Journal article
Carbon isotope signatures from land snail shells: Implications for palaeovegetation reconstruction in the eastern Mediterranean
AL Prendergast, RE Stevens, EA Hill, C Hunt, TC O'Connell, GW Barker
Quaternary International | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2017
Abstract
In this study we compare carbon isotope values in modern Helix melanostoma shell carbonate (δ13Cshell) from the Gebel al-Akhdar region of Libya with carbon isotope values in H. melanostoma body tissue (δ13Cbody), local vegetation (δ13Cplant) and soil (δ13Csoil). All vegetation in the study area followed the C3 photosynthetic pathway. However, the δ13Cplant values of different species formed two distinct isotopic groups. This can be best explained by different water use efficiencies with arid adapted species having significantly more positive δ13Cplant values than less water efficient species. The ranges and means of δ13Cbody and δ13Cplant were statistically indistinguishable from one another..
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Awarded by Cambridge Philosophical Society
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank James Rolfe, Louise Butterworth, and Catherine Kneale at the University of Cambridge for assistance with stable isotope analyses; and Abdulla al-Mabrock and Moatz al-Zwei for assistance with sample collection. This research was supported by grants from the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the Rae and Edith Bennett Foundation, the Association for Women Geoscientists, the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (to AP), and the European Research Council (to GB, ERC Advanced Investigator Grant 230421), and the Royal Society (to RS).