A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores
Microfossil records from ice archives allow vegetation, fire and land-use activity reconstructions on broad spatial scales. Samples typically contain low microfossil concentrations. Therefore, large ice volumes are often needed for palynology. Hence, it is crucial to extract maximum microfossil numb...
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Cambridge University Press
2018
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ffdf76c9809b498a8d77fc7a80f9fc55 2023-05-15T16:57:32+02:00 A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores SANDRA O. BRUGGER E. GOBET F. R. SCHANZ O. HEIRI C. SCHWÖRER M. SIGL M. SCHWIKOWSKI W. TINNER 2018-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.31 https://doaj.org/article/ffdf76c9809b498a8d77fc7a80f9fc55 EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S002214301800031X/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2018.31 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/ffdf76c9809b498a8d77fc7a80f9fc55 Journal of Glaciology, Vol 64, Pp 432-442 (2018) ice biology paleoclimate Eucalyptus marker glacier Lycopodium marker palynology pollen Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.31 2023-03-12T01:30:59Z Microfossil records from ice archives allow vegetation, fire and land-use activity reconstructions on broad spatial scales. Samples typically contain low microfossil concentrations. Therefore, large ice volumes are often needed for palynology. Hence, it is crucial to extract maximum microfossil numbers through appropriate physical-chemical treatments. We compare six methods covering the main water reduction procedures: evaporation, filtration and centrifugation with snow samples. Adding a known number of Lycopodium marker spores prior to sample treatment and a second marker (Eucalyptus) after laboratory processing allows a quantitative microfossil loss assessment during pollen extraction. We applied the best-performing method (average loss of 22%) to high-alpine firn cores from Colle Gnifetti glacier for validation with a natural archive containing extremely low microfossil concentrations. We conclude that samples processed with different microfossil extraction protocols may give different results for pollen concentrations, percentages and ratios between different pollen types, especially if vesiculate conifer pollen is an important pollen assemblage component. We recommend a new evaporation-based method which delivers the smallest and least variable losses among the tested approaches. Since microfossil losses are inevitable during laboratory procedure, adding markers prior to sample processing is mandatory to achieve reliable microfossil concentration and influx estimates. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Glaciology 64 245 432 442 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ice biology paleoclimate Eucalyptus marker glacier Lycopodium marker palynology pollen Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
ice biology paleoclimate Eucalyptus marker glacier Lycopodium marker palynology pollen Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 SANDRA O. BRUGGER E. GOBET F. R. SCHANZ O. HEIRI C. SCHWÖRER M. SIGL M. SCHWIKOWSKI W. TINNER A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
topic_facet |
ice biology paleoclimate Eucalyptus marker glacier Lycopodium marker palynology pollen Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Microfossil records from ice archives allow vegetation, fire and land-use activity reconstructions on broad spatial scales. Samples typically contain low microfossil concentrations. Therefore, large ice volumes are often needed for palynology. Hence, it is crucial to extract maximum microfossil numbers through appropriate physical-chemical treatments. We compare six methods covering the main water reduction procedures: evaporation, filtration and centrifugation with snow samples. Adding a known number of Lycopodium marker spores prior to sample treatment and a second marker (Eucalyptus) after laboratory processing allows a quantitative microfossil loss assessment during pollen extraction. We applied the best-performing method (average loss of 22%) to high-alpine firn cores from Colle Gnifetti glacier for validation with a natural archive containing extremely low microfossil concentrations. We conclude that samples processed with different microfossil extraction protocols may give different results for pollen concentrations, percentages and ratios between different pollen types, especially if vesiculate conifer pollen is an important pollen assemblage component. We recommend a new evaporation-based method which delivers the smallest and least variable losses among the tested approaches. Since microfossil losses are inevitable during laboratory procedure, adding markers prior to sample processing is mandatory to achieve reliable microfossil concentration and influx estimates. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
SANDRA O. BRUGGER E. GOBET F. R. SCHANZ O. HEIRI C. SCHWÖRER M. SIGL M. SCHWIKOWSKI W. TINNER |
author_facet |
SANDRA O. BRUGGER E. GOBET F. R. SCHANZ O. HEIRI C. SCHWÖRER M. SIGL M. SCHWIKOWSKI W. TINNER |
author_sort |
SANDRA O. BRUGGER |
title |
A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
title_short |
A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
title_full |
A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
title_fullStr |
A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
title_full_unstemmed |
A quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
title_sort |
quantitative comparison of microfossil extraction methods from ice cores |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.31 https://doaj.org/article/ffdf76c9809b498a8d77fc7a80f9fc55 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 64, Pp 432-442 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S002214301800031X/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2018.31 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/ffdf76c9809b498a8d77fc7a80f9fc55 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.31 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
64 |
container_issue |
245 |
container_start_page |
432 |
op_container_end_page |
442 |
_version_ |
1766049101613367296 |