Probing palaeoclimatology through quantitation by mass spectrometry of the products of enzyme hydrolysis of α-cellulose

Abstract

It is shown that quantitative measurement of the saccharides from enzymatic hydrolysis of a-cellulose extracted from individual annual tree-rings has the potential to provide insight into the ecosystem in which the tree grew. The quantitative measurement reported here, which is the first of its kind, concerned the complex of cellulases Trichoderma Reesei and a-cellulose samples from annual tree-rings of Pinus sylvestris L for the period 1968-2000. Monosaccharides were measured using electrospray mass spectrometry. There were significant differences among concentrations of monosaccharide from different annual tree-rings. We attribute these variations to structural differences in the a-cellulose. The hypothesis put forward is that higher concentrations of monosaccharide reflect higher degrees of crystallinity. The concentrations of monosaccharide correlated positively with annual precipitation; the concentrations did not correlate with other climate indicators.It is pointed out that the widths of annual tree-rings are known to correlate positively with these other climate indicators, but not with annual precipitation.

Climatic signals in tree-ring width and stable isotopes composition of <i>Pinus sylvestris</i> L. Growing in the industrialized area nearby Kędzierzyn-Koźle

“…The α-cellulose samples were extracted by applying the procedures based on the Green's method (1963) used in The Mass Spectrometry Laboratory of the Silesian University of Technology (Pazdur et al, 2007(Pazdur et al, , 2013Sensuła et al, 2011aSensuła et al, , 2011bPazdur, 2013a, 2013b). This method includes the following steps: the removal of lignin, the processing of the holocellulose to α-cellulose, bleaching, neutralizing and drying (Green, 1963).…”

“…The isotopic composition of plants varied due to emission of atmospheric pollution (Savard, 2010), such as for example sulphur dioxide (Rinne et al, 2010), carbon dioxide (Craig, 1954;McCarroll and Loader, 2004;Pazdur et al, 2007Pazdur et al, , 2013Sensuła et al, 2011aSensuła et al, , 2011bPazdur, 2013a, 2013b;Sensuła, 2015). Trees grown at the higher level of CO 2 concentration had a more negative δ 13 C than trees grown at the lower concentration.…”

“…Trees intercept and absorb air from the atmosphere and they can be used as sensitive bio-indicators of ecosystem changes. Scots pine has been used in biomonitoring studies, because this species is sensitive to climate and the anthropogenic effect (Schweingruber, 1996;De Vries et al, 2000;Sensuła et al, 2011aSensuła et al, , 2011bPazdur, 2013a, 2013b). Scientific literature reviews show, that the industrial pollutants usually have a negative impact on vitality and annual radial growth of trees.…”

“…The isotopic composition of pine tree-rings was used to study the climatic changes in the industrialized area in the past to better understand future consequences of ecosystem changes (Schweingruber, 1996;De Vries et al, 2000;McCarroll and Loader, 2004;Pazdur et al, 2007Pazdur et al, , 2013Sensuła et al, 2011aSensuła et al, , 2011bPazdur, 2013a, 2013b;Sensuła, 2015). Combined measurement of carbon and oxygen isotopes ratio may give information about the changes in stomata conductance (gs) and changes in photosynthetic capacity (A max -the average maximum net photosynthesis at ambient CO 2 concentration under optimal environmental conditions) and indicate which factor responded more strongly (Farquhar and Lloyd, 1993;Scheidegger et al, 2000) to variation in the growth environment.…”

Variations of tree ring width and chemical composition of wood of pine growing in the area nearby chemical factories

“…It affected on major limiting factors that controlled the functioning of many ecosystems (Vitousek et al, 1997), the condition of forests and trees physiology (Breymeyer, 1998). Pine (Pinus silvestris L.) has been used in bio-monitoring studies (De Vries et al, 2000;Lombardo et al, 2001;Juknys et al,, 2003;Wilczyński, 2006;Pearson et al, 2006;Danek 2007;Sensuła et al, 2011aSensuła et al, , 2011bSensuła and Wilczyński, 2017). However there is still a lack of data concerning the environmental changes in the most industrialized part of Poland over the last century.…”