Group 2i Isochrysidales produce characteristic alkenones reflecting sea ice distribution

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Wang, K.J., Huang, Y., Majaneva, M., Belt, S.T., Liao, S., Novak, J., Kartzinel, T.R., Herbert, T.D., Richter, N., Cabedo-Sanz, P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Greenland; Svalbard; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/65/358265.pdf

Alkenones are biomarkers produced solely by algae in the order Isochrysidales that have been used to reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) since the 1980s. However, alkenone-based SST reconstructions in the northern high latitude oceans show significant bias towards warmer temperatures in core-tops, diverge from other SST proxies in down core records, and are often accompanied by anomalously high relative abundance of the C 37 tetra-unsaturated methyl alkenone (%C 37:4 ). Elevated %C 37:4 is widely interpreted as an indicator of low sea surface salinity from polar water masses, but its biological source has thus far remained elusive. Here we identify a lineage of Isochrysidales that is responsible for elevated C 37:4 methyl alkenone in the northern high latitude oceans through next-generation sequencing and lab-culture experiments. This Isochrysidales lineage co-occurs widely with sea ice in marine environments and is distinct from other known marinealkenone-producers, namely Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica . More importantly, the %C 37:4 in seawater filtered particulate organic matter and surface sediments is significantly correlated with annual mean sea ice concentrations. In sediment cores from the Svalbard region, the %C 37:4 concentration aligns with the Greenland temperature record and other qualitative regional sea ice records spanning the past 14 kyrs, reflectingsea ice concentrations quantitatively. Our findings imply that %C 37:4 is a powerful proxy for reconstructing sea ice conditions in the high latitude oceans on thousand- and, potentially, on million-year timescales.