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A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes

The drying power of air, or vapour pressure deficit (VPD), is an important measurement of potential plant stress and productivity. Estimates of VPD values of the past are integral for understanding the link between rising modern atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO(2)) and global water balance. A geologi...

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Autores principales: Broz, Adrian, Retallack, Gregory J., Maxwell, Toby M., Silva, Lucas C. R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7804288/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33436864
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80006-9
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author Broz, Adrian
Retallack, Gregory J.
Maxwell, Toby M.
Silva, Lucas C. R.
author_facet Broz, Adrian
Retallack, Gregory J.
Maxwell, Toby M.
Silva, Lucas C. R.
author_sort Broz, Adrian
collection PubMed
description The drying power of air, or vapour pressure deficit (VPD), is an important measurement of potential plant stress and productivity. Estimates of VPD values of the past are integral for understanding the link between rising modern atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO(2)) and global water balance. A geological record of VPD is needed for paleoclimate studies of past greenhouse spikes which attempt to constrain future climate, but at present there are few quantitative atmospheric moisture proxies that can be applied to fossil material. Here we show that VPD leaves a permanent record in the slope (S) of least-squares regressions between stable isotope ratios of carbon and oxygen ((13)C and (18)O) found in cellulose and pedogenic carbonate. Using previously published data collected across four continents we show that S can be used to reconstruct VPD within and across biomes. As one application, we used S to estimate VPD of 0.46 kPa ± 0.26 kPa for cellulose preserved tens of millions of years ago—in the Eocene (45 Ma) Metasequoia from Axel Heiberg Island, Canada—and 0.82 kPa ± 0.52 kPa—in the Oligocene (26 Ma) for pedogenic carbonate from Oregon, USA—both of which are consistent with existing records at those locations. Finally, we discuss mechanisms that contribute to the positive correlation observed between VPD and S, which could help reconstruct past climatic conditions and constrain future alterations of global carbon and water cycles resulting from modern climate change.
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spelling pubmed-78042882021-01-13 A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes Broz, Adrian Retallack, Gregory J. Maxwell, Toby M. Silva, Lucas C. R. Sci Rep Article The drying power of air, or vapour pressure deficit (VPD), is an important measurement of potential plant stress and productivity. Estimates of VPD values of the past are integral for understanding the link between rising modern atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO(2)) and global water balance. A geological record of VPD is needed for paleoclimate studies of past greenhouse spikes which attempt to constrain future climate, but at present there are few quantitative atmospheric moisture proxies that can be applied to fossil material. Here we show that VPD leaves a permanent record in the slope (S) of least-squares regressions between stable isotope ratios of carbon and oxygen ((13)C and (18)O) found in cellulose and pedogenic carbonate. Using previously published data collected across four continents we show that S can be used to reconstruct VPD within and across biomes. As one application, we used S to estimate VPD of 0.46 kPa ± 0.26 kPa for cellulose preserved tens of millions of years ago—in the Eocene (45 Ma) Metasequoia from Axel Heiberg Island, Canada—and 0.82 kPa ± 0.52 kPa—in the Oligocene (26 Ma) for pedogenic carbonate from Oregon, USA—both of which are consistent with existing records at those locations. Finally, we discuss mechanisms that contribute to the positive correlation observed between VPD and S, which could help reconstruct past climatic conditions and constrain future alterations of global carbon and water cycles resulting from modern climate change. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7804288/ /pubmed/33436864 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80006-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Broz, Adrian
Retallack, Gregory J.
Maxwell, Toby M.
Silva, Lucas C. R.
A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
title A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
title_full A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
title_fullStr A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
title_full_unstemmed A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
title_short A record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
title_sort record of vapour pressure deficit preserved in wood and soil across biomes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7804288/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33436864
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80006-9
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