UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change
Current attempts to develop a proxy for Earth’s surface ultraviolet-B (UV-B) flux focus on the organic chemistry of pollen and spores because their constituent biopolymer, sporopollenin, contains UV-B absorbing pigments whose relative abundance may respond to the ambient UV-B flux. Fourier transform...
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ftopenunivgb:oai:oro.open.ac.uk:29293 2023-06-11T04:16:12+02:00 UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change Fraser, Wesley T. Sephton, Mark A. Watson, Jonathan S. Self, Stephen Lomax, Barry H. James, David I. Wellman, Charles H. Callaghan, Terry V. Beerling, David J. 2011 application/pdf https://oro.open.ac.uk/29293/ https://oro.open.ac.uk/29293/1/Fraser_PR_11.pdf http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/8312/pdf_223 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312 unknown https://oro.open.ac.uk/29293/1/Fraser_PR_11.pdf Fraser, Wesley T. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/wf625.html>; Sephton, Mark A.; Watson, Jonathan S. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/jw3623.html>; Self, Stephen <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/ss2693.html>; Lomax, Barry H.; James, David I.; Wellman, Charles H.; Callaghan, Terry V. and Beerling, David J. (2011). UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change. Polar Research, 30 p. 8312. Journal Item Public PeerReviewed 2011 ftopenunivgb https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312 2023-05-28T05:46:51Z Current attempts to develop a proxy for Earth’s surface ultraviolet-B (UV-B) flux focus on the organic chemistry of pollen and spores because their constituent biopolymer, sporopollenin, contains UV-B absorbing pigments whose relative abundance may respond to the ambient UV-B flux. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy provides a useful tool for rapidly determining the pigment content of spores. In this paper, we use FTIR to detect a chemical response of spore wall UV-B absorbing pigments that correspond with levels of shade beneath the canopy of a high-latitude Swedish birch forest. A 27% reduction in UV-B flux beneath the canopy leads to a significant ( p <0.05) 7.3% reduction in concentration of UV-B absorbing compounds in sporopollenin. The field data from this natural flux gradient in UV-B further support our earlier work on sporopollenin-based proxies derived from sedimentary records and herbaria collections. Article in Journal/Newspaper Polar Research The Open University: Open Research Online (ORO) Polar Research 30 1 8312 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Open University: Open Research Online (ORO) |
op_collection_id |
ftopenunivgb |
language |
unknown |
description |
Current attempts to develop a proxy for Earth’s surface ultraviolet-B (UV-B) flux focus on the organic chemistry of pollen and spores because their constituent biopolymer, sporopollenin, contains UV-B absorbing pigments whose relative abundance may respond to the ambient UV-B flux. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy provides a useful tool for rapidly determining the pigment content of spores. In this paper, we use FTIR to detect a chemical response of spore wall UV-B absorbing pigments that correspond with levels of shade beneath the canopy of a high-latitude Swedish birch forest. A 27% reduction in UV-B flux beneath the canopy leads to a significant ( p <0.05) 7.3% reduction in concentration of UV-B absorbing compounds in sporopollenin. The field data from this natural flux gradient in UV-B further support our earlier work on sporopollenin-based proxies derived from sedimentary records and herbaria collections. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fraser, Wesley T. Sephton, Mark A. Watson, Jonathan S. Self, Stephen Lomax, Barry H. James, David I. Wellman, Charles H. Callaghan, Terry V. Beerling, David J. |
spellingShingle |
Fraser, Wesley T. Sephton, Mark A. Watson, Jonathan S. Self, Stephen Lomax, Barry H. James, David I. Wellman, Charles H. Callaghan, Terry V. Beerling, David J. UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
author_facet |
Fraser, Wesley T. Sephton, Mark A. Watson, Jonathan S. Self, Stephen Lomax, Barry H. James, David I. Wellman, Charles H. Callaghan, Terry V. Beerling, David J. |
author_sort |
Fraser, Wesley T. |
title |
UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
title_short |
UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
title_full |
UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
title_fullStr |
UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
title_full_unstemmed |
UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
title_sort |
uv-b absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://oro.open.ac.uk/29293/ https://oro.open.ac.uk/29293/1/Fraser_PR_11.pdf http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/8312/pdf_223 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312 |
genre |
Polar Research |
genre_facet |
Polar Research |
op_relation |
https://oro.open.ac.uk/29293/1/Fraser_PR_11.pdf Fraser, Wesley T. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/wf625.html>; Sephton, Mark A.; Watson, Jonathan S. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/jw3623.html>; Self, Stephen <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/ss2693.html>; Lomax, Barry H.; James, David I.; Wellman, Charles H.; Callaghan, Terry V. and Beerling, David J. (2011). UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change. Polar Research, 30 p. 8312. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
8312 |
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1768373700198924288 |