The distributions of microbial tetraether lipids i.e. glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) were investigated in a variety of Chinese soils featured by a wide range of pH values in different climate zones. The...The distributions of microbial tetraether lipids i.e. glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) were investigated in a variety of Chinese soils featured by a wide range of pH values in different climate zones. The bacterial branched GDGTs and archaeal isoprenoid GDGTs were found to be widely distributed in Chinese soils and their relative abundance was controlled primarily by soil pH. The bacterial bGDGTs usually dominate over archaeal iGDGTs in abundance when the soil pH is below 8.0. However archaeal iGDGTs become dominant and the abundance of halophilic archaea characterized by GDGT V without cyclopentyl ring increases dramatically in the alkaline soil with pH greater than 8.0. The relative abundance of archaeal iGDGTs to bacterial bGDGTs was defined here as RAI index. The RAI index decreases with elevated soil pH and a linear correlation is found between them indicating that the relative abundance of archaeal iGDGTs to bacterial bGDGTs increases with increased pH. The RAI index thus could be a novel proxy of the pH values of paleosol. The terrestrial input index BIT (Branched and Isoprenoid Tetraethers Index) decreases with increased soil pH suggesting that soil pH should be taken into consideration when the terrestrial contribution to marine sediments is estimated by BIT index. Moreover the TEX86 index cannot be used to reconstruct sea surface temperature in the sediments featured by a large terrestrial input.展开更多
基金supported by National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB808800)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40930210 and 40921062)‘111’ Project (Grant No. B08030)
文摘The distributions of microbial tetraether lipids i.e. glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) were investigated in a variety of Chinese soils featured by a wide range of pH values in different climate zones. The bacterial branched GDGTs and archaeal isoprenoid GDGTs were found to be widely distributed in Chinese soils and their relative abundance was controlled primarily by soil pH. The bacterial bGDGTs usually dominate over archaeal iGDGTs in abundance when the soil pH is below 8.0. However archaeal iGDGTs become dominant and the abundance of halophilic archaea characterized by GDGT V without cyclopentyl ring increases dramatically in the alkaline soil with pH greater than 8.0. The relative abundance of archaeal iGDGTs to bacterial bGDGTs was defined here as RAI index. The RAI index decreases with elevated soil pH and a linear correlation is found between them indicating that the relative abundance of archaeal iGDGTs to bacterial bGDGTs increases with increased pH. The RAI index thus could be a novel proxy of the pH values of paleosol. The terrestrial input index BIT (Branched and Isoprenoid Tetraethers Index) decreases with increased soil pH suggesting that soil pH should be taken into consideration when the terrestrial contribution to marine sediments is estimated by BIT index. Moreover the TEX86 index cannot be used to reconstruct sea surface temperature in the sediments featured by a large terrestrial input.
