Aquatic plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes in Greenland lakes record shifts in methane cycling during past Holocene warming

• Published in: Science Advances
• Main Authors: McFarlin, Jamie M., Axford, Yarrow, Kusch, Stephanie, Masterson, Andrew L., Lasher, G. Everett, Osburn, Magdalena R.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2023
• Subjects: Earth; Environmental; Ecological; and Space Sciences; Arctic; Greenland
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10541501/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37774023; https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh9704

Predicting changes to methane cycling in Arctic lakes is of global concern in a warming world but records constraining lake methane dynamics with past warming are rare. Here, we demonstrate that the hydrogen isotopic composition (δ(2)H) of mid-chain waxes derived from aquatic moss clearly decouples from precipitation during past Holocene warmth and instead records incorporation of methane in plant biomass. Trends in δ(2)H(moss) and δ(13)C(moss) values point to widespread Middle Holocene (11,700 to 4200 years ago) shifts in lake methane cycling across Greenland during millennia of elevated summer temperatures, heightened productivity, and lowered hypolimnetic oxygen. These data reveal ongoing warming may lead to increases in methane-derived C in many Arctic lakes, including lakes where methane is not a major component of the C cycle today. This work highlights a previously unrecognized mechanism influencing δ(2)H values of mid-chain wax and draws attention to the unquantified role of common aquatic mosses as a potentially important sink of lake methane across the Arctic.