Climate Response of Terminalia Superba from the Mayombe Forest (Democratic Republic of the Congo): Intra-Annual Stable Isotope Analysis in Tree Rings
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Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Academic year 2015 – 2016 Climate response of Terminalia superba from the Mayombe forest (Democratic Republic of the Congo): intra-annual stable isotope analysis in tree rings Mirvia Angela Rocha Vargas Promotors: Prof. Dr. ir. Pascal Boeckx Dr. ir. Jan Van den Bulcke Tutor: ir. Tom De Mil Master’s dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Environmental Sanitation Copyright "The author and the promoter(s) give permission to make this master dissertation available for consultation and to copy parts of this master dissertation for personal use. In the case of any other use, the copyright terms have to be respected, in particular with regard to the obligation to state expressly the source when quoting results from this master dissertation." Ghent University, August 19, 2016 Promoter Promoter Dr. ir. Jan Van den Bulcke Dr. ir. Pascal Boeckx, The author Mirvia Angela Rocha Vargas Acknowledgement I want to start thanking God for the amazing opportunity to be here and be able to increase my knowledge in the environmental area. In the same way, I thank my tutor ir. Tom De Mil for allow me to participated in this study and learn more about the interesting area of tropical forest and isotopes. Also to Dr. ir. Jan Van den Bulcke and professor Dr. ir. Pascal Boeckx, for their collaboration and guidance me in this study. Special thanks to Prof. Dr. Peter Goethals, and to Veerle Lambert and Sylvie Bauwens, for the opportunity to be here and make possible such a terrific experience that will definitely improve my professional career. Finally, but not less important, I would like to thank the support of my mom, dad and brother for their constant support, to my cousin Andrea, for always said exactly what I needed to hear and to all my family and friend in Venezuela and Bolivia. To Galo, Pau, Zara, Juan, Jeff and all my friends here in Belgium to be like a family to me and always be there. A special thanks to Javier, despite everything and the distance, he always supported me and is my strength to continue. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................... i Abstract..................................................................................................................................ii 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3 2. Literature review ............................................................................................................... 5 2.1. Climate change and tree response over the tropics .................................................... 5 2.1.2. Greenhouse Gases - Carbon Dioxide ................................................................... 5 2.1.3. Temperature, Rainfall and Relative Humidity (RH) ............................................... 6 2.2. Tropical forest ............................................................................................................. 8 2.2.1. Central African tropical forest ............................................................................... 9 2.3. Wood structure and tree rings ..................................................................................... 9 2.4. Dendrochronology .................................................................................................... 11 2.4.1. Tropical dendrochronology ................................................................................. 12 2.5. Stable Isotopes ......................................................................................................... 14 13 2.5.1. Stable carbon isotope ( C) ................................................................................ 15 Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency (WUEi)........................................................................... 18 2.5.2. Stable isotope oxygen 18O .................................................................................. 18 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................................................................ 21 3.1. Description of the area .............................................................................................. 21 3.2. Sample preparation .................................................................................................. 21 3.3. Cellulose extraction .................................................................................................. 24 3.3.1. Extraction ........................................................................................................... 25 3.3.2. Removal of the subsamples, homogenization and drying ................................... 25 3.3.3. Cleaning of cellulose extraction kit ..................................................................... 26 3.3.4. Isotope Analysis ................................................................................................. 26 4. Results and discussion ................................................................................................... 28 4.1. Climate data ............................................................................................................. 28 13 4.2. Stable carbon isotope C ......................................................................................... 30 13 4.2.1. Intra- and inter-annual variation of δ C for Terminalia superba ......................... 30 Tree C .......................................................................................................................... 32 Tree B .......................................................................................................................... 34 Tree A. ......................................................................................................................... 36 4.3. Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency (WUEi) ....................................................................... 39 4.4. Stable oxygen isotope 18O ........................................................................................ 41 4.4.1. δ18O intra- and inter-annual variation for Terminalia superba ............................. 41 5. Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 45 6. Recommendations for further research ........................................................................... 46 References ......................................................................................................................... 47 Appendix ............................................................................................................................. 52 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Natural greenhouse effect (a). Enhance greenhouse effect (b) .............................. 5 Figure 2. Increase in concentration of CO2 levels in the atmosphere..................................... 6 Figure 3. Global mean annual temperatures (anomalies from 1961-90 mean) for the globe (blue line) and for tropical areas (red line) ......................................................................... 7 Figure 4. Location of tropical forests ..................................................................................... 8 Figure 6. Tree wood structure ............................................................................................. 10 Figure 7. Section of a tree rings, conifer .............................................................................. 10 Figure 8. Distribution of seasonality in the tropics. Each number represents, 1= formation of annual rings, 2= two rings per year and 0= no distinct growth ......................................... 14 Figure 9. Plant physiological and climate factor influencing the carbon isotope ratio of a tree ........................................................................................................................................ 15 Figure 10. Seasonal carbon isotope variations in cellulose of tree rings from Morus alba ... 17 Figure 11. Plant physiological and climate factors influencing the oxygen isotope ratio of a tree ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Figure 12. Isotopic fractionation between rainfall and the eventual tree ring cellulose ......... 20 Figure 13. Location of the Mayombe forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ......... 21 Figure 14. Difference in the location Tree A and B, C in the Luki reserve ............................ 22 Figure 15. Samples dimensions .......................................................................................... 23 Figure 16. Lintab dendrochronology station ........................................................................ 23 Figure 17. Subsampling the tree rings ................................................................................. 23 Figure 18. Subsamples of tree rings in Eppendorf vials ....................................................... 24 Figure 19. Cellulose extraction kit ....................................................................................... 25 Figure 20. BRANSON Sonifier ............................................................................................ 26 Figure 21. Mean historical monthly temperature and precipitation for Democratic Republic of Congo, for the period 1900-2012 ....................................................................................