Search results for "carbon isotopes"

Widespread contribution of methane-cycle bacteria to the diets of lake profundal chironomid larvae.

2008

Reports of unexpectedly 13C-depleted chironomid larvae in lakes have led to an hypothesis that significant transfer of detrital organic matter to chironomid larvae may occur via methane-cycle bacteria. However, to date little is known of how such transfer might vary across species and lakes. We gathered data from 87 lakes to determine how widespread this phenomenon might be and to define boundaries for its likely magnitude. Carbon stable isotope values of chironomid larvae varied greatly between taxa. Very marked 13C-depletion was evident only in certain taxa, especially Chironomus plumosus, C. anthracinus, and C. tenuistylus, all characteristic of eutrophic or dystrophic lakes and known to…

Increased conformational rigidity of humic substances by oxidative biomimetic catalysis

2005

A synthetic water-soluble meso-tetra(2,6-dichloro-3-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrinate of iron(III) chloride, Fe(TDCPPS)Cl, was employed as a biomimetic catalyst in the oxidative coupling of terrestrial humic materials. High-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (CPMAS-(13)C NMR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIFT) were used to follow conformational and structural changes brought about in different humic materials by the oxidative coupling. Increase in apparent weight-average molecular weight (Mw(a)) occurred invariably for all humic substances with the oxidative polymerization catalyzed …

Activity and kinetics of DNA dependent DNA and RNA polymerases n xeroderma pigmentosum and in normal human skin.

1971

1. DNA dependent DNA polymerase (E.C.2.7.7.7) was prepared from human normal and from Xeroderma pigmentosum skin. 2. DNA polymerase from normal skin has the same Michaelis constant with native and denatured DNA as templateKm= 120 ± 11 µg DNA/ml, with differing maximum reaction velocities. 3. The enzyme from Xeroderma pigmentosum has the same Michaelis constant for denatured DNA as the enzyme from normal skin, but with native DNA as template, theKmvalue is lower (97.2 ± 9.8). The maximum reaction velocities of the Xeroderma pigmentosum enzyme with native resp. denatured DNA as template are the same. 4. DNA dependent RNA polymerases (E.C.2.7.7.6) from normal and Xeroderma pigmentosum skin wer…

Reconstruction of human subsistence and husbandry strategies from the Iberian Early Neolithic: A stable isotope approach

2018

Objectives The Early Neolithic involved an important social and economic shift that can be tested not only with the material culture, but also through biomolecular approaches. The Iberian Peninsula presents few Early Neolithic sites where fauna and humans can be analyzed together from an isotopic perspective. Here we present an isotopic study on the site of Cueva de Chaves as an example for understanding the dietary and economical changes that took place during Early Neolithic in Iberia. Material and methods Here we apply carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to bone collagen from 4 humans and 64 faunal samples from 14 different species. The large dataset belongs to the same unique ch…

First 13C/12C isotopic characterisation of volcanic plume CO2

2010

We describe analytical details and uncertainty evaluation of a simple technique for the measurement of the carbon isotopic composition of CO2 in volcanic plumes. Data collected at Solfatara and Vulcano, where plumes are fed by fumaroles which are accessible for direct sampling, were first used to validate the technique. For both volcanoes, the plume-derived carbon isotopic compositions are in good agreement with the fumarolic compositions, thus providing confidence on the method, and allowing its application at volcanoes where the volcanic component is inaccessible to direct sampling. As a notable example, we applied the same method to Mount Etna where we derived a δ13C of volcanic CO2 betw…

The trophic structure of a fish assemblage in a non-tidal Mediterranean Lagoon: integrating data from the Fishbase information system with results fr…

2010

Aquatic Macrophytes Occurrence in Mediterranean Farm Ponds: Preliminary Investigations in North-Western Sicily (Italy)

2021

Mediterranean wetlands are severely affected by habitat degradation and related loss of biodiversity. In this scenario, the wide number of artificial farm ponds can play a significant role in the biodiversity conservation of aquatic flora. In the present contribution we show the preliminary results of a study on Mediterranean farm ponds of north-western Sicily (Italy), aimed to investigating the environmental factors linked to the occurrence of submerged macrophytes (vascular plants and charophytes). We studied the aquatic flora of 30 ponds and determined the chemical and isotopic composition of their water bodies on a subset of the most representative 10 sites. Results show that (1) farm p…

The influence of bacteria-dominated diets on Daphnia magna somatic growth, reproduction, and lipid composition

2012

We explored how dietary bacteria affect the life history traits and biochemical composition of Daphnia magna, using three bacteria taxa with very different lipid composition. Our objectives were to (1) examine whether and how bacteria-dominated diets affect Daphnia survival, growth, and fecundity, (2) see whether bacteria-specific fatty acid (FA) biomarkers accrued in Daphnia lipids, and (3) explore the quantitative relationship between bacteria availability in Daphnia diets and the amounts of bacterial FA in their lipids. Daphnia were fed monospecific and mixed diets of heterotrophic (Micrococcus luteus) or methanotrophic bacteria (Methylomonas methanica and Methylosinus trichosporium) and…

Production of a 15C radioactive ion beam based on 18O(n, α)

2019

In the context of the SPIRAL2 radioactive beam facility the production rate of the neutron-rich 15C nucleus by 18O(n,α) has been investigated. In a water target of 20 cm3, enriched in 18O and placed behind the neutron converter, a rate of a few 1010 nuclei per second can be reached with 1mA of 40MeV deuterons. A 18O(n,α) cross-section based on the activation method is proposed. It is intermediate between the highest and lowest evaluations available to date. peerReviewed

Inferring Phytoplankton, Terrestrial Plant and Bacteria Bulk δ¹³C Values from Compound Specific Analyses of Lipids and Fatty Acids.

2015

Stable isotope mixing models in aquatic ecology require δ13C values for food web end members such as phytoplankton and bacteria, however it is rarely possible to measure these directly. Hence there is a critical need for improved methods for estimating the δ13C ratios of phytoplankton, bacteria and terrestrial detritus from within mixed seston. We determined the δ13C values of lipids, phospholipids and biomarker fatty acids and used these to calculate isotopic differences compared to the whole-cell δ13C values for eight phytoplankton classes, five bacterial taxa, and three types of terrestrial organic matter (two trees and one grass). The lipid content was higher amongst the phytoplankton (…