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Full-Text Articles in Paleontology
Genetic And Biological Studies On Solanum Plants: Insights Into The Leaf Wax Alkane Paleoclimate Proxy, Amanda Lorraine Dorothy Bender
Genetic And Biological Studies On Solanum Plants: Insights Into The Leaf Wax Alkane Paleoclimate Proxy, Amanda Lorraine Dorothy Bender
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The hydrogen isotopic composition (δ2H) of precipitation records fluxes of water in the hydrological cycle, and can reflect climatic variables such as temperature and humidity. Leaf wax n-alkanes can record δ2H of precipitation; consequently, n-alkanes extracted from sedimentary archives are commonly used as proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. However, the utility of the leaf wax paleoclimate proxy is modulated by uncertainty about how physiological processes affect hydrogen isotopic compositions during alkane biosynthesis. This work aims to improve our understanding of the leaf wax paleoclimate proxy by examining biological and environmental sources of variability on cuticular leaf waxes. We used Solanum (tomato) …