Camilla Crifò

Camilla Crifò

Jan 02, 2019

Group 6 Copy 390
3

Our Team is Growing!

We are happy to announce that Dr. Carlos Jaramillo, and Dr. Jaime Escobar will be joining us on the field in Colombia!

Landscape in the Los llanos savanna, Colombia

Carlos Jaramillo is a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. His work focuses on reconstructing the deep-time history of tropical ecosystems in order to better understand the drivers of biodiversity, and predict future response to climate change. Carlos uses multiple research tools, among which palynology, the study of fossil pollen.

Jaime Escobar is a an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development at Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, in Colombia. His works focuses on the relationship between climate and environment in the tropics and subtropics over different time scales. Among various research tools, Jaime employs stable isotope analysis.

FOSSIL POLLEN ANALYSIS

Like phytoliths, pollen is produced by plants and preserved in old sediments and soils. The shape of pollen grains is characteristic of the plant type that produce them Therefore, fossil pollen can be used to reconstruct past vegetation (Davis 1963).

STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

Different types of plants have different “carbon isotopic signatures” (called ∂13C ) meaning that they contain different proportions of light and heavy versions (12C, and 13C) of the isotope of carbon within the organic compounds that form their tissues. The ∂13C of a plant depends on environmental and ecological factors. Therefore different plant types have distinctive carbon isotopic signatures. These signatures are preserved in ancient sediments and soils (where plant material accumulates over time) and can be used by paleoecologist to reconstruct past vegetation (Cerling et al. 1989).

COMBINING PHYTOLITHS, POLLEN, AND CARBON ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

In addition to phytoliths, we will also study the pollen and carbon isotope content of our soil samples.By comparing results from pollen, phytoliths, and carbon isotope analysis we can test whether they are equally good at reconstructing the standing vegetation.

This will help us figure out how we can combine these three tools together to improve the way we reconstruct past vegetation and ecosystems.

Soil sample collection.


References
  • 1. Cerling, T. E., Quade, J., Wang, Y., & Bowman, J. R. (1989). Carbon isotopes in soils and palaeosols as ecology and palaeoecology indicators. Nature, 341(6238), 138–139. doi:10.1038/341138a0
  • 2. Davis, M. B. (1963). On the theory of pollen analysis. American Journal of Science, 261(10), 897–912. doi:10.2475/ajs.261.10.897

3 comments

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  • situs judi
    situs judi
    Nice information
    Oct 27, 2019
  • MariaLMoore
    MariaLMoore
    Nice information.
    Jun 08, 2019
  • CarolJSipple
    CarolJSipple
    Thank you for the updates i love reading them
    Jan 30, 2019

About This Project

Phytoliths are microscopic silica particles produced by plants that can be easily fossilized and preserved in millions-of-year-old sediments and soils. We test the hypothesis that phytoliths found in the soil of a Savanna in Colombia reflect the surrounding local vegetation. If our hypothesis is correct we can use phytolith analysis for detailed reconstructions of past landscape in order to better understand relationships between past biodiversity, ecosystems, and climate.

More Lab Notes From This Project

Blast off!

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