ecosystems to water level drawdown on centennial timescale: Evidence from carbon isotope compositions of multi lipids”(No.41877317);The State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology “Coupling relationship between carbon cycle and climate change in the Dajiuhu peatland”(No.GBL11804)

Xianyu Huang,Yiming Zhang. An Overview of the Applications of Lipid Carbon Isotope Compositions in the Paleoenvironmental and Paleoecological Reconstructions in Lacustrine and Peat Deposits[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2019, 34(1): 20-33.

Lipids preserved in geological materials mainly originate from cell membrane and leaf waxes, and have the potential to infer biological sources, metabolic pathways, and environmental information. Thus,lipid-based proxies have been widely applied to reconstruct paleoenvironment and paleoecology in the Quaternary. Except the concentration and molecular composition, the carbon isotope compositions of lipids are also a type of important signal sources. For photoautotrophs, the carbon isotope compositions of lipids are mainly mediated by the carbon isotope discrimination during the photosynthesis and lipid biosynthesis processes. In contrast, the carbon isotope compositions of heterotroph derived lipids are controlled by substrates and the carbon isotope fractionation during biosynthesis. In this review, we overview the advances of applications of lipid carbon isotope ratios in lacustrine and peat deposits. In the near future, more attention is suggested to pay to instrumental techniques, such as reduce the sample amount, direct analysis the carbon isotope compositions of molecules with relatively large molecular weight (e.g. BHPs, GDGTs), and widely application of compound-specific radiocarbon isotope analysis. In addition, combination of carbon isotope ratios from multi lipids, or the application of dual carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of lipids, will shed more information on the response of ecological processes to climate changes. Furthermore, more works are worthy to investigate the relation between biogeochemical processes and paleoclimate changes in the Quaternary.

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