Leaf wax <i>n</i>-alkane distributions record ecological changes during the Younger Dryas at Trzechowskie paleolake (northern Poland) without temporal delay

Aichner, Bernhard; Ott, Florian; Słowiński, Michał; Noryśkiewicz, Agnieszka M.; Brauer, Achim; Sachse, Dirk

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1607-2018

Articles | Volume 14, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1607-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1607-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 11

Research article

|

02 Nov 2018

Research article |

| 02 Nov 2018

Leaf wax n-alkane distributions record ecological changes during the Younger Dryas at Trzechowskie paleolake (northern Poland) without temporal delay

Bernhard Aichner, Florian Ott, Michał Słowiński, Agnieszka M. Noryśkiewicz, Achim Brauer, and Dirk Sachse

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Final revised paper (published on 02 Nov 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 19 Mar 2018)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Review of CP-2018-6', Anonymous Referee #1, 23 Apr 2018
- RC3: 'Correction of RC1', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 Jun 2018
  - AC1: 'responses to reviewer #1', Bernhard Aichner, 15 Jun 2018
RC2: 'Comments', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 May 2018
- AC2: 'responses to reviewer #2', Bernhard Aichner, 15 Jun 2018

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (18 Jun 2018) by Denis-Didier Rousseau

AR by Bernhard Aichner on behalf of the Authors (18 Jun 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (25 Jun 2018) by Denis-Didier Rousseau

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (09 Jul 2018)

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (21 Sep 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Review of Manuscript CP-2018-6 entitled “Leaf wax n-alkane distributions record ecological changes during the Younger Dryas at Trzechowskie paleolake (Northern Poland) with temporal delay

Comments:

Overall this is an interesting manuscript, tacking an area of key importance for paleoclimate reconstructions using leaf wax lipids - the issue of temporal incorporation into sediments. The authors do a thorough job of interpreting and discussing their data, and their figures are well put together and provide clear illustration of the main points of the text.

The authors have clearly made a number of revisions to the manuscript during the first round of reviews, addressing some of the more important issues and substantially improved the text. They use appropriate methods, which are clearly explained, to arrive at their conclusions and given the broad interest in the use of leaf wax biomarkers in paleoclimate and paleoecology, this study is suitable for publication in Climate of the Past.

There are however a couple of areas where some further clarification would be beneficial:

(1) There have been limited studies seeking to use pollen data to interpret leaf wax n-alkane trends, as in this current submission. One key reference that seems to be missing from this manuscript is Feakins (2013), where paired pollen and leaf wax hydrogen isotope data were used to construct a vegetation-corrected hydrogen isotope record from northeast Africa during the late Miocene:

Feakins, S. (2013) Pollen-corrected leaf wax D/H reconstructions of northeast African hydrological changes during the late Miocene, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Volume 374, Pages 62-71

The Feakins study considers a number of potential complications that may arise when using pollen data to interpret biomarker information, such as the potential for differential transport for pollen from different species, and variation in catchment scales for pollen versus biomarkers. This current submission does a fantastic job of discussing time lags between pollen and leaf wax data, but would benefit from some further comment on the potential complications of varying catchment scales for pollen and biomarkers in this particular study site, and potentially a brief consideration of how to approach such issues in other depositional settings to assist readers wishing to adopt these methods.

(2) Leaf wax ratios (e.g. C27 vs C31) have been widely applied to distinguish inputs from grasses and trees, however they have recently been shown to be very poor indicators of such vegetation shifts. Bush and McInerney (2013), cited in the text here, clearly state that due to the significant heterogeneity in leaf wax distribution patterns both between species and within individuals of a single species, the use of ratios of C27, C29, and C31 to distinguish between grasses and woody plants or shrubs is to be avoided.

While the authors are using local paired pollen data here to attempt to limit the impact of these potential confounding factors, given the potential complications (see above with regard to transport and catchment scales) some further sentences considering the type of depositional environment where such an approach would be valid (and conversely, where it would be discouraged) would be helpful. Would the overall recommendation be to use this paired pollen and biomarker method in a well-constrained environment, but perhaps only apply it with more caution in, for example, marine settings?

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ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (30 Sep 2018) by Denis-Didier Rousseau

AR by Bernhard Aichner on behalf of the Authors (08 Oct 2018) Manuscript

Short summary

Abundances of plant biomarkers are compared with pollen data in a 3000-year climate archive covering the Late Glacial to Holocene transition in northern Poland. Both parameters synchronously show the rapid onset (12680–12600 yr BP) and termination (11580–11490 yr BP) of the Younger Dryas cold interval in the study area. This demonstrates the suitability of such proxies to record pronounced changes in vegetation cover without significant delay.