Tropical vegetation productivity and atmospheric methane over the last 40,000 years from model simulations and stalagmites in Sulawesi, Indonesia

CE Krause; AK Kimbrough; MK Gagan; PO Hopcroft; GB Dunbar; WS Hantoro; JC Hellstrom; H Cheng; RL Edwards; H Wong; BW Suwargadi; PJ Valdes; H Rifai

Journal article

Tropical vegetation productivity and atmospheric methane over the last 40,000 years from model simulations and stalagmites in Sulawesi, Indonesia

CE Krause, AK Kimbrough, MK Gagan, PO Hopcroft, GB Dunbar, WS Hantoro, JC Hellstrom, H Cheng, RL Edwards, H Wong, BW Suwargadi, PJ Valdes, H Rifai

Quaternary Research United States | CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS | Published : 2024

DOI: 10.1017/qua.2023.75

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Abstract

Recent research has shown the potential of speleothem δ13C to record a range of environmental processes. Here, we report on 230Th-dated stalagmite δ13C records for southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia, over the last 40,000 yr to investigate the relationship between tropical vegetation productivity and atmospheric methane concentrations. We demonstrate that the Sulawesi stalagmite δ13C record is driven by changes in vegetation productivity and soil respiration and explore the link between soil respiration and tropical methane emissions using HadCM3 and the Sheffield Dynamic Global Vegetation Model. The model indicates that changes in soil respiration are primarily driven by changes in temperature an..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

John Hellstrom Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Natural Science Foundation of China

Funding Acknowledgements

The fieldwork in Indonesia was carried out under Kementerian Negara Riset dan Teknologi (RISTEK) research permit numbers 04/TKPIPA/FRP/SM/IV/2009 and 1b/TKPIPA/FRP/SM/I/2011 with the support of the Research Center for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). We are grateful for the invaluable field assistance provided by Neil Anderson, Dan Zwartz, Garry Smith, Linda Ayliffe, Nick Scroxton, Engkos Kosasih, Djupriono, and the staff of Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park (with special thanks to Syaiful Fajrin). We also thank Heather Scott-Gagan, Joan Cowley, Joe Cali, Linda McMorrow, Chris Vardanega, and Daniel Becker for laboratory assistance, and Joy Singarayer and David Beerling for providing HadCM3 and SDGVM simulations for analysis. The work was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award to CEK; Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grants DP0663274, DP1095673, DP110101161, and DP180103762 to MKG, WSH, JCH, RLE, and HC; ARC Future Fellowship FT130100801 to JCH; NERC UK projects NE/I010912/1 and NE/P002536/1 to POH; U.S. National Science Foundation grant 2202913 to RLE and HC; and National Natural Science Foundation of China grants NSFC 41731174 and 41888101 to HC. The authors declare no competing interests.