An improved method for extracting cellulose from fossil wood and its paleoclimatic implications

Abstract

The stable carbon isotope composition of cellulose (δ¹³C_cell) in fossil wood is valuable for reconstructing past climatic and ecological changes, on seasonal to decadal timescales. However, extracting cellulose from fossil wood is challenging, leading to a lack of δ¹³C_cell data over deep time; moreover, there is a debate about whether the stable carbon isotope composition of whole wood (δ¹³C_wood) can reliably reflect past paleoclimatic or palaeoecological conditions. Here, we present an improved method for extracting cellulose from fossil wood. We initially used conventional methods to extract cellulose from a fossil wood sample a drill core from the Yuncheng Basin, near the Chinese Loess Plateau; however, we were unsuccessful. Subsequently, we successfully extracted cellulose and recovered 94% of the cellulose after modifying the conventional procedure. This involved increasing the reaction time during lignin removal, reducing the concentration of NaOH solution during hemicellulose removal, and employing multiple centrifugation steps for sample separation instead of a single step. We examined the relationship between δ¹³C_cell and δ¹³C_wood values (n = 136), and the results revealed a positive correlation between them (R² = 0.51, P < 0.001). This indicates that δ¹³C_wood is a dependable proxy for qualitative paleoclimatic reconstruction. However, the apparent enrichment factor ε between δ¹³C_cell and δ¹³C_wood values varied between samples, highlighting the need for caution when using records of δ¹³C_wood for quantitative paleoenvironmental reconstruction.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

fossil wood / stable carbon isotopes / tree rings / cellulose extraction / Paleoclimatic reconstruction

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