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Branched tetraether lipids soil bacteria in marine sediments: Tracers for the terrestrial organic matter influx into the ocean and proxies for soil pH and continental temperature
Project leader: Prof. dr. J. S. Sinninghe Damsté
Researcher(s): Ir. Dr. F. Peterse
Starting date: 1-jan-07

Abstract
Our recent research had indicated that branched glycerol diakyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs), derived from anaerobic bacteria thriving in soils and peats, are fluvially transported to the ocean and, because of their ubiquitous occurrence, can be applied as traces for terrestrial organic matter. Apart from this useful application for the study of the biogeochemistry of the oceanic carbon cycle, they also seem to bear information on continental climate and soil pH since the distribution of branched GDGTs depends on these parameters as demonstrated in a pilot study. Consequently, long marine sediments cores provide not only an archive of past marine climate and contributions of terrestrial organic carbon but at the same time also provide records of continental climate. We propose to further develop, test and apply branched GDGTs as proxies for terrestrial organic matter transport, continental climate and soil pH by a combination of different approaches, strongly integrated with the microbiological sister project at Wageningen University. This will incluse the examination of branced GDGT distribution in bacteria, soil profiles, riverine particulate matter, river fan surface and deeper marine sediments. It is foreseen that this will result in the development of proxies with a wide applicability.

Publications
Peterse, F., Kim, J.-H., Schouten, S., Kristensen, D.K., Koç, N., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2009). Constraints on the application of the MBT/CBT palaeothermometer at high latitude environments (Svalbard, Norway) . Organic Geochemistry40 (6): 692-699.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Peterse, F., Schouten, S., van der Meer, J., van der Meer, M.T.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2009). Distribution of branched tetraether lipids in geothermally heated soils: implications for the MBT/CBT temperature proxy . Organic Geochemistry40 (2): 201-205.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Peterse, F., van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Jia, G., Ossebaar, J., Blokker, J., and Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2009). Assessment of soil n-alkane δD and branched tetraether membrane lipid distributions as tools for paleoelevation reconstruction . Biogeosciences6: 2799-2807.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Kim, J.H., Zarzycka, B., Buscail, R., Peterse, F., Bonnin, J., Ludwig, W., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2010). Contribution of river-borne soil organic carbon to the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean). Limnology and Oceanography55: 507-518.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Peterse, F., Nicol, G., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2010). Influence of soil pH on the abundance and distribution of core and intact polar lipid-derived branched GDGTs in soil. Organic Geochemistry41: 1171-1175.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Francien Peterse, Maarten A. Prins, Christiaan J. Beets, Simon R. Troelstra, Hongbo Zheng, Zhaoyan Gu, Stefan Schouten, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté (2011). Decoupled warming and monsoon precipitation in East Asia over the last deglaciation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters301: 256-264.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S., Troelstra S. R.

Johan Weijers, Beth Bernhardt, Francien Peterse, Josef Werne, Jennifer Dungait, Stefan Schouten, Jaap Sinninghe Damsté (2011). Absence of seasonal patterns in MBT-CBT indices in mid-latitude soils. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta75: 3179-3190.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Francien Peterse, Ellen Hopmans, Stefan Schouten, Anchélique Mets, Irene Rijpstra, Jaap Sinninghe Damsté (2011). Identification and distribution of intact polar branched tetraether lipids in peat and soil. Organic Geochemistry42: 1007-1015.
Darwin Center authors: Hopmans E. C., Peterse F., Schouten S.

Francien Peterse (2011). Environmental controls on the distribution of bacterial tetraether membrane lipids: Constraints on the MBT-CBT paleothermometer.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F.

Francien Peterse, Jaap van der Meer, Stefan Schouten, Johan W.H. Weijers, Noah Fierer, Robert B. Jackson, Jung-Hyun Kim, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté (2012). Revised calibration of the MBT–CBT paleotemperature proxy based on branched tetraether membrane lipids in surface soils. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta96: 215-229.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Peterse F., van der Meer J., Schouten S., Weijers J.W.H., Fierer N., Jackson R.B., Kim J.-K., Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (2012). Revised calibration of the MBT-CBT paleotemperature proxy based on branched tetraether membrane lipids in surface soils.. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta96: 215-229.
Darwin Center authors: Barke J., Peterse F., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté J. S.

Sauder, L.A., Peterse, F., Schouten, S., Neufeld, J.D. (2012). Low-ammonia niche of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in rotating biological contactors of a municipal wastewater treatment plant.. Microbiology14: 2589-2600.
Darwin Center authors: Peterse F., Schouten S.