Elemental Relationships in the Wood of Four Siberian Conifers: Whether Elements Are an Occasional Mixture

Abstract

In the abundant literature on plant chemistry, little attention is paid to correlations among chemical elements in tissues. The goal of the research is to establish consistent correlations among elements in the xylem of four widespread Siberian conifers. X-ray fluorescent analysis has been applied to find out the elements contained in the xylem. The method allowed finding the mean count rates of Al, P, S, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Sr in trunks of trees. Moreover, the xylem samples were chemically treated twice, first in alcohol and then in HCl. It was found that species factor exerts a significant influence on the elemental content of a few elements, but not on all of them. The chemical treatment decreases the impact of the species factor. The treatment increases the number of significant correlations and strength of them. In some cases (especially with Al), the correlations may change the sign of the relationship. The consistent correlations may help arrange more profound chemical research revealing the forms in which the elements exist in xylem.

To extract or not to extract? Influence of chemical extraction treatment of wood samples on element concentrations in tree-rings measured by X-ray fluorescence

“…Due to its polar form with partial positive charges on the hydrogens, a partial negative charge on the oxygen and a bent overall structure, water for example, mainly dissolves ions and polar molecules like salts. Therefore pectinates and oxalates of various metals present in the intercellular space of wood (Gavrikov et al, 2022) as well as other crystals might be more efficiently extracted by water compared to metals present in different atomic form in the cell walls.…”

“…(1993) to reduce the biasing influence of translocation processes of elements in dendrochemical time series. If applied, it could be shown that this chemical pretreatment of wood samples increased correlations between element profiles in different conifer species (Gavrikov et al, 2022). In another study Belt et al (2017) could visualize the influence of an extraction on the concentration of extractives present in pine heartwood, so called pinosylvins.…”

11th Hardwood Conference Proceedings

“…Nevertheless, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy maintains its efficacy as an effective method for elemental investigation of wood and subfossil wood (Pereira Junior. et al 2016, Zielenkiewicz et al 2012, Mustoe 2023, Gavrikov et al 2022. Subfossil wood refers to wood that has undergone partial fossilization but has not been yet fully mineralized to become a true fossil.…”