Flux balance models for the oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of land snail shells

Balakrishnan, Meena; Yapp, Crayton J.

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2003.10.027

Cited by 115 publications

(278 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Grey bands indicate the thermal range (i.e. temperature ≥10°C) and the duration of snail activity [20,22,23].…”

Section: Modern Land Snail Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the δ 18 O of land snail shells can be used to infer rainfall [13,17,[44][45][46][47]. In addition, the δ 18 O of land snail shells has a negative correlation with temperature and humidity during shell formation [23,48]. In the Loess Plateau, the δ 18 O value of rainfall is more negative in summer than in spring (Figure 2).…”

Section: Seasonal Implications Inferred From the Stable Carbon And Oxmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Land snails are very sensitive to temperature and humidity. When the air temperature is above ~25-27°C or below ~10°C, snails will enter a dormant phase [22,23,49]. Many species can only survive and grow within certain ranges of temperature and humidity and thus, snail assemblages from different seasonal climatic regions have their own dominant species.…”

Section: Seasonal Implications Inferred From the Stable Carbon And Oxmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It should be noted that this estimate was mostly based on the difference in the δ 13 C of the snail shells rather than the δ 18 O as the latter is affected by too many factors [13,17,23,[44][45][46][47][48]. The error of estimated days was calculated in terms of the error of mean δ 13 C difference.…”

Section: Seasonal Characteristics Of Cold and Warm Periods During Thementioning

confidence: 99%

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Variability of snail growing season at the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 75 ka

Huang

et al. 2011

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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Knowledge of seasonal climate change is one of the key issues facing Quaternary paleoclimatic studies and estimating seasonal climate change is difficult, especially changes such as seasonal length on glacial-interglacial timescales. The stable isotope composition from seasonal land snail shells provides the potential to reveal seasonal climatic features. Two modern land snail species, cold-aridiphilous Pupilla aeoli and thermo-humidiphilous Punctum orphana, were collected from different climatic zones in 18 localities across the Chinese Loess Plateau, spanning 11 degrees of longitude and covering a range of 1000 km 2 . The duration of the snail growing season (temperature ≥10°C) was shorter (202 ± 6 d) in the eastern Loess Plateau compared with in the western Loess Plateau (162 ±7 d). The δ 13 C of P. aeoli shells was −9.1‰ to −4.7‰ and −5.0‰ to 0.3‰ for δ 18 O. For P. orphana, the δ 13 C ranged from −9.1‰ to −1.9‰ and −8.9‰ to −2.9‰ for δ 18 O. Both the δ 13 C and δ 18 O differences between the two snail species were reduced from the east to the western Loess Plateau (2.8‰ to 0.2 ± 1.1‰ for δ 13 C and 4.7‰ to 2.9 ± 1.3‰ for δ 18 O). These isotopic differences roughly reflect the difference in the growing season lengths between the east and west Loess Plateau indicating that the duration of the snail growing season shortens by 15 d or 19 d if the difference decreases by 1‰ in δ 13 C or δ 18 O, respectively. Thus, the difference in δ 13 C and δ 18 O between both snail species can be used to reveal the length of the snail growing season in the past. Based on our investigation, the length of the snail growing seasons from the Xifeng region during the last 75 ka was reconstructed. During the mid-Holocene (8-3 ka), the mean isotopic difference from both snail species reached maximum values of 2.6 ± 0.7‰ and 2.1 ± 1.4‰ for δ 13 C and δ 18 O, respectively. This was followed by MIS 3 that ranged from 2.5 ± 0.4‰ for δ 13 C and 1.6 ± 0.8‰ for δ 18 O. The Last Glacial Maximum changed by only 0.2‰ and 0.4‰ for δ 13 C and δ 18 O, respectively. Therefore, we estimate that the duration of the snail growing seasons to be ~200 ± 10 d during the mid-Holocene, 190 ± 6 d in MIS 3 and 160 ± 3 d during the last glacial period. . In other words, long-term climate change is governed by the variation of seasonality or seasonal length [2]. Knowing how seasonal lengths shifted during Quaternary G-IG cycles is an important key to further understanding the processes and mechanisms of long-term climate change. Climate in the Chinese Loess Plateau is significantly controlled by the East Asian winter and summer monsoon, with distinct seasonal changes that can be divided into four seasons. These are based on a pentad-temperature method that is a mean value of per five-day temperature [3]. Temperatures lower than 10°C are attributed to winter and those over 22°C to summer. Pentad temperatures between 10°C and 22°C are either spring or autumn [3]. It is generally accepted that in the monsoon regions, the seasonal length

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“…Grey bands indicate the thermal range (i.e. temperature ≥10°C) and the duration of snail activity [20,22,23].…”

Section: Modern Land Snail Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seasonal Implications Inferred From the Stable Carbon And Oxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seasonal Implications Inferred From the Stable Carbon And Oxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seasonal Characteristics Of Cold and Warm Periods During Thementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Variability of snail growing season at the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 75 ka

Huang

et al. 2011

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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“…Goodfriend et al 1989) is important. Studies have also observed the effect of relative humidity on the isotopic fractionation of body fluid, which seems in turn to be transmitted to the shell (Balakrishnan and Yapp 2004). Balakrishnan and Yapp (2004) developed a model which predicts the interaction of humidity, temperature and oxygen isotope composition of atmospheric vapour in equilibrium with that of precipitation during the season of snail activity (flux balance model).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen isotopes in Molluscan shell: Applications in environmental archaeology

Leng

Lewis

2014

Environmental Archaeology

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Oxygen isotope geochemistry of Molluscan shell is an essential part of environmental archaeology and over the last decade has contributed significantly to the understanding of the past inhabitants of our planet. From the analysis of collected (and disposed of) shells we can gain information on environmental data from the species assemblages and also from the shell chemistry. In particular, intra-seasonal information can be gained from shells by analysing the isotope composition of the shell from successive growth increments. Here, we describe some of the recent developments in the use of oxygen isotopes in environmental archaeology. In particular, we consider preservation and sampling and describe how δ 18O can provide us with information on seasonal climate, season of collection as well as changes in global climate.

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Extreme Monsoon Rainfall Signatures Preserved in the Invasive Terrestrial Gastropod Lissachatina fulica

Ghosh

Rangarajan

Thirumalai

et al. 2017

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Indian summer monsoon (ISM) rainfall lasts for a period of 4 months with large variations recorded in terms of rainfall intensity during its period between June and September. Proxy reconstructions of past ISM rainfall variability are required due to the paucity of long instrumental records. However, reconstructing subseasonal rainfall is extremely difficult using conventional hydroclimate proxies due to inadequate sample resolution. Here, we demonstrate the utility of the stable oxygen isotope composition of gastropod shells in reconstructing past rainfall on subseasonal timescales. We present a comparative isotopic study on present day rainwater and stable isotope ratios of precipitate found in the incremental growth bands of giant African land snail Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich) from modern day (2009) and in the historical past (1918). Isotopic signatures present in the growth bands allowed for the identification of ISM rainfall variability in terms of its active and dry spells in the modern as well as past gastropod record. Our results demonstrate the utility of gastropod growth band stable isotope ratios in semiquantitative reconstructions of seasonal rainfall patterns. High resolution climate records extracted from gastropod growth band stable isotopes (museum and archived specimens) can expand the scope for understanding past subseasonal‐to‐seasonal climate variability.

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Flux balance models for the oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of land snail shells

Cited by 115 publications

References 49 publications

Variability of snail growing season at the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 75 ka

Variability of snail growing season at the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 75 ka

Oxygen isotopes in Molluscan shell: Applications in environmental archaeology

Extreme Monsoon Rainfall Signatures Preserved in the Invasive Terrestrial Gastropod Lissachatina fulica

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